Thursday's Travel InsideOut

Super-sleuth Tom Botts noticed that the under-the-radar Travelzoo launch of fly.com in the U.K. is under way. You can take a look at the U.K. incarnation here, and notice that the domain name is not Fly.co.uk, which is owned by another travel comparison-shopping company. Oh the confusion.

Hudson Crossing Travel Industry Insight: Fly.com: A New Way for the UK to Search for Aeroplane Trips: TravelZoo property Fly.com has quietly launched a UK version of their meta search site. For curious US users, simply click on the flag in the upper right hand corner. UK users are redirected automatically. Read more

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Priceline.com notes that major hotel chains, to a great extent, have gone missing on competitor getaroom.com and the Name-Your-Own Price folks can name some reasons why.

Dennis Schaal Blog: Nothing Opaque About Priceline's Take on getaroom.com: So what are Priceline.com's and Hotwire's opinions about getaroom.com and its model? Read more

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The Arison family, which will retain a substantial piece, about 28 percent, of Carnival Corp.’s voting rights, will sell millions of shares of the company. You can call it a repositioning sail (actually, sale). The family has made this sort of move before.

USA Today Cruise Log: Arison family to sell some Carnival Corp. shares: Members of the Arison family, which owns a substantial chunk of Carnival Corp., plan to sell up to 8.5 million shares, the company said. Tax planning, estate planning and diversification purposes are the reasons given. Read more

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The off-again, on-again merger of the two leading corporate travel organizations in the U.S., NBTA and ACTE, may be off again as due diligence and name games appear to be getting in the way.

Travel Weekly: NBTA-ACTE merger talks apparently on again: Merger talks between the Association of Corporate Travel Executives and the National Business Travel Association are at the point of resuming, judging by a blog entry posted on Thursday by Kevin Maguire, NBTA president. Read more

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Arthur Frommer goes to the calculator and figures that JetBlue’s new All-You-Can-Jet Pass for $599 may just not add up to a bargain for some travelers.

Arthur Frommer Online: JetBlue's Seemingly-Cheap $599 One-Month Pass Is Perhaps Less Than First Meets the Eye: Though it's been greeted with rapture by some travel websites, I'm not entirely enthused about JetBlue's recently-announced All-You-Can-Jet Pass for $599. That device gives you the right to make unlimited flights on JetBlue, for one month between September 8 and October 8, for all of $599. And quite clearly, if there were a reason for you to make daily flights on JetBlue for 30 consecutive days, you'd save big by first buying the Pass. But that would involve an abnormal amount of flying. Read more

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Barry Sternlicht, who departed as chairman of Starwood Hotels in 2005, still has his hand in a few hotel -- or should I say, real estate -- ventures. His Starwood Property Trust just made its mark as the largest IPO to date of 2009. Location, location, location.

Canadian Business Online: Starwood Property Trust shares decline on 1st day of trading, IPO prices at $20 per share:
NEW YORK - Shares of hotel magnate Barry Sternlicht's Starwood Property Trust Inc. initially declined on their first day of trading Wednesday before closing unchanged, even as the broader markets edged up after the Federal Reserve left a key interest rate at a record low. 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.

Wednesday's Travel InsideOut

Some travelers may take a pass on this, but undoubtedly JetBlue’s phone lines are humming because it began selling a flight pass for $599. Purchasers get a month of no-holds-barred travel, to some extent. Let's see how this gets displayed in global distribution systems.

