With online travel agency options whittled down following the $1.6 billion Orbitz-Expedia merger in 2015, and hotels already offering customers perks for ditching the third-party travel sites, it might be hard to imagine the rivalry between the likes of Expedia, Priceline, and major hotels could get more contentious. But it apparently can, and is about be thanks, in part, to the completion of a mega-hotel merger between Marriott and Starwood Resorts. [More]
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Completion Of $1.6B Orbitz, Expedia Merger Further Whittles Down Online Travel Agency Options
By 9.17.15
Despite the protests from the leading hotel industry group that a merger between Expedia and Orbitz would concentrate too much of the travel-booking market in one company’s hands – leading to fewer choices for consumers – the two companies have received regulatory approval and completed their $1.6 billion marriage today. [More]
Hotel Industry Comes Out Against Merger Of Expedia & Orbitz
By 8.6.15
You might think of Expedia, Hotels.com, Hotwire, Travelocity, and Trivago as competitors in the online travel-booking business, but most people probably don’t know that all of these brands fall under the Expedia Inc. ownership umbrella. And so will Orbitz if the pending $1.6 billion merger of the two companies is approved. The leading hotel industry trade group says that this consolidation has gone too far. [More]
Judge Throws Out United’s Lawsuit Against “Hidden City” Airfare Site Skiplagged.com
By 5.1.15
Last fall, both United Airlines and Orbitz sued travel-booking startup Skiplagged.com, which helped travelers find so-called “hidden city” tickets where you book a multi-stop itinerary with the intention of not flying all the way to the end. Orbitz settled its part of the case in February, but the United suit continued — until yesterday, when a federal judge dismissed the airline’s complaint, but not because the airline didn’t have a case. [More]
Expedia Continues Taking Out Competition With $1.6B Purchase Of Orbitz
By 2.12.15
Expedia appears to be enjoying a shopping spree of epic proportions this year. Less than a month after the online travel agency bought rival Travelocity, it’s taking out another competitor by purchasing Orbitz for $1.6 billion. [More]
Report: Orbitz Contemplating Putting Itself Up For Sale
By 1.20.15
If you’re in the market for a couple travel websites, travel agent Orbitz Worldwide Inc, the company that runs Orbitz.com and Cheaptickets.com, could be looking for a buyer to hook up with, according to a new report. [More]
United Airlines, Orbitz Ask Court To Stop Site From Selling “Hidden City” Tickets
By 11.19.14
I live in Philadelphia and if I want to visit a friend in Chicago for a weekend, it will cost me several hundred dollars for a round-trip ticket on U.S. Airways. For significantly less money, I could book what’s known as a “hidden city” ticket from Philadelphia to Orlando via Chicago, and then just get off the plane when it stops in Chicago. Most airlines ban the practice, but there’s not much they can do to stop it. They can, however, sue to stop a website from promoting and booking these verboten fares. [More]
American Airlines Fares Back On Orbitz After Everyone Agrees To Kiss And Make Up
By 9.2.14
Feathers were flying, dust was stirred up and a general hullabaloo was underway when American Airlines and US Airways announced last week that they’d be pulling fares off travel booking site Orbitz.com. But now the tiff is over almost as quickly as it began, as the two sides have agreed to get back together. [More]
American Airlines, US Airways Remove Fares From Orbitz Amid Booking Fee Feud
By 8.26.14
American Airlines and Orbitz are giving consumers a bit of deja vu today: Three years after the two companies participated in a standoff over flight fees, they’re back at it and American has once again removed its listings from the travel booking site. [More]
Court Throws Out Online Price-Fixing Lawsuit Against Major Hotel Chains, Booking Sites
By 2.19.14
For years, some have accused America’s largest hotel chains of colluding with travel booking sites like Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz, and Priceline to make sure that the room rates offered to consumers on these sites are the same. This practice, claimed plaintiffs in various lawsuits, effectively allowed the hotel chains to determine their own prices and kept the booking sites from competing against each other; meaning consumers could be paying more than they should. But a U.S. District Court judge feels differently. [More]
Dallas Hotel Blatantly Offers To Pay Guests For Positive Online Reviews
By 12.14.12
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Here’s a tip to hotel managers around the world — Paying for reviews is bad enough. Advertising that you’re willing to pay for positive feedback is only going to communicate to your guests that you run a bad hotel and that you expect them to not have anything nice to say about your establishment. [More]
Orbitz Insists The Flight I Took Was Actually Canceled, Withholds $133
By 11.2.12
You know those paranoid sci-fi stories where everything the protagonist thought he knew about reality starts to come apart at the seams and he has to question whether he really is married to Sharon Stone or maybe he’s really trapped on an island with that Hobbit guy? Well, that’s what Orbitz is doing to Devin (well, maybe not the Sharon Stone part). [More]
Orbitz CSR Makes Dumb Mistake, Costs Me $500
By 7.23.12
April called up Orbitz to make a change to part of her flight itinerary, because customers can’t be trusted to handle that kind of thing ourselves, and must speak to a trained customer service representative. The helpful employee she spoke to apparently can’t be trusted to handle reservations, either, because–click!–he canceled the whole thing when she only needed to change part of the reservation. Now she apparently has a large credit with United, when not all of her travel was on United. How wonderfully useless. [More]
Orbitz Thinks Mac Users Want To Pay More For Hotels
By 6.26.12
Travel reservation site Orbitz says it has data showing that customers who use Apple computers to book their hotel rooms have a tendency to go for pricier rooms, so Orbitz has just gone ahead and decided that when Mac users visit Orbitz, they will see more expensive options first. [More]
Orbitz Hit With $60K Fine For Failing To Disclose Taxes & Fees On Airfares
By 10.17.11
Orbitz has been slapped with a $60,000 fine by the Dept. of Transportation because the travel site violated federal laws that require clear disclosure of taxes and fees associated with airfares. [More]
Expedia & Hotwire Kiss, Make Up With American Airlines
By 4.6.11
Isn’t it just so cute when big companies get back together after a breakup? Four months after Expedia expunged American Airlines fare and schedule information from its online listings, the two foes have announced the listings will be restored to Expedia and its affiliate Hotwire. [More]
Expedia Pulls American Airlines Listings From Site
By 1.1.11
Expedia.com has wasted no time in picking the first travel industry fight of 2011. Less than two weeks after American Airlines parted ways with Orbitz.com, Expedia has made its stance clear by removing all American listings from its pages. [More]
Delta Pulls Listings From Three Travel Sites
By 12.29.10
Things are starting to get ugly in the battle between airlines and travel-booking websites. Less than one week after American Airlines pulled its listings from Orbitz.com, Delta has announced its flights will no longer be listed on three other sites. [More]
