Microsoft and Travelport Make Travel Services Dream Team

by Josh Lew on

Microsoft has collaborated with the travel technology company Travelport before. The two giants of their respective industries teamed up to create the pricing system that was first used on Expedia and is now used by all of Travelport’s clients. Think Microsoft’s profit power has been impressive for the past couple of decades? What about Travelport? The company flies below the radar in terms of brand recognition, but their searching and processing services are used by more than 63,000 travel agencies per day.

A new deal inked by Microsoft and Travelport would expand the alliance. The two giants would work on a comprehensive set of tools and services for travelers, travel agencies and internet ticket booking sites. Theoretically, at this point anyway, the development of better price searching technology could lead to lower travel costs for travelers and more chances for profit from travel agencies.

Microsoft exec Geoff Cairns had big things to sat about the relationship with Travelport:
“In bringing together Microsoft’s rich, interactive technologies with Travelport’s deep marketplace of travel content and informed choice, we are creating a completely innovative solution for the travel industry. This will improve the traveller experience with a new level of personalization and change how suppliers, TMCs, and OTAs reach travellers.” Too good to be true? Time will tell.

Lonely Planet Joins The Hotel Booking Game

by Josh Lew on

Since it was sold to the BBC, everybody’s favorite guidebook company has had uncertainty looming in its future. The brand took a step away from its paper-and-binding roots recently by signing a deal with Expedia and Hostelworld. The trio will join forces to provide an online hotel booking service.

Lonely Planet will put all those hotel reviews it has in its vaults to good use, while Expedia and Hostelworld will provide the nuts-and-bolts.

The move is good for LP. They are actively bringing the brand to an online audience, and by doing so, are ensuring their survival in a world populated by websites featuring user-generated travel reviews and tips. With guidebook writers already scouring the globe and bringing back write-ups about hotels, guest houses and hostels, it shouldn’t drain the budget too much.

Expedia might also come out well in the deal. They are a giant among booking sites, but perhaps not much of a player when it comes to the backpacking set. By working with LP, they will gain exposure to a new group of customers.

Hostelworld and Lonely Planet are a match made in backpacker heaven. The budget accommodation booking service gets to put its name next to two of travel’s biggest, LP gets the technical side of the venture taken care of without having to break a sweat, and Expedia, like I mentioned above, gets some exposure in a new demographic.

No word on when the service will be up and running, but I’m sure quite a few people are holding their breath in anticipation.

Photo from Flickr user ChihPing

Adventure vacations inspired by Indiana Jones

by Iva Skoch on

In the world of travel, it is impossible to keep up with the Joneses. No matter where you go and what you experience there, “they” have always been someplace more remote, did something more adventurous, and saw something far better than you.

Now, try to keep up with the Indiana Joneses!

On Friday, Expedia launched 10 Indiana Jones adventure vacations. Travelers can take a custom tour to 10 locations that either appeared in–or were inspired by–the Indy movies.

How do some of these sound to you?

  • Horseback riding in Petra, Jordan (like in “The Last Crusade”)
  • Elephant safari in India (like in “Temple of Doom”)
  • Visiting Incan ruins in Peru (like in the new movie, “Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”)

I can tell you right now, they all sound great to me, even though I am not a huge packaged-vacation fan.

According to CCN Money, Expedia is also holding a Summer of Adventure Sweepstakes, offering an opportunity for site visitors to win travel prizes and daily giveaways. The contest will award one grand prize of two Indiana Joneses travel experiences for two; weekly prizes will include a family movie adventure to Southern California complete with Disneyland Resort Park Hopper tickets, a VIP visit to Universal Studios Hollywood, movie tickets to see Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull and more.

Holiday Travel Hell Part 3: If you book with Payless Car Rental, make sure your flight is on time

by Catherine Bodry on

As I’ve written over the past few days, my and my sister Ali’s trip to Tampa started about fairly rocky. There was the disinterested and blatantly untruthful American Airlines customer service agent, and then the lost car rental reservation with Expedia and Payless Car Rental (we still don’t know who to blame, but Exepedia eventually worked it out for us).

