News

It was Halloween evening. The kids were out trick-or treating and the first pitch of game three of the baseball World Series, weather-permitting, was about an hour away. The perfect nerdy moment to peruse Expedia Inc.'s latest SEC filing. Advertising and media in third-quarter 2009 was 10% of revenue, and that is definitely trending way up. In fact, air was 12% of revenue. And, car and cruise together were 14% of revenue so perhaps Expedia's advertising and media business, which still is in its relative infancy, will first eclipse air as a category, and then car and cruise before long.... Read More

What you missed on Tnooz this week, Sunday 25 October to Saturday 31 October 2009. Read on to see the most commented articles, every other article this week, and the most commented articles of all time...... Read More

Google has spent the best part of almost its entire existence denying the concept of Troogle - a travel vertical aggregating its existing and related content with organic search and metasearch. The content side of the suggestion has played out in a number of different ways. But the real reason for such swift dismissals from Mountain View - unofficial, most of the time - is why would Google risk irritating many of its existing advertisers by partnering with a metasearch provider or a well-sourced OTA?... Read More

Lufthansa has an equity stake in JetBlue and the two airlines recently kicked off a codeshare agreement from 12 of JetBlue's U.S. origin cities. But, their ties also have evolved into a vendor-client relationship as the two signed a five-year contract in which JetBlue employees will use Lufthansa Systems' myIDTravel corporate travel-management solution, which supports self-service e-ticketing for interline flights. Interline flights often still require much paper ticketing, according to Lufthansa Systems. The airline's IT arm says myIDTravel will enable JetBlue employee-travelers to use electronic ID tickets when traveling on interline flights.... Read More

Royal Caribbean's Oasis of the Seas, the world's largest cruise ship at 220,000 gross registered tons, today began its maiden Atlantic crossing from Turku, Finland, to Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and the cruise line rolled out an ambitious social media campaign in anticipation of the ship's scheduled Dec. 5 inaugural passenger sailing. The cruise line is publishing weekly webisodes and a countdown clock documents the time before the ship's scheduled arrival in Port Everglades, and its current position is plotted using Google Maps. Stung by the Royal Champions episode earlier this year, Royal Caribbean apparently is making good on its pledge to use its own voices to speak directly with travelers, but the line's execution of the policy falls short.... Read More

Words are not required to describe how well designed this gadget is. And how unique it is. Mobile Desk is a foldaway chair and mini-table, one suspects, primarily for business travellers, although conference attendees might prefer its ergonomic advantages to traditional event chairs. It measures 38 inches in length and costs a hefty $500.... Read More

Two key elements of Travelzoo's focus for 2010 are turning red ink into black in Europe, and increasing Fly.com's audience and revenue. Travelzoo makes money in North America, where it is working on further "monetizing its increased audience," but feels the pain of international expansion in Europe and Asia-Pacific. One bright spot is the U.K, where Travelzoo so far this year has recorded its first positive operating income since it launched there in 2005. With 1.5 million U.K. subsribers and revenue of £4.9 million in the first nine months of 2009, Travelzoo recorded operating income of £300,000 in the U.K. through the first three quarters of the year.... Read More

Word reaches us that Kayak's first ever national US television advertising campaign will air this weekend. The metasearch giant will simultaneously launch an outdoor schedule to feature in such exotic - and expensive - locations as New York's Times Square. The company is not releasing any of the creative ahead of when the ads are broadcast and unveiled on Saturday.... Read More

Expedia Inc. made some money in the third quarter, $144.9 million, a 23% increase, and produced very solid growth in total transactions, including air ticket and hotel-room bookings, but saw its revenue margin decline as revenue per air ticket and revenue per room night plummeted. Officials overall were pleased with the results, but warned of a continued tough environment in 2010. Turning to some of the hot-button issues, Expedia Inc. President and CEO Dara Khosrowshahi downplayed the import of losing Choice Hotels.... Read More

Southwest Airlines is probably the only carrier in the world with a executive in the position of "manager of emerging media". Yet Southwest isn't like many other airlines. Paula Berg is the holder of this rather curious title but is credited with throwing Southwest into the (not always) open arms of consumers around the social parts of the web.... Read More

The ownership structure of Lonely Planet seems to trigger all manner of angst and hand-wringing, especially from the mainstream media in the UK and in particular from the BBC-hating Rupert Murdoch-owned press. Our article yesterday from Tim Hughes gave a number of recommendations to those at top of Lonely Planet for what they should next given that digital seems to be huge focus. But what does the BBC have to say about its troublesome (from a corporate perspective) cousin and the continued criticism it receives from other media players?... Read More

Tnooz's ten-part series Using Online Video to Market Travel concluded this week. Each day we featured a different approach to making the best use of filming, online portals, different techniques and professional producers to create travel-related videos for the web. Here is the full set:... Read More

Travelocity introduced its new price guarantee for hotels, which goes beyond Orbitz Price Assurance, and clearly Travelocity's action is prominent in Orbitz's radar. "When they [Travelocity] come up with a program that is as customer-centric and automated as ours, then we can have a conversation," says Brian Hoyt, an Orbitz Worldwide spokesman. Hoyt adds that Orbitz will monitor the market impact of the Travelocity program, which he calls "interesting, but I still don't think it is a more compelling program."... Read More

Priceline introduced a free Hotel Negotiator app for the Apple iPhone and iPod touch that enables you to bid for and book a Name-Your-Own Price hotel room up to 11 p.m. ET on the evening of your hoped-for stay. Mobile applications are particularly geared for these last-minute -- or, should we say, last-hour -- bookings as travelers, who find themselves without a room, can use their iPhones to secure a room whether the would-be customers find themselves at an airport, stranded at an endless business meeting, or at the local saloon. Last month, Priceline President and CEO Jeffery Boyd talked of envisioning a day when consumer behavior would change so that it would become more commonplace for people to book a room once they arrive at a destination instead of before the trip.... Read More

Travelocity announced it cut its hotel-booking fees, as I reported it did a couple of weeks ago, eliminated its hotel change and cancellation fees, and introduced a hotel-price guarantee more wide-ranging than Orbitz Hotel Price Assurance and the respective programs of Travelocity's competitors. In tweaking its existing Travelocity Price and Service Guarantee, Travelocity is telling consumers that after they book a pre-paid hotel on Travelocity, if they find an identical booking -- same hotel, dates, room type etc. -- at a lower base rate across the Web, then Travelocity will refund them the difference. The guarantee doesn't apply to auction/opaque offerings from websites like Priceline.com and Hotwire. The Travelocity guarantee goes much further than Orbitz's policy, for instance, in which Orbitz only sends a refund check if its customers find a lower rate on Orbitz itself.... Read More