Argophilia

Αργοφιλία: For the love of the journey.

OTA's

Priceline Says Aloha! to OpenTable and Sayonara! to Competition

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Priceline buying restaurant reservation website OpenTable for $2.6 billion shows the expansion of the hospitality space growing ever more competitive. It was only a matter of time until restaurants became a bigger part of the tourism mix. If ever there were an “all in one” travel company emerging, Priceline may have just bid Sayonara! to its competition.

Q1 Profit and Loss: Weeding Out the OTAs

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In a 2014 economy seemingly stagnated OTAs and other travel businesses are feeling some pain. This is not the case for Priceline Group, which just showed a 1st quarter earnings jump of some 36% on international bookings. However, this company’s gain is evidently Orbitz’s and other digital travel business loss. Are we seeing a “weeding out” of good travel entities versus bad ones?

#Travel Tuesday Tips on Travel Tech: Don’t Cry for Expedia

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Reading news in travel technology this morning any interested party might be a bit confused over all the smoke signals going out from online players. The New York Times suggests simply “Fewer, Bigger Travel Sites”, Expedia stocks are down on the one hand, and their mobile app is revamped a superhuman helper on the other. Meanwhile a startup called Bookt LLC takes a shot at Airbnb.com and vacations. I guess the good news is, travel technology is really still alive and doing well.

Online Travel Sucking Wind with Consumers! Huh?

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A USA Today story from yesterday pretty much tells on an online travel industry that has failed on nearly every front to deliver. Let’s face it, just because you can book a plane or hotel on Expedia, this does not equal the innovation and awe so many have spoken of these last three years. Tnooz to this beleaguered writer, online travel should be farther along by now in delivering on its promise.

Oktogo.ru Really Is – Mostly

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In the coming months the Russian Federation will be ever increasingly in travel news leading up to Sochi 2014. For people in the online hotel booking space, and other hospitality sectors too, Russia presents a special set of potentials and hurdles as well, this is widely accepted. Many questions exist where online travel in Russia is concerned, we hope this post will clarify a few.

WIHP’s DirectPack & Trivago – Direct Bookings Imminent?

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World Independent Hotels Promotion (WIHP) has just announced a sweet partnership with leading meta comparison site Trivago, one which could end up being a sort of strategic masterpiece. Testing their so called DirectPack ad platform with Trivago, WIHP’s test hotels achieved a 10x ROI with no sweat, according to WIHP’s Marketing experts. The implications of this news may not be readily obvious, we suggest you read on.