Articles tagged “travelocity”

Jones is now headed into a territory where few have survived, but if anyone is prepared it is he.

Lobbying firm Dickstein Shapiro tells prospective clients: "State AGs are the new sheriffs in town. Do you know them? We do. Sophisticated lawyering. Unparalleled relationships." It all seems to have paid off in Florida.

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.

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.

Travelocity was once the darling in Sabre's portfolio, and now the fastest-rising star is its hospitality solutions business. It has plenty of room to grow, particularly in EMEA and APAC, where chains do not dominate and there is so much need for advanced technology solutions.

Sabre layed off several hundred Travelocity employees last year, but the pain at Sabre is not over as the company intends to eliminate 350 positions in 2014. The spin is that the cuts will better enable the company to focus on product development. Yes, less is obviously more.

It is too soon to tell how the Sabre-Expedia agreement on Travelocity is working out for Sabre. We have to get past the initial implementation to see if Sabre's profitability promises will be valid.

Hardly a surprise that Sparks, who was brought in to resurrect the brand, would depart after it has basically given up.

Travelocity talked years ago about getting into the advertising and media business in a big way, but never made it happen. But, now Expedia has grand plans to use Travelocity's North America sites as a platform to expanding Expedia's own advertising and media business in tandem with the jolt that Trivago is already providing.