Los Angeles Times: A month of JetBlue flights for $599 with ‘All You Can Jet’: JetBlue Airways today began selling a $599 pass that allows unlimited travel on the budget carrier from Sept. 8 to Oct. 8. The pass, called “All You Can Jet,” which has set Twitter buzzing, could be a good deal if you plan to fly a lot that month. But not if you don’t, because it’s nonrefundable. And there are other catches too. Read more

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First, the travel industry’s best and brightest commented on this blog about the innovation failures of the online travel companies. Then, Forrester Research releases a report by Henry Harteveldt, outlining consumers’ frustrations with booking travel online. And, now iPerceptions published the results of its own inquiry, showing that potential hotel bookers are put off by the lack of usability of hotel websites. I think we are onto something:)

Hotel Interactive: Hotel Websites Failing to Meet Expectations: The hotel industry is potentially losing out of millions of dollars in reservations because too many people are not looking and then booking. No, this is not a case of people using these sites for research only. Turns out technology is the main culprit here and its shooing away potential travel buyers in droves. Read more

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If timing is everything in life, then Continental Airlines didn’t have much luck when it announced the beginning of a helicopter-service promotion for business traveler a day before last Saturday’s accident involving a private plane and a tour helicopter.

Examiner.com: Continental announces helicopter promotion 1 day before tour crash: Continental Airlines announced a Newark Airport-Manhattan helicopter promotion with US Helicopter one day before the Saturday crash of a Liberty Helicopter Sightseeing Tours helicopter over the Hudson River. Read more

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It’s an exciting day at Yale [hint: that’s secret Yahoo code for, well, Yahoo] as the company tries to reestablish Yale [you know, Yahoo] “mindshare” in light of the Yahoo-Microsoft advertising deal. To all of you travel advertisers out there -- get ready for some stick-to-the script talking points from Yahoo sales/spinmeisters when the partnership gets its wings a year or so from now.

Silicon Alley Insider/Yahoo: Yahoo CMO Talks Up Microsoft Deal In Internal Memo: Yahoo CMO Elisa Steele sent out a memo to her reports following the news two weeks ago that the company had finally outsourced its search to Microsoft. Kara Swisher landed a copy today. Read more

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Here’s a compilation of properties and chains on Twitter. It’s a relatively small list, considering the expanse of global hotels, but the ranks undoubtedly will increase.

Resideo Hotels: Hotels Using Twitter: More and more hotels are signing up on Twitter, so we decided to put together this list. It's most definitely, by the nature of the web, incomplete -- so please feel free to let us know (via email, Twitter or the comments section below) if you know of others that should be included. Enjoy -- and feel free to follow us on Twitter: @resideo Read more

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Oh, love – or is it lust – is in the air with the consummation of a partnership between Hedonism II and a swingers’ website. We hope it’s not all just a tease, but travel agents, in this deal, won’t have to split their commission with the website.

Travel Weekly: Hedonism II partners with swingers' website: A swingers’ website and SuperClubs’ Hedonism II resort in Jamaica have teamed up, and the partnership could prove a profitable connection for travel agents. 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.

Tuesday's Travel InsideOut

Months after pitched allegations surfaced that it manipulated reviews on TripAdvisor's Cruise Critic by wooing frequent cruisers, Royal Caribbean has chucked its Royal Champions program in favor of blogs, Facebook and Twitter.

Travel Weekly: Royal Caribbean disbands Royal Champions: Royal Caribbean International ended its Royal Champions program, saying that it has supplanted the program with new social networking outlets. Read more

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When Google bobs, the travel industry weaves. The betting here is that Google is not about to launch another Expedia any time soon, but Steve Hafner of Kayak believes that Google is poised to build out its content to cache-in on hotel pricing.

Dennis Schaal Blog: Kayak's Hafner Awaits Google Hotels: 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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Online travel companies, from Travelzoo and Expedia to Priceline and Orbitz Worldwide, are the darlings of the stock market...this week. In down economic times, goes the thinking, these babies can find travelers deals and get some revenue and profits going.

Seeking Alpha: Online Travel Companies: Good Places to Book Some Profits: Online travel booking companies have been taking off lately especially in the wake of Travelzoo (TZOO) and Expedia (EXPE) both posting solid revenues last week. Wall Street analysts yesterday decided to hop aboard the online travel express by upgrading both Orbitz Worldwide (OWW) and Priceline.com (PCLN) probably so they don’t look like idiots when those companies beat their upcoming earnings estimates. Read more

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Expedia’s affiliate network replaced metasearch company travelsupermarket.com in powering travel offerings for The Guardian. The travel pages on the newspaper’s website attract a few eyeballs….around 2 million or, conventionally speaking, some 1 million unique visitors. Score one for the OTCs over the metas.

