Expedia.de informationen
Die Mutterfirma Expedia, Inc. wurde 1994 als Unterabteilung von Microsoft gegründet und 1999 zu einer eigenständigen Tochtergesellschaft. Seit August 2003 gehört sie zur US-amerikanischen InterActiveCorp . Im zweiten Quartal 2003, dem letzten vor der Übernahme, betrug der Umsatz 247 Millionen Dollar, der Nettogewinn 41 Millionen Dollar. (Wiki)
Billige Städtekurztrips: Drei Hotel-Nächte zum Preis von 2!
Happy Hour bei den Hotelpreisen: Bei den Expedia.de Click&Mix Städtereisen profitieren Reisende ab sofort von so genannten Freinächten nach dem Happy-Hour-Prinzip "pay one, get one free". Das heißt bei der Buchung von drei Hotelübernachtungen zahlt der Kunde nur zwei und kann somit kräftig sparen.
"Manche Kunden finden Kurztrips in die Metropolen im Vergleich zu Badeurlauben immer noch recht teuer", erläutert Anja Keckeisen, Geschäftsführerin von Expedia Deutschland. "Mit Click&Mix Städtereisen wird die kurze Flucht aus dem Alltag bezahlbar. Durch die Bündelung der Leistungen Flug, Hotel und Angebote vor Ort spart der Kunde garantiert gegenüber der Buchung der Einzelleistungen."
Zusätzlich zu den Freinächten bei Click&Mix Städtereisen hat Expedia.de bei ausgewählten Hotels weltweit die Preise um bis zu 25 Prozent reduziert. Im Zwei- Wochen-Takt werden diese besonders günstigen Hotelangebote aktualisiert. So können sich auch Geschäftsreisende bestimmt das eine oder andere Schnäppchen sichern.
Buchbar sind diese weltweiten Hotelschnäppchen ab sofort und noch bis zum 10. Oktober. Die Angebote sind direkt auf der Startseite von expedia.de zu finden. Mit wenigen Mausklicks kann sich der Kunde hier seine "Nacht für lau" sichern.
source: Fliegertarife
Interview with Bruce Redor, director of key accounts, Expedia Europe
With many complementary brands under one roof, Bruce Redor, director of key accounts, Expedia Europe feels opportunities for sharing back-end technology and accounting systems while targeting unique value propositions at its corporate and leisure travel audiences can be a significant advantage for the company.
Redor spoke to Eyefortravel.com about operations of Expedia in Europe and plans in the pipeline. Excerpts:
How do you assess the progress of Expedia in Europe? What have been the major developments in the recent past?
Expedia, Inc. was founded originally within Microsoft Corporation and then spun out into a separate company. Subsequently acquired by Barry Diller's IAC/InteractiveCorp (previously USA Networks) in 2003, Expedia was spun out on 8th August, 2005 with its portfolio of diverse travel brands, including Expedia.com, Expedia international sites (Expedia.co.uk, Expedia.de, Expedia.fr, Expedia.it, Expedia.nl, Expedia.ca), Hotels.com, Hotwire, Classic Custom Vacations, Expedia Corporate Travel and Trip Advisor.
The new Expedia, Inc. will be a much more diverse company from the one that eventually doubled the size of its competitor Travelocity. With many complementary brands under one roof, opportunities for sharing back-end technology and accounting systems while targeting unique value propositions at its corporate and leisure travel audiences can be a significant advantage for Expedia.
Expedia Europe, under the leadership of our president Simon Breakwell, will be one of the main forces in driving innovative developments in the future.
What new trends have you witnessed from travellers perspective in the European markets where Expedia operates? How is Expedia responding to new challenges?
We have always faced new challenges since the beginning and we have always taken an innovative approach. A good example of technological innovation in the consumers' proposition is dynamic packaging.
Ten years ago, the concept of selling and buying travel on what was then still referred to as the 'information superhighway' was novel to hoteliers and consumers alike. In the early days, the online channel was merely an outlet for consumers to book single components of a trip. Since then however, the Internet has revolutionsed consumers' access to travel, and provided a number of sophisticated booking options.
Consumers' choices have evolved from single, stand alone products, such as hotels or flights, to now include full service 'package' offerings. From their debut in early 2001, dynamic packages have enabled consumers to create trips with different combinations of multiple trip components all sold together for one price. By obscuring the individual component pricing, suppliers are able to offer lower than usual pricing as a way of drawing travellers to specific properties or clearing distressed inventory.
