WebProNews

Tag: booking

  • How the World’s Largest Online Travel Company Used Acquisitions to Grow

    How the World’s Largest Online Travel Company Used Acquisitions to Grow

    Booking Holdings is the world’s largest online travel company that owns Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda, Kayak, Rental Cars and Open Table. Glen Fogle, CEO of Booking Holdings says that it is through acquisitions that the company was able to grow as big as it is with revenue now exceeding $12 billion per year.

    Glen Fogle, CEO of Booking Holdings discussed their growth through acquisition strategy in a recent interview:

    Without Acquisitions We’d Probably Have Been Acquired

    We are an internet technology driven company. Without the acquisitions that we’ve done, we’d be nowhere where we are now. In fact, who knows where we’d be, we’d probably be owned by somebody else who would have acquired us.

    I was fortunate that I found these guys at a Cambridge University who started this little company called Active Hotels. We talked and talked and eventually, they said yeah they would join with us. Then we found the guys in Amsterdam at Booking.com and said this would be great, it’d be like music. You can have a great soloist who is wonderful but I think a whole Orchestra can produce better music and that’s kind of like bringing more people together to create that big beautiful Orchestra.

    Asia Could Be Our Largest Travel Market

    Everybody I think will say that Asia is the greatest growth area for almost all industries, and travel even more so. It’s growing faster than most of the areas of the world. As these people age and get going from young adults or teenagers into young adults and earn money and then they want to travel we need to be there now to help develop these brand habits. It could be our largest travel market.

    One of the reasons we did those investments (top Chinese online travel agency Ctrip and ride sharing platform Didi Chuxing) and one of the reasons both those companies were interested in having us invest and create a relationship is because of our outbound capabilities. Both companies are very interested in making their outbound services more powerful and they recognize that we can bring things to them that will help them. That’s the reason to do that.

    Our Outbound Business is Key In China

    We believe that there are really three things that are so important for our business being successful in China and one of them, without doubt, is that outbound business. We need to make sure that we are providing a great service to every single Chinese customer who wants to explore and experience the world.

    The outbound market is an area where we’re growing nicely. Our job is to make sure that that Chinese customer and they think they need a hotel somewhere around the world, where they need a non-hotel, a home, or an apartment, we want to make sure the first thing they think about is using Booking or Agoda.

  • Fly.com Makes It Easier To Search For Flights

    A new concept in online flight search officially takes off in the UK today with the launch of Fly.com.

    Already hugely successful abroad, simple-to-use Fly.com scours all the major airlines, international carriers and online travel sites, and then helps people easily sort and refine results by criteria such as number of stops and departure times and traveller class. 
     
    Unlike most existing flight comparison sites that rely on cached data (old pricing and availability that may no longer be valid at the time of the search), Fly.com uses ‘meta-data’ technology to deliver the latest, most competitive prices – direct from the airlines and travel sites themselves.
     
    As an independent, unbiased authority on airfares, Fly.com provides the widest range of flight options and is the only flight comparison site to include prices for First Class, Business Class and Economy seats – not just the standard charter seats. 
     
    Because Fly.com is not a booking engine, it simply helps visitors decide which flights are right for them and refers them to the appropriate website for direct booking, so they always get maximum air miles.  All fees and taxes are included and Fly.com doesn’t charge visitors for its service.
     
    Says Aaron Ritoper, vice president of business development, Fly.com Europe: “Fly.com is the next generation of flight comparison site. Our mission is to simplify flight search in the UK and to provide exceptional service in every market in which we operate.
     
    “In a recent study we found that people spend an average 2.6 hours and check 4 different sites when booking a flight. We believe this is because there is so much misinformation out there and the prices offered on many sites are often no longer available when it comes time to book. 
     
    “Our results are updated upon every new search, so our users get real prices and availability. This means they don’t have to spend hours comparing flight prices and will not experience the frustration of clicking through on a price and discovering that it is not really there.”