Thursday, August 6, 2009

Thursday's Travel InsideOut

Here’s a Google crystal-ball double bill, featuring my interview with Google’s Rob Torres, and separately Alex Bainbridge’s post about how keyword bidding on hotel names may evolve in the next few years.

Dennis Schaal Blog: Google: We Won't Be a Copycat in Travel: After writing "Kayak's Hafner Awaits Google Hotels" and the "Brave New World of Google Travel 3.0," I spoke with Google's managing director of travel, Rob Torres, and learned a lot more about what Google won't do in travel. Read more

Musings on travel ecommerce blog: Google travel is coming… could it be a hotel PPC system?: I have been reading this great blog post over on Dennis Schaal’s blog. Kayak Hafner awaits Google hotels Well worth a read (and interesting comments too). Kayak CEO Steve Hafner thinks “it’s only a question of time” before Google begins displaying hotel pricing, a move that could change the online-travel ecosystem. Read more

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Family strife reportedly is driving an IPO for Hyatt Hotels in the midst of the sort of down economic times that would make any family squabble. After the IPO, ownership wouldn't be all in the family, but they still would control the company.

Business Week: Though Hotels Are Slumping, Hyatt Preps for IPO: It has been a stock offering investment bankers have been drooling over for decades. Hyatt Hotels has a prominent brand name and a multibillion-dollar market value. On Aug. 5 the privately held company filed with federal regulators to begin the process of selling shares to the public. Read more

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Pundits are speculating that the Travel Promotion Act may take a back seat to the Cash for Clunkers goldrush as legislators seek to do wheelies to get out of town.

Dow Jones Newswires: Clunkers Vote Could Derail Tourism Bill Favored By Reid: WASHINGTON -(Dow Jones)- The push in the Senate to approve a $2 billion extension of the popular "Cash for Clunkers" program could prevent Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., from bringing up a bill aimed at boosting the flow of foreign tourist dollars into the U.S.

The perceived urgency in extending the popular and economically stimulative clunkers scheme may leave no time in the crowded Senate schedule this week to turn to the Travel Promotion Act, according to several Senate aides. Read more

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It's going to be a long hard road to get the Yahoo-Bing agreement implemented and Yahoo has several out clauses if things don't go according to plan. Also, according to the agreement, Yahoo gets certain payments from Microsoft that weren't initially publicly disclosed.

Financial Times: Yahoo-Microsoft search deal has escape clauses: Yahoo’s recently announced search alliance with Microsoft has escape clauses that allow the top internet destination to pull the plug if the partnership stumbles, according to a regulatory filing late Tuesday. Read more

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From zero to hero -- suddenly online travel stocks have some legs.

Investopedia: Online Travel Stocks Taking Off: At the onset of the economic recession, online travel stocks were among the hardest hit last year. As recently as this spring, many of the companies in this space were trading at or near 52-week lows. Fast-forward a few months and these stocks look to be taking off on a trip to the top. Read more

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Travel InsideOut is a Dennis Schaal Blog daily feature. Get a thorough-going look at the day's travel industry top and tangentially interesting stories. Feel free to comment on them below.

Travel InsideOut is Copyright (c) 2009 by Dennis Schaal. All rights reserved.

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