Oktogo, Sindbad, Kuoni, lowcostholidays.ie, and AirBerlin, all appear in our roundup of the stories making news and driving opinion on 5 November.
DISTRIBUTION
The leading Russian online travel agency Oktogo predicts that its revenues will treble in 2013, hitting more than $100 million. The Russian-language site offers 4,000 domestic hotels and 250,000 international hotels.
Travel agency Sindbad recently transformed itself into a digital-only company. It sells flights, and offers bookings via Booking.com inventory. It expects 2012 turnover to be $70 million this year.
Two-thirds of Russians go to Yandex instead of Google for search. That factor is complicating the ability of foreign OTAs to make headway in the country.
A year-and-a-half after Kuoni acquired GTA, the company has merged the Kuoni Destination Management and GTA brands into one. The new name is Kuoni Global Travel Services. The company has also "refreshed" the brand identities for GTA and Kuoni Group Travel Experts.
On Friday, the California Second District Court of Appeals has affirmed judgments by the Superior Court of Los Angeles County that found OTAs are not liable for hotel taxes on hotel reservations. The news follows similar rulings last month in Texas and Hawaii.
DIGITAL MARKETING/SEARCH
Irish OTA, lowcostholidays.ie, has made Affiliate Window its sole performance marketing partner. The company claims an average booking value of £1,000 and earnings per click of £1.32.
DEVICES/MOBILE
Airberlin says 1 million check-ins have now been made via its iPhone app. More than 500,000 passengers have downloaded the app, says the company.
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NB: Image courtesy of Shutterstock.