Travolution: Expedia to expand white label scheme as meta sites pull out: Expedia Affiliate Network president Henrik Kjellberg says there is “no technical limit” to how many websites the business can work with, and that cannibalization of customers from the core Expedia Inc. brands is not an issue. Read more

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HRG is downsizing with a twist. Through its Options for Change program, the travel management company is giving employees a measure of customization in the concessions and cutbacks they accept. No reports yet about whether the staff is, well, hog-wild about the idea.

e-tid.com: HRG seeks concessions from staff: Hogg Robinson Group chief executive David Radcliffe has agreed a 5% pay cut as part of a move to protect the business in the current economic climate. The rest of the HRG board will take the same pay cut, which is effective from 1 September. Read more

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Hawaiian Airlines arrived with the top on-time performance in June while American Airlines, JetBlue and regional carrier Comair were unfashionably late, according to the Dept. of Transportation. Overall,on-time performance improved from a year ago, but slid compared with May.

Dow Jones Newswires: US Airlines' On-Time Performance Improves In June From Year Ago: U.S. airlines' on-time and baggage-handling performance improved from a year earlier in June but worsened from May, the U.S. Department of Transportation said Tuesday.

Air traffic has been easing in recent months as carriers continue to cut back capacity amid slack demand. 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.

Monday's Travel InsideOut

Twitter, the social media site with the nebulous business model, apparently is getting set to make good on its pledge to start charging for premium services, including business accounts. In a move widely interpreted as a step in that direction, every Twitter page now has a Business link on the bottom, leading to Twitter 101, a business guide to Twitter. The business guide includes case studies, including the following one tracing the evolution of JetBlue’s use of Twitter.

Twitter: @JetBlue: It's Fun, But Does it Scale?: When JetBlue joined Twitter in the spring of 2007, it was one of the first major brands to do so. Today, the company has nearly a million of followers, and its account is often cited as an example of smart corporate twittering. But the company started out on Twitter with modest goals. It wanted to help customers. Read more

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Getaroom.com’s unpublished hotel discounts over the phone sound like a great idea so I dialed for dollars, so to speak, and put its value proposition to the test.

Dennis Schaal Blog: Getaroom.com's Phone Rates and Manner Fall Flat: I briefly and unscientifically tested the getaroom.com call center experience and wasn't impressed with its unpublished rates over the phone and its customer-service style.

Hotwire offered much steeper discounts for properties with the same star ratings and city areas in two instances, while getaroom.com's phone rate bested Hotwire's opaque rate by a few bucks in a third test. Read more

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With their Star Alliance collaboration given the green light, United and Continental plan to get very cozy in their technology relationship.

Travel Weekly: Continental, United to seek shared technology platform: Continental and United plan to forge a common information technology system as part of their new relationship as Star Alliance partners, Continental CEO Larry Kellner said. Read more

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Yahoo and Microsoft reportedly are moving closer to a search deal, an alliance that could positively impact Bing Travel if the partnership makes Bing a stronger competitor against Google.

Advertising Age: Do You Bing? Yahooers May Soon Search With Microsoft: NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- Yahoo is close to making Microsoft's Bing its search provider. The deal, which would make Microsoft a more credible competitor to Google, is likely to be announced this week, and seems likely to be based on a revenue share, not on a big fat check upfront, as some at Yahoo had hoped. Read more

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Times are tough for the airline industry. But is it prudent to gouge your customers a bit more during the height of a recession by increasing checked bag fees?

