Articles tagged “agoda”

In the face of a fast-growing and innovative rival, Grab’s foray into travel, starting with hotels, could give it an edge over archrival Go-Jek, which does not do travel — yet.

Understandably, Expedia and Booking are both trying to spin this in their favor as much as possible but it seems like a big win for the UK's competition regulator. We'll have to keep an eye on how much it really changes things and whether other countries follow up.

It's back to the future for Booking Holdings, which is pivoting to emphasize the prepaid hotel model that its Booking.com unit basically spurned for most of its history. This means better cash flow because consumers pay when they book, and higher commissions.

It's becoming increasingly clear that online travel players will try to leverage the heck out of connections between food delivery, ridehailing, and booking hotels. Uber and Lyft will undoubtedly become a bigger part of the action, as well.

Agoda's new CEO John Brown will be leading the company to increasingly push into Europe and the Americas, beyond its traditional online travel agency turf of Asia Pacific. The early numbers show that parent company Booking Holdings is putting its money where its mouth is.

All companies want repeat, loyal customers. Expedia is willing to buy their allegiances through loyalty programs while Booking.com vows to do without. It's another point-counterpoint between the two companies as they compete against one another in villages and cities around the world.

What can dislodge Priceline's growth path over the next few years? How much of a dent can a large number two play? Are there any startups that would come up to change the equation completely? Seems unlikely on all fronts.

If any company were an expert in search engine marketing, you'd figure it would have to be Priceline since it's had so much practice and success. It is a testament to the complexity of the genre that the Priceline Group decided to go out and acquire a tiny, 2-year-old startup to further advance the effort.