But while I sat around the Payless Car Rental office, watching a TV blaring Fox News and learning new swear words from Ali, I witnessed half a dozen clients come to Payless to pick up a car, only to learn that their reservation had been cancelled because the customer was late. Payless employees maintained that reservations are only held for four hours after the original booking time. No cars were left once the reservation was cancelled, so travelers had to take the shuttle back to the airport and start over with a different agency. This was December 28th, right in the middle of the holiday season, and I couldn’t help but feel sorry for travelers that were late for their reservation through no fault of their own — flights were delayed and connections missed, as I knew well. One couple was late because their luggage was lost, and they had even called Payless to let them know they’d be late.

On the other side, I witnessed Payless employees take abuse after abuse, when I’m certain many of the situations weren’t directly their fault. To their credit, they handled each outraged customer well, moving on to deal with the next one after the previous stormed out. That’s got to be a job that requires a strong cocktail at the end of the shift just to get your blood pressure down near normal.

So what’s going on here? It’s hard to say — Payless cars seemed to be the cheapest, and judging by my experience there, it’s a bit of a fly-by-night operation. I doubt the employees were getting paid enough to handle the kind of abuse they received — but it also seems completely ridiculous to cancel a reservation if a customer is late. I can’t imagine how many reservations were lost in 2007 when flights were delayed.

Is it possible that Payless profits from canceled reservations? That’s definitely worth looking into.

Has anyone out there had this kind of experience with Payless Car Rental? We’d love to hear about your experience.

Holiday Travel Hell Part 2: If you need anything from Expedia, scream at them for an hour

by Catherine Bodry on

After Ali and I finally made it to Tampa, a good 18 hours later than we should have, we took a shuttle to Payless Car Rental to pick up a car Ali had booked through Expedia. The night before, when we knew we were stuck in Dallas for the night, she immediately called Expedia to let them know we wouldn’t be able to pick the car up until the next day. The Expedia representative put her on hold for several minutes, then returned and told her he had spoken to Payless and that the company would hold the car for us. We just had to show up between noon and 4:00 p.m.

When we arrived at Payless, there was no record of the reservation change, and the Payless rep told us he had no car for us. After a bit of a go-round, the rep explained that when Expedia supposedly called the night before, the Payless offices were closed — so no reservations could’ve been changed. Ali called the customer service number listed for Expedia on her reservation, where an Expedia rep told us that there was nothing the company could do for us. She maintained that Expedia had called Payless, and even had a contact name. It didn’t matter — Payless didn’t have any record of it, thus they didn’t have a car. It was the height of the holiday season, and finding a replacement car, let alone a cheap one, seemed unlikely.

After about 20 minutes of going back and forth between Expedia and Payless, trying to make one company take responsibility, Ali got angry. I watched her from inside the car rental office as she screamed out in the parking lot, her face red, hands flailing, and occasionally her high-pitched voice carrying through the glass. The Expedia rep continued to tell Ali there was nothing she could do.

“Oh, yes there is,” Ali replied. “You can find me a car right now, and honor your rate.” “I have no way to do that,” the rep maintained. “Yes, you do,” Ali said. “Here’s how: pick up your cellphone, start calling rental companies, and find me a car within an hour. I’ve got nowhere to go since I don’t have a car. Put me on hold — I’ll just wait right here.”

After an hour of this back-and-forthing, the rep did just that. She transferred Ali to someone else, who in turn found us a car at Enterprise. I don’t believe she used any Expedia magic, and I think had we called Enterprise, we might’ve been able to find the same deal. But as it was, we were able to get a Volkswagon Jetta for $50 less than our original quote at Payless.

Lesson learned? Get a confirmation number when a reservation has been changed. We thought we had covered our bases by calling to change our reservation (the number for Payless Car Rental was not listed on Ali’s confirmation email, only Expedia’s), but we needed to ask for more information. I can tell you that Ali will not be booking through Expedia ever again, although I’ve got faith that patience and a bad temper just might get you what you need.

What do you think? Were we right to demand that Expedia honor our reservation and price? Or should we have taken it up with Payless (who had no cars left)? I think we were correct to call Expedia on it, and I’m proud of my sister for doing what I don’t always have the guts to do: get mad.

Want to read more of my holiday horror stories? Check out Holiday Travel Hell Part 1: American Airlines really doesn’t care and Holiday Travel hell Part 3: If you book with Payless Car Rental, make sure your flight is on time. Got any holiday horror stories of your own? Be sure and leave a comment!