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Posted May 17, 2010
After several years of online agencies leading growth in air ticket sales, the last few months show a distinct decline for the online sector.
Posted Apr 28, 2010
Apple has filed a patent for the complete travel process on the iPhone.The patent includes an application called iTravel for planning, searching, reviewing and booking flights, hotels, car rentals, trains and bus trips, as well as technology for identification at airports for baggage handling and boarding passes. The patent relies heavily on Near Field Communications (NFC) to enable the quick exchange of information at all travel check-in points. This patent has triggered a great deal of speculation across the travel industry with many fearing that the iTravel app may indeed compete directly with OTAs, meta-search and itinerary aggregation services such as TripIt and shift the balance of power in the travel industry much as Apple has done for the music industry.
Posted Apr 15, 2010
It appears that a new front is opening in the ever tumultuous relationships between the large hotel chains and the online travel agencies (OTAs). The major OTAs are currently pressing for legislative relief for future occupancy tax claims by states, counties and municipalities through a proposed bill known as the "Internet Travel Tax Fairness Act" or ITTFA. For those of you interested in a reprise of the old Schoolhouse Rock Saturday morning "how does a bill become law" cartoon, the initial draft of the bill is posted here.
Posted Apr 9, 2010
The current budget under debate in Albany includes an interesting twist in the ongoing OTA lodging tax fight. The proposed budget contains language that attempts to compute the occupancy tax on the retail rate by simply multiplying the net rate by 120% and applying the tax rate on this amount.
Yes, you read that right. This simpleton proposal assumes that all OTA deals are created equal and that the mark-up is always 20%. If passed, this will certainly will make future hotel/OTA negotiations easy! Doubt it.
Posted Nov 18, 2009
Does the world really need another search aggregation website? Well, we are about to find out. FlightSearch.com has gone live (in beta) with an interesting approach to searching multiple travel sites.
Posted Nov 5, 2009
Expedia announced today that they are removing booking/service fees on all travel products sold through Expedia's call centers.
Posted Nov 3, 2009
Bill McCollum, the Florida Attorney General filed suit against Expedia and Orbitz this afternoon, opening the next chapter in the ongoing fight over occupancy taxes. Florida is the first state to take such a step - all of the previous actions have been filed by cities or groups of cities in a specific state.
Posted Nov 3, 2009
Late last week, a jury in San Antonio delivered a verdict on a class-action suit against the major OTAs that was brought by around 170 cities in Texas. The verdict against Expedia, Orbitz, Travelocity and Orbitz is for $20M plus court imposed penalties and interest.
While this sounds dire, (and if you read the lawyers press release you would think this was a slam-dunk) a detailed analysis beyond the headlines should give the edge to the OTAs. Why?
Posted Oct 22, 2009
A little while back, some of the major online travel agencies waived fees for flight bookings. Has it had an effect on airline direct Web site bookings? Yes, say some airline executives. What are the airlines doing about it? They can't say.
Posted Aug 11, 2009
The general media is abuzz with stories about the lack of innovation of the major online travel agencies. A recent Forrester Report which shows consumers' frustration with online travel planning and booking is cited. The report stated that many consumers are fed up with the complicated process of planning and booking travel online. Part of this frustration concerns added fees, what we like to label in the travel industry as ancillary revenue. The article points to a resurgence of bookings through traditional travel agents.
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