Articles tagged “travelport”

Travel agencies can benefit substantially from the level of personalization that NDC offers, but they have to develop new technological capabilities to realize those benefits.

By the end of this week, Travelport is expected to leave the public markets in a $4.4 billion leveraged buyout. After months of waiting, the company can finally move on to its next steps.

Russian regulators have put up obstacles to the long-discussed buyout of the travel technology giant Travelport. Odds are the deal will still be completed, though.

Travelport sees an opportunity to gain share with mid-market travel management companies in the U.S., which seems plausible. But it will need to keep up its pace of adopting new technologies and policies to pull that off.

The airline retail ecosystem appears to be overcoming the New Distribution Capability-related teething troubles and is finally getting the technical details right. This means that travel agencies can look forward to taking advantage of some real tangible benefits.

Travelport's latest earnings report is a chance to judge its performance since it went public in 2014. The answer is mixed: The company invested more than its rivals in its airline distribution business, which let it punch above its weight. But not everything on other matters panned out as well as it might have hoped.

Few companies other than activist investor Elliott Management expressed a serious interest in acquiring Travelport. Elliott twice lost potential private equity partners after they reviewed Travelport's books. The deal price is underwhelming, and that's a signal that some things haven't been going the company's way.

The speed at which airline distribution stakeholders are able to transform their distribution technologies so that they can directly impact their bottom line will be determined by their ability to effectively collaborate.

As more business travelers view their trips as working vacations, travel advisors must draw on both corporate and leisure travel-planning skills. It's no simple challenge, but it's necessary given the strength of the bleisure travel trend.

The early consensus is that Elliott Management put together a disappointing deal for investors. We cover the case for and against the deal here. But expect larger Travelport investors to consider resisting the deal or hope that a white knight acquirer rides in with a better offer.