Sean O'Neill, Skift
Gordon Wilson, the CEO of Travelport, said in an interview that he sees India as one of the drivers of its long-term growth. That's plausible, but not assured. Private equity should take the company private to shield it from quarterly earnings pressure, and allow it to invest properly to make the most of its varied opportunities.
2 weeks ago
Paul Biasco, Skift
This move signals Sabre's eagerness to remain a powerhouse for travel agents in a changing landscape where alternative lodging, driven by the popularity of Airbnb, takes off. Come 2019, Sabre aims to be more of a one-stop shop for agents. Some agents applaud the move; others couldn't care less.
3 months ago
Andrew Sheivachman, Skift
Travelport has worked hard over the last few years to develop new airline merchandising and travel payments solutions on a global level. Next comes the challenge of driving wider adoption in the marketplace.
3 months ago
Sean O'Neill, Skift
In an interview, Travelport CEO Gordon Wilson strikes an optimistic tone for his company and for the negotiations at large over the fate of Britain's relationship with the European Union. We'll see if his confidence will be borne out by events.
3 months ago
Andrew Sheivachman, Skift
Some think blockchain can help decentralize travel distribution, which has historically been dominated by a small handful of players. These entrenched companies, however, see blockchain as a technology that can help fix some of the inefficiencies in the travel distribution marketplace without fully disrupting the status quo.
5 months ago
Andrew Sheivachman, Skift
The global distribution systems are each pushing forward in their own unique way. By investing like technology companies in flexible distribution and payment technologies, they hope to provide a better value proposition to travel partners that are keen to cut out the middleman. Decades of bad blood between the two, however, still linger over the conversation.
5 months ago
Sean O'Neill, Skift
CEO Gordon Wilson of Travelport says his technology company is making it easier for airlines to display on travel agency "shelves" their content in the way they want. If true, that could significantly help airlines maximize their revenue.
6 months ago
Sean O'Neill, Skift
No word on yet on what activist hedge fund investor Paul Singer of Elliott Management might try to pressure Travelport do this year. But research analysts expect that, at the very least, the travel technology company will be pressed to spin off its fast-growing eNett payments business.
6 months ago
Andrew Sheivachman, Skift
Wasn't the whole point of these surcharges to prevent the global distribution systems from taking a cut of that juicy ancillary money that is now flowing in? One has to wonder what the terms of Air France-KLM's deal with Amadeus and Travelport really are. For now, it looks like the global distribution systems that took the new distribution capability seriously are reaping the rewards.
8 months ago
Sean O'Neill, Skift
The last thing travel tech giant Travelport needs is to be sold to private equity. It's still digging out from all the debt Blackstone saddled it with. Our best guess is that it will be forced to partly sell eNett, a payments business.
8 months ago
Scott Deveau, Bloomberg
Will hedge fund Elliott buy out travel technology company Travelport? Or is it using financial jujitsu and hype to make a quick profit? One thing we know: Distribution companies like Travelport remain valuable.
8 months ago
Andrew Sheivachman, Skift
How is Travelport competing against much bigger companies like Sabre and Amadeus? By creating technology solutions its clients actually want to use while expanding in the world's fastest-growing regions for travel.
9 months ago