Articles tagged “orbitz”

Will the immediacy of Orbitz Worldwide's loyalty program redemption be a difference-maker in helping to build its global hotel business? CEO Barney Harford is counting on it.

Orbitz Worldwide paid $10 million to acquire the Travelocity Partner Network in late February 2014 and would pay an additional $10 million if the affiliate network hits certain performance targets this year and in 2015. This is a nice acquisition for Orbitz Worldwide because the private label sector was already an important part of its business.

If greed is good in the movies, cheap is good at CheapTickets, which is seeking to target extremely price-focused consumers. Whether its rates will be cheaper than those on Orbitz is another question.

A metasearch-like advertisement on an online travel agency site isn't going to get anywhere near the the sort of clout that sites such as TripAdvisor, Google and Kayak can wield, but it enables OTA sites to get into metasearch in a modest way to appease consumers' inclination to comparison-shop without taking a lot of the risk.

Break out the champagne. In many respects, Travelport has wielded a financially selfish and negative influence over Orbitz Worldwide for years. That influence will soon be gone in most respects, and Orbitz will begin to be able to chart a more independent course.

When Expedia gets around to talking about acquiring Travelocity outright, the relationship between Travelocity parent Sabre and Expedia is already so close they will have no problem getting their phone calls answered. Sabre is counting on such a sale, telling investors that it is guaranteed to increase shareholder value.

As the Boston Consulting Group-Facebook study points out, companies such as Delta and Hipmunk, which lag their peers in desktop traffic, can make up a lot of ground in mobile. Hey, it's a whole new ballgame.

Was TripAdvisor's CEO Stephen Kaufer worth $39 million in 2013? That amount is a bit of an anomaly as it includes $38 million in stock options, and he won't be eligible for more until the Summer of 2017. Although there are complaints that TripAdvisor gives geographic growth a higher priority than short-term shareholder return, we don't see anyone complaining.

Orbitz had a little momentum going, but saw its all-important hotel room-night growth slow in the first quarter. It is also a lesson in scale as the bigger players such as Expedia and Priceline grow much faster.

There were two interesting announcements from major travel sites April 28: TripAdvisor added Wendy Perrin, formerly of Conde Nast Traveler, as its travel advocate, and Yahoo Travel relaunched with an emphasis on editorial, but also very heavy on travel inspiration and sponsored content. TripAdvisor has one of the most well-rounded travel sites on earth, and Yahoo is being Yahoo.