z*******n
发帖数: 1034 | 1 blogger-avatarby Chris Velazco | @chrisvelazco | January 23rd 2015 at 6:32
pm
How much does it cost to buy one of the biggest brands in online travel?
Only about $280 million, as it turns out: That's how much Expedia paid in
cash to acquire Travelocity today from its parent company Sabre Corporation
(no relation to these the makers of the critically panned Pyramid). So what
does that mean for you, the average vacation-loving consumer? We reached out
to Expedia to clarify matters (their spokesperson didn't offer much in the
way of new info), but don't expect things to change dramatically... if they
change at all.
Thing is, Expedia already owns a slew of other big-name travel sites - think
Hotels.com, Hotwire and Trivago - all of which started off as independent
companies before being snapped up by the former Microsoft company. In case
you don't feel like searching, yes, all of those sites still exist and still
proffer flight and hotel deals to people in search of their next big
sojourn. The events that led to today's announcement were set into motion
back in 2013 when Expedia and Travelocity cooked up a deal that basically
saw the former offer its travel platform to be painted over in the latter's
colors and served up to Travelocity customers. In other words, the lines
between Travelocity and Expedia have been pretty blurry for the past year
and change anyway; it was basically just for Expedia to tap into its rivals
pool of loyal customers.
And if you don't like the idea of giving your money to a veritable travel
juggernaut? Well, mainstay travel companies Orbitz and TripAdvisor join
upstarts like Hipmunk, Kayak and Hitlist as worthy players that have so far
escaped Expedia's clutches. Let's see how long they hold ou |
|
