Articles tagged “travelocity”

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.

Perhaps the immediate challenges that TripAdvisor and HomeAway face will be temporary bumps in the road. For Hotwire, it's a toss-up on whether it can get its mojo back, and American Express Global Business Travel and Travelocity have already seen their best days.

Some travel companies took compare tools like Booking Buddy's and pre-checked several windows, driving up their own click revenue and exasperating consumers who unknowingly found their computer screens flush with pop-under windows when they started to search. CPC rates charged to advertisers became subject to a downward spiral, and although the model is still widely used, metasearch stole some of its thunder.

Though Priceline has traditionally been resistant to letting ads disrupt its sleek user experience, the payoff may have finally become too lucrative to resist.

If an email pitch ends up in Gmail's Promotions tab, did it ever exist? Google's changes to Gmail are a huge challenge to email marketers, and there is a lot of money riding on the remedies.

Sabre is smart to bring in Kellner and to make a break with the Gilliland era in taking steps toward an IPO. But, private company or not, Sabre handled the transition very clumsily.

Travel startups often talk about how difficult it is to get noticed, but now even mammoth online travel agencies are finding it very difficult to break out of the pack in their TV advertising. And, it is expensive.

The Expedia-Travelocity deal won't likely trigger a lot of consolidation because there aren't a lot of U.S. pieces left worth buying.

Expedia couldn't acquire Travelocity even if it wanted to because it would have triggered an antitrust investigation. The pact marks the obituary of the Travelocity turnaround attempt, and the big winner is Expedia, which gets more volume and EVEN MORE negotiating clout with suppliers. Bad news for hotels.

Sabre has come up with its solution for Travelocity: Outsource its operation to Expedia. Sabre gets to basically offload a money-losing operation while holding on for now to its assets in Europe, possibly for a sale down the road.