Articles tagged “orbitz”

Orbitz Worldwide gets new flexibility in who it can be friends with in the future in a series of new contracts that go into effect in 2015. And, Orbtiz Worldwide's enhanced relationships with Amadeus and Sabre mean consumers may be able to access additional ancillary services such as premium seats.

It was a great year on the stock markets in 2013 for online travel agencies as a whole. Their businesses are increasingly global, and many are benefiting from expansion into developing markets and boosting their hotel products.

At minimum, these featured companies get a press release out of it, touting their rankings. There are many more travel companies in U.S. that at some point could make for a comprehensive and dedicated sector ranking.

From the front lines of online and mobile travel, Orbitz Worldwide still thinks it can be a winner as an insurgent, although there hasn't been any major evidence of a surge.

The Orbitz partnership to power American Express Travel contributed about one third of Orbitz's all-important hotel room night growth in the third quarter. Orbitz has been doing some interesting things, including the relaunch of its rewards program, but it is still very rough slog ahead.

Orbitz Rewards members aren't going to get huge savings initially, but they will be getting something right away. Whether this will be enough to be a meaningful boost to Orbitz's hotel ambitions remains to be seen.

Under the partnership, Orbitz passed customers' credit card information to Trilegiant without notifying consumers. Orbitz terminated the practice starting in 2008, but a judge says Orbitz still has to make the payments that the contract called for.

Is Orbitz's hotel supply really differentiated enough from Expedia's and Travelocity's that consumers will notice the difference when Travelocity fades away as a competitor in 2014? That's doubtful, although Orbitz may have some tricks up its sleeve.

How long will it be before we talk about travel websites as always having an essential, if limited place, in much the same way that we sometimes talk about print guidebooks? Smartphones with bigger screens, tablets of mini and maximum dimensions ... buckle your seatbelts.