News and notes from around the interweb:
- Will Expedia shutter their Orbitz and Travelocity brands? (Skift) Orbitz was the airline industry’s own answer to online booking, eventually sold off, and Travelocity was another major competitor. All under the Expedia banner now.
For online booking the big players are Expedia and Booking.com and neither one innovate much other than in how they sell customer eyeballs to hotels. A shame, really, online booking hasn’t improved and customer service is atrocious. There’s such an opportunity for a better product and instead the only real question is how to monetize eyeballs rather than earn a return by delivering a quality product that helps people travel better.
- GHA Discovery extends all elite status through 2023
- Supposedly $28 beer and $11 fries isn’t allowed at New York airports and the Port Authority was going to step into action but what about $24++ burritos at Newark? (HT: @saianel)
Insanity! A burrito costs $24.20 at the new Terminal A @EWRairport . Is it wrapped in gold foil? @News12NJ @njdotcom @AirlineFlyer @crankyflier #EWR #avgeeks pic.twitter.com/udrUsF54qZ
— Yasir Raja (@YasirWRaja) January 22, 2023
- Permanently banned from Hertz for accidentally returning car to Avis
- “Lufthansa has overcome the crisis. But CEO Carsten Spohr can’t get rid of the biggest weakness: the mentality problem. Like hardly any other company in Germany, the airline is struggling with itself – at the expense of its customers.” (In German, use your browser’s translate feature)
- Woman wants $3000 after hotel worker entered her room at midnight to deliver a fruit platter. Always double lock your door and use the dead bolt!
- A Motel 6 costs $854 during the Super Bowl
Are the OTA’s like Expedia & Booking.com still telling everyone, on their sites, the room they’re looking at is almost sold out nomatter what dates they put in?
I hate flying out of EWR especially from the UAL terminals. Their ATG concession is horribly overpriced and the food is below average.
To pay $6 for a cup of luke-warm coffee, be almost forced to add an 18% tip (because you don’t want to make the person who serves you angry), and finally to watch them pour your cup from a large coffee urn that hasn’t been cleaned since the airport opened is just too much. I can stop at Wendy’s at LGA and get a better cup of Joe for about $2.
Oops – OTG Concession.
The name change from “Vacation Rental By Owner” to “Vrbo” reflects the evolution that the rentals are not “By Owner” anymore, but owned by corporate brands.
Online Travel Agencies (OTA’s) OTA’s claimed a certain amount of sales in exchange to large discounts to hotels. When the pandemic hit OTA’s were no saviors to hotels. I’m pretty much convinced that the OTA room booking is voted most likely to be a lesser desired room in the hotel.
The same booking made directly with the Hotel generally will get the nicer room on property.
Does any travel agent have leverage with Airlines? I haven’t seen any, most travel agents are stuck on the “Your call is important to us” line.
OTG/EWR – You’re not paying for the food, just the thousands of Ipads everywhere. Also love those chairs bolted to the floor. Only decent priced items are sold at the 7-11 stand near terminal A, which you have to go outside to get to.
AVIS/Hertz – Hertz had people arrested incorrectly for stealing cars last year, and someone is worried about status?
What is the solution to all of them? Vote with your wallet.
If you’d like to stay at the Hilton Garden Inn in Pittsburgh on the evening of Pitt’s graduation, be prepared to hand over $969 for a basic king room.
@Brutus
H2P
@ Well, at least s/he wasn’t arrested by Hertz.
I worked for Worldspan in 1999, we were doing all we could to help the new effort Orbitz. Which was ironic to me that we were starting our own since I was told I’d be inheriting a huge database server farm from Microsoft as we integrated our data into the Expedia platform. Ah those were the days
American Express Travel and Capital One are just Orbitz white labeled
Interesting to see what happens
In the past year, I’ve seen two FHR itineraries printed out by different hotels with an Expedia header.
Regarding the LH Group, we hear story after story. Don’t we? I have not flown on any of its airlines for nearly a decade due to a pilot’s refusal to allow a medical patient on board . . . because the patient’s medical device model number had an “A” on the end of it, whereas the approved device’s model number did not have an “A” on the end of it. Go fish.
Re: The Skift article and Booking dot com, I have to wonder how AA’s new Loyalty Points system is feeding Booking’s system. While some seem to love this system, a lot who prefer to actually fly for miles (not that airlines–er, credit card shills– care anymore about that part do either) are left having to beg at the doors of RocketMiles and BookAAHotels at the last minute for AA LPs. Those both use Booking dot com. I live in a Hyatt. Here, one of the FDAs told me recently that more and more she has seen the reservations come via Booking even over Hyatt, so I think the reports of its demise have been greatly exaggerated.