Ahead of the Bell: Online Travel

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - An analyst started coverage of three leading online travel companies Thursday, saying each has potential for sizable future growth, but that all three face growing pains.

Credit Suisse analyst Scott Barry gave a "Neutral" rating to Orbitz Worldwide Inc., Expedia Inc. and Priceline.com Inc.

Bellevue, Wash.-based Expedia has positioned itself well for global business, especially in Europe and Asia, using its financial flexibility and superior reach, Barry said. Since the company can't always offer deep discounts to customers, Expedia relies heavily on user-generated reviews to drive customer loyalty, an angle that sets its apart from its peers, he said.

Link: Ahead of the Bell: Online Travel.

Hospitality Net - Industry News - Sabre Travel Network ensures lowest hotel rates with the launch of the Rate Assured hotel program

SOUTHLAKE, Texas | Sabre Travel Network today announced its Rate Assured hotel certification program, which ensures Sabre Connected travel agents receive the lowest publicly available rates inside the Sabre global distribution system that can be found on other travel distribution channels, including Web sites. The Rate Assured hotel program is the first program of its kind to extensively check rates at the property level to confirm individual hotel properties are providing Sabre with the lowest publicly available rates.

Link: Hospitality Net - Industry News - Sabre Travel Network ensures lowest hotel rates with the launch of the Rate Assured hotel program.

Online Travel Demographics Just Released

Pegasus buys Wizcom

Link: Internet Travel News - Pegasus buys Wizcom.

Pegasus Solutions has announced it has acquired Wizcom, a wholly owned subsidiary of Travelport.

The acquisition further establishes Pegasus as one of the leading providers of Global Distribution System (GDS) switch services – the alternative to GDS direct connects.

Lodging Interactive Powers Up Websites With LodgiRez Internet Booking Engine

Lodging Interactive, a leading provider of interactive marketing services to the hospitality industry, today announced the introduction of LodgiRezsm Internet Booking Engine for hotels and resorts. LodgiRezsm is a state-of-the-art Internet Booking engine with integrated GDS connectivity and a single point of management.

Link: WiredHotelier.com - Industry News - Lodging Interactive Powers Up Websites With LodgiRez Internet Booking Engine.

Orbitz IPO

Travelport Limited (Blackstone Group) is selling a portion of it's interest in Orbitz to the public. The transaction is to be completed Q3 2007. See the full press release here.

More on Travelport:
Travelport is one of the world's largest travel conglomerates. It operates 20 leading brands including Galileo, a global distribution system(GDS); Orbitz, an on-line travel agent; and Gulliver's Travel Associates, awholesaler of travel content. The Company has 8,000 employees and operatesin 130 countries. Travelport is a private company owned by The BlackstoneGroup of New York, Technology Crossover Ventures of Palo Alto, California and One Equity Partners of New York.

Online Travel Bookings Will Surpass Offline Bookings for the First Time in 2007

According to a new report from PhoCusWright Inc., next year for the first time transactions on the Internet will account for over half (54 percent) of all U.S. travel bookings. The report, PhoCusWright's U.S. Online Travel Overview, is now in its sixth edition and is used by members of the travel, tourism and hospitality industries to assess the domestic leisure/unmanaged business online travel market. It analyzes this market by segment, channel and major players, projecting trends through 2008.

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Lonely Planet Launched Booking Service

Lonely Planet is launching its independently author-reviewed and recommended online accommodation booking service, Lonely Planet Haystack, at http://haystack.lonelyplanet.com.

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Marriott online reservations swell

Some travel sites have been struggling to keep traffic as more travelers opt to do business directly with hotel and airline Web sites. Marriott is among the companies seeing growth from that trend.

The Bethesda-based hotel chain says its Marriott.com Web site will set a record with nearly $4 billion in online hotel bookings this year. That is double what Marriott's Web site was booking two years ago and represents about 20 percent of the company's total hotel-level gross bookings.

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Major Chains Report Internet Bookings Growth

Consumers continue a three-year upward trend of shopping for hotels online and booking electronically, according to TravelCLICK’s consolidated second quarter eTRAK results, released today. The data shows the Internet contributed 37.3 percent, or 7,605,440 reservations, of the total Central Reservation Office (CRO) reservations at major hotel brands, a 19.9 percent increase compared to the same period in 2005.

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