Travel companies have been pounding away at deal-oriented newsletters in the past couple of years, and Expedia's Hotwire unit recently revealed that its Hotwire travel-ticker newsletter has signed on 11 million subscribers.
After one year of publication, the subscriber base puts the newsletter in the "top tier of deal sites," Hotwire says.
That's not bad after one year of e-mail marketing, although Hotwire has the powerful Expedia brand behind it.
By comparison, established deals-newsletter leader Travelzoo says it had 13.2 million newsletter subscribers in North America by the end of 2009.
That might be an apples to grapefruits comparison. Hotwire doesn't specify where it's subscribers are located. And, Travelzoo refers to "total unduplicated number of subscribers" in North America.
In a presentation for investors, Hotwire states that its newsletter provides 75,000 leads to suppliers on a daily basis.
Meanwhile, although the Hotwire travel-ticker newsletter may provide budget-conscious travelers with timely offers, the Hotwire What's the Big Deal? blog is less in the moment.
The most recent blog post took place on April 3, 2009.