Articles tagged “priceline”

CheapOair has already proven that it can make a viable business out of flights when its competitors are scurrying to build their hotel businesses. There will be pressures, and it won't be the fastest-growing business in the world, but there is plenty of room for companies like CheapOair that keep their heads down and focus on areas that others are neglecting.

If online travel agencies are heading toward becoming a hybrid of transactions and metasearch advertising, it is ironic that Kayak, Room 77 and Hipmunk have already become hybrids, having begun to take direct booking themselves in recent years.

Kayak's digital advertising spending in the U.S. just about disappeared around the time that the Priceline's acquisition went down. It will definitely be back.

Though Priceline has traditionally been resistant to letting ads disrupt its sleek user experience, the payoff may have finally become too lucrative to resist.

In the wacky world of digital travel, Expedia is committed to TripAdvisor, which it spun off, and plans to spend more with Kayak, owned by Priceline, and Trivago, which Expedia controls. Just another day in the life.

How long will it be before we talk about travel websites as always having an essential, if limited place, in much the same way that we sometimes talk about print guidebooks? Smartphones with bigger screens, tablets of mini and maximum dimensions ... buckle your seatbelts.

Travel startups often talk about how difficult it is to get noticed, but now even mammoth online travel agencies are finding it very difficult to break out of the pack in their TV advertising. And, it is expensive.

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.

Priceline Hotels Pro may become the next version of, or a twist on, Express Deals. Priceline shows the price up-front and identifies the handful of the hotels in the mix to give travelers additional confidence in where they might stay. But, there is enough wiggle room for the hotels to participate behind a Pro app without diminishing their brands.