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Posted Mar 11, 2010
Expedia Media Solutions (the media arm of Expedia Inc.) yesterday announced that the San Diego Convention and Visitors Bureau had named Expedia.com "Partner of the Year." According to the press release, the San Diego CVB was recognized as "a top advertising partner and major sales channel for San Diego hotels."
Posted Nov 9, 2009
For years airlines have made statements that the merchant fees that they pay when they accept cards as a form of payment were ‘next on the list’ of distribution costs that would be in focus. And more recently we are beginning to see evidence that this is true with examples such as United Airlines' reported change of policy when it comes to [some] travel management companies' use of their merchant agreement and KLM’s announcement of a credit card surcharge of EUR 7.50 being debated.
Posted Jul 18, 2009
I have emailed a United spokeswoman to confirm but according to a tweet by American Society of Travel Agents CEO Bill Maloney, United Airlines "told Congress last night that they would delay 60 days, as requested, shifting merchant fees on credit card to agents and consumers." More than a dozen members of Congress including two senators had requested that United delay the new policy for 60 days beyond its effective date of July 20. "United Blinks!" Maloney wrote.
Posted Jul 17, 2009
United wasn't able to comment in time for this week's articles in The Beat about members of Congress writing the airline to request a delay in its new payment policies for 28 travel agencies. I had asked what, if anything, United would do in response to the letters. A spokeswoman got back to me late yesterday by email. Here's the response ...
Posted Jul 15, 2009
No surprise here, but for the record AMR Corp. CEO Gerard Arpey minutes ago declined to comment on United Airlines' effort to save on payment expenses by requiring some travel agencies to use their own merchant agreements to process credit cards. "It would be inappropriate for us to comment about what we might or might not be thinking," he said. Sounds wise.
Posted Jul 3, 2009
From the Totally Useless Coincidences That Make For A Lame Excuse To Post A Blog Item category, here are a couple tidbits picked up this week that had to do with the number 28. I'm more of a 3, 13, 33 kind of guy myself, so in the interest of making no numerological sense at all ahead of this weekend when we Americans celebrate the birth of a nation, here are two on 28...
Posted Jun 29, 2009
Some days, though they are few, I am actually able to recall the lessons from school. In reading the June 26 article by The Eastman Group I am brought back to the days of my science labs. One of my instructors was notorious for saying in a loud and booming voice, as if volume equated knowledge, "Always check your assumptions!"
In his article Mr. Eastman contends that the recent actions of United Airlines to require some TMCs to absorb the merchant fees for the sale of airline tickets is nothing more than the long march to the inevitable commoditization of airline tickets. In explaining his rationale he utilizes a metaphor of strawberries plucked from the field and then sold up the value chain, each time incurring further opportunities to increase the price and value. His ultimate conclusion is that as airline tickets are now commodities then this is the only sensible outcome for "if strawberry farmers don't pay the credit card charges absorbed by your local grocery store as a cost of bringing the strawberry to the buyer; why should airlines pay those charges?"
Posted Jun 26, 2009
I read with interest Richard Eastman's letter about United Airlines' recent move to pass the cost of selling their inventory onto the agency community, but have to disagree with the logic of his strawberry analogy. Richard asks: "If strawberry farmers don't pay the credit card charges absorbed by your local grocery store as a cost of bringing the strawberry to the buyer, why should airlines pay those charges?"
Posted Jun 25, 2009
No one can wait or depend on the success of the suggested ASTA government effort. Some significant groupings of large corporate travel agencies are considering what action they might take individually. Here's a fully manageable plan which can work. The following plan (if taken by enough agencies) will send a clear and costly message to UAL over the next weeks ...
While the current "test" merchant program (or any similar form) exists:
Posted Jun 24, 2009
It appears United has taken the next step in the airline industry's never-ending quest to lower distribution costs or at least get others to shoulder the burden for them. As first reported in The Beat, United informed a currently unknown number of travel agents that they must process credit card transactions themselves and then report the sale as a cash transaction. Until now, when a travel agency (or online travel agency) has sold a published ticket on United (or any other carrier) the credit card is actually processed by the airline. As such, the airline is responsible for paying the 2 percent to 3 percent (in rough numbers) that Amex, Visa, Mastercard and Discover charge for using their cards.
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