This year $66 billion dollars of travel will be purchased online in the U.S., growing to more than $78 billion in 2006 (as per the projections). Of the 2006 figure, 13 percent is expected be purchased in the form of a package.
With the advent of online travel agencies, the very concept of a package has changed and with that so too has consumers' appetite for this new breed of travel. Today's dynamic packages still meet the basic definition of being assembled components of travel offered to the consumer under a single price, but the way the packages are assembled and offered to customers has evolved with the introduction of dynamic packaging technology by Expedia in 2000. Dynamic packaging allows hoteliers to move inventory while maximising profits, and provides the consumer choices that suit their tastes, preferences and financial needs.
Online agencies are now able to use sophisticated technology to dynamically bundle an infinite number combinations for car rental, airline tickets and hotels together, enabling consumers to select the travel components and providers that best suit their needs, tastes and brand affiliations.
The hotel industry has demonstrated it has confidence in the ability of online intermediaries to sell stand alone room nights, and the next evolution of that relationship has been to work with intermediaries to showcase hotel properties in dynamic packaging products. Dynamic packaging provides hoteliers an opportunity to reach a uniquely high-value customer segment. The profile of the package-inclined traveller holds many advantages for a hotel's bottom line.
At Expedia, we see through our booking data that:
· Package bookers typically have a longer booking window - 45 to 90 days in advance of check-in - providing hotels with greater ability to manage their inventory and yield to maximise RevPAR.
· Package customers also typically have a longer length of stay, often four nights or more, resulting in more confirmed room-nights, and incremental cost savings on housekeeping and other room turnover costs.
· Longer stays result in higher yields on amenities, such as concierge services and room service.
Not only does packaging attract high-value customers to a hotel's property, but it also allows hoteliers to sell rooms in an opaque manner since package prices do not break out the cost of the hotel, thus enabling hoteliers to move distressed inventory without the use of discount sites. This also protects the integrity of the hotel's published pricing structure, and allows brand loyal customers to add a specific property to their package if they choose to do so.
Today, online travel agencies represent 80 percent of all packages sold online, with that number expected to grow in the next year, according to PhoCusWright. Dynamic packaging was not easy to do however before Expedia.de. Packaging requires a connection between multiple sources of supply, a rich display to accurately represent that mix of products online, and a pricing engine that can easily process the number of options available to consumers in real time. The technology, paired with an astute understanding of consumer preferences, make for dynamic packaging success.
By 2006, it is being projected that online package sales will have achieved a 368 percent increase in three years. Savvy hoteliers recognize that the benefits of dynamic packaging can be achieved not only through partnership with a strong online travel agency, but also on their own supplier-direct sites. De Private label options, such as Expedia Private Label, already power the online packaging sites of numerous large hotel chains, enabling them to quickly and affordably begin offering branded packaging options to their customers and capture an incremental share of the package products sold online. Such a solution ensures the hotelier is maximizing the online channel for package and overall room sales.
Working together, online agencies and hoteliers are well positioned to deliver a great product offering to consumers in the form of dynamic packages, as well as reap the benefits of a highly valuable customer segment. Any hotelier interested in maximizing yield and growing their business should look into what dynamic packaging can offer - it is a win-win for them and consumers.
What plans are in the pipeline? What are the expansion plans?
Expedia will look to continue is technology leadership in the online travel sector. Expedia was the first online travel company to develop sophisticated technology for packaging airline tickets, hotels and site-seeing options in one transaction. While others have developed similar strategies, the long technology lead and deep treasure trove of offerings - from hotel rooms to dive-shop tours - give Expedia the lead in package sales.
Also a technological leader, its direct connections with hotel reservation systems, free from GDSs, allows for less costly and more seamless transactions as well as increased access to hoteliers' inventory. The company's recent appointment of Paul Onnen as Executive Vice-president of Technology should help to reinforce the company's leadership in this area.
Expedia's innovations have not only changed the travel booking habits of millions of Americans, it also pushed online competitors to try and shift into high gear to catch up. Hotels.com and Expedia were among the first to develop direct relationships with hotels, allowing hoteliers to sell their inventory as 'preferred' wholesalers, which increased the hotel partners' margins as well as increased their ability to provide unique hotel inventory to their consumers.
Further, Expedia was the first online travel company to build its own searching and pricing engine for airline tickets that provided customers with more choice and control over their flight itineraries while providing the scalability for the business.
Add to this portfolio of competitive advantages Expedia's lead in the European travel market - and the potency of the company's future is clear.
Source: M-Travel