Expedia News

The Expedia-Travelocity deal won't likely trigger a lot of consolidation because there aren't a lot of U.S. pieces left worth buying.

Expedia couldn't acquire Travelocity even if it wanted to because it would have triggered an antitrust investigation. The pact marks the obituary of the Travelocity turnaround attempt, and the big winner is Expedia, which gets more volume and EVEN MORE negotiating clout with suppliers. Bad news for hotels.

eLong is putting its money, specifically $100 million of it, precisely where the company believes its future is, in mobile hotel technology. This initiative has certain parallels with what Concur is doing in using its own, larger investment fund, to encourage the development of travel startups doing interesting things.

A nationwide tax U.S. is an idea that will never happen, but booking sites would love to have some overall clarity on taxation, even if it costs users a bit more on each booking.

The author points out an often-overlooked fact that Priceline/Booking.com may now be putting pressure on Expedia and Orbitz in a mature market, the U.S., with the Booking.com advertising campaign that began earlier this year. Hotwire is already engaged in an offline advertising blitz to answer Priceline's inroads, and Booking.com's campaign makes things even testier.

Expedia Traveler Preference is a win for travelers and hotels, although Expedia will have to figure out if incremental bookings it receives will make up for the pay-at-hotel revenue hit. Meanwhile, Priceline reports that Expedia's program is still so small that Priceline hasn't really felt an impact.

It’s not surprising that consumers prefer digitally native booking and review apps to those of airlines and hotels, but online websites remain the most trusted and accessed platform for travelers.

Ask anyone who the most successful investor in travel is, and they'll talk about Joel Cutler of General Catalyst Partners. But, when it comes to individual investors, this gang of five has a lot of experience and is pretty good. None are infallible, of course, but this is where a lot of the smart money is.