Looks like Orbitz is finally joining the "No Booking Fee" Party:
Online travel agent Orbitz Worldwide Inc., moving to boost traffic at a time when recessionary pressures have squashed business and recreational travel, said Tuesday that it will waive its normal booking fees on flights booked by May 31.
- Stay tuned because the interesting stat will be how much keeping the fees affected their market share. FMV originally predicted Orbitz would drop fees on March 23rd, so kudos to them for holding out an additional 2 weeks...
- We also wonder if this now starts a race to the bottom scenario for OTAs. We all know that hotels and cars are where the true money is for these guys - how long until the first OTA starts to subsidize airfares if the customer also buys a hotel product? This may be crazy talk, but let's see what Priceline has to say about it...
- Will low hotel occupancy combined with an OTA revenue drought bring back the glory days of "merchant model" hotel bookings? Will carriers be willing to dial up incentive payments to OTAs under the guise of "share shifting" schemes? Everything old is going to be new again as no stone goes unturned in a hunt for OTA revenue. The OTAs - Orbitz, especially - have bills to pay, too.
Online travel agent Orbitz Worldwide Inc., moving to boost traffic at a time when recessionary pressures have squashed business and recreational travel, said Tuesday that it will waive its normal booking fees on flights booked by May 31.
- Stay tuned because the interesting stat will be how much keeping the fees affected their market share. FMV originally predicted Orbitz would drop fees on March 23rd, so kudos to them for holding out an additional 2 weeks...
- We also wonder if this now starts a race to the bottom scenario for OTAs. We all know that hotels and cars are where the true money is for these guys - how long until the first OTA starts to subsidize airfares if the customer also buys a hotel product? This may be crazy talk, but let's see what Priceline has to say about it...
- Will low hotel occupancy combined with an OTA revenue drought bring back the glory days of "merchant model" hotel bookings? Will carriers be willing to dial up incentive payments to OTAs under the guise of "share shifting" schemes? Everything old is going to be new again as no stone goes unturned in a hunt for OTA revenue. The OTAs - Orbitz, especially - have bills to pay, too.
