Word: expedia
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...sure how it even happened. A few trips to Expedia, a couple are-we-actually-doing-this moments, and then I was on a plane to Amsterdam with a bad head cold and the threat of a British Airways strike boding poorly for my return to the US. Unlike my blockmates, I did absolutely no research before leaving. What was the national language? Or food? Or rapist population? I had no idea. Was I staying in a crack den? The price tag certainly seemed to indicate it. I told my mom we’d be going to cultural sites...
...years ago, with one man's frustration at how hard it was to find and rent a beach house for his family vacation. Brian Sharples, who was between jobs at the time, didn't understand why he couldn't go to a single website - as he would go to Expedia for airline tickets - to find a comprehensive list of houses for rent. So, with a business partner, he started such a site. Five years later, the company has $120 million a year in sales, employs 600 people in five countries and is ramping up its marketing push to grow even...
...Chinese companies sometimes start out as carbon copies of successful overseas ventures. But replication doesn't happen overnight. Take Ctrip, the market leader for online travel reservations. The company, founded in 1999, initially hoped to be an instant Chinese version of Expedia but soon realized that rushing to provide the same features of the U.S. travel website - which offers package tours, hotel reservations, plane tickets, rental-car reservations and cruises, among other services - was a reckless, if not impossible, task. Instead, it focused on mastering one service before adding another. (See pictures of Chinese investment in Africa...
...Today, Ctrip holds 54% of China's online travel market by revenue, according to CLSA, versus 10% for challenger eLong, which is majority-owned by Expedia and has followed a more fitful progression - initially offering vacation packages, but temporarily withdrawing them in 2007 to focus on air tickets and hotels. Both players offer nearly identical prices, so customer service is a key point of difference. While Chinese Web users have become more sophisticated about researching prices on the Internet, they still prefer to buy tickets by phone (just 35% of Ctrip's customers buy their air tickets via the website...
...adding 13% to the ticket cost; 31% if you add a second bag. If you can't use a carry-on, you essentially become the victim of a bait and switch tactic, since the airlines never name their baggage fees in the fare quotes you get on Travelocity, Expedia and other travel sites. (See 50 essential travel tips...