Yahoo Finance/Reuters: AMR raises bag check fees for domestic flights: CHICAGO (Reuters) - AMR Corp (NYSE:AMR - News), parent of American Airlines, said on Friday it would raise by $5 the fee it charges to check a first or second bag on domestic flights. Read more

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Global distribution systems have their developer agreements, enabling third parties to build applications to their systems. But Farelogix, in making its Hawkeye point of sale application available for public download, did something completely different -- it released the application’s source code. Here's an update.

Dennis Schaal Blog: Open Source Experiment in Travel Industry a Modest Success: I was reading about open source Mozilla's challenges now that Google has entered the browser market with Google Chrome, and that reminded me that it was time to get an update about the travel industry's own open-source experiment. Read more

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In some quarters, swine flu concerns have subsided, but the problem promises still to be a thorn in the travel industry’s side. Britain recorded “a huge rise” in cases and started screening cruise passengers.

Times Online: Swine flu screening at UK airports amid fear that NHS could be overwhelmed: NHS intensive care services could be overwhelmed by a huge rise in swine flu cases, researchers have warned, as Britain’s port authorities started screening incoming passengers for the first time. 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.

Friday's Travel InsideOut

It's probably not that effective for its marketing reputation that Orbitz lost two top marketing executives in the past two weeks.

AdAge: Orbitz Loses Its Two Top Marketing Execs: CHICAGO (AdAge.com) -- The top two marketing executives at Orbitz have left the company only weeks after it named a new creative agency of record, an Orbitz spokeswoman confirmed. Read more

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The guff that TripAdvisor has received about fake reviews hasn’t dissuaded a tourism promotional body in the U.K. from talking to TripAdvisor about a new review initiative.

Travolution: TripAdvisor and VisitEngland in talks over user review strategy: VisitEngland has held discussions with TripAdvisor as part of its strategy to review the current accommodation grading scheme. Read more

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In an earlier proceeding, a judge found that $184.5 million was "warranted" in an Expedia breach of contract case. If a proposed settlement is half of that amount, then we’re still talking substantial dollars in Washington State.

Dennis Schaal Blog: Expedia Reaches Proposed Settlement in Washington State Consumer Class-Action: Expedia Inc. reached a proposed settlement with a certified class of consumers in Washington State related to hotel taxes and service fees.

The amount of the proposed settlement was not disclosed, but in late May, Superior Court Judge Monica Benton found that $184.5 million in damages, allegedly covering "services fees" collected from Feb. 18, 2003, to Dec. 11, 2006, "based on Expedia's breach of contract is warranted." Read more

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Are leisure destinations like Las Vegas and Orlando on some sort of governmental-meetings blacklist? What happens in Washington stays in …. Well, this sort of policy would be ridiculous.

UpTake Travel Industry Blog: Congress calls for Investigation of Federal Travel Blacklist: US House Representatives from Florida and Nevada have asked for an investigation to find out whether a travel blacklist bans government agencies from holding meetings in certain leisure-oriented and holiday resort cities. Read more

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With traffic down amidst a capacity cut, JetBlue notched a second quarter profit and expects to remain flying in the black for the rest of the year.

ATW Daily News: JetBlue finds profitable formula, expects full-year surplus: JetBlue Airways yesterday reported a $20 million second-quarter profit, reversed from a $9 million loss in the year-ago period, and said it expects to remain in the black in both the third and fourth quarters. Read more

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The FAA proposed mandatory repairs to some Boeing 777 aircraft, many of which are operated by American Airlines.

Wall Street Journal: FAA Seeks Mandatory Engine Fixes on Certain Boeing 777 Jets: U.S. aviation regulators, prompted by the 2008 crash landing of a British Airways Plc jetliner near London, proposed mandatory safety fixes Thursday intended to prevent ice accumulation inside the fuel systems of certain Boeing 777 aircraft. Such problems can lead to dangerous reductions in engine thrust. 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.

Updated: Wednesday's Travel InsideOut

Travel Weekly posted a new story , correcting a story posted in Wednesday's Travel InsideOut. Travel Weekly now states that United did not mail a letter to a second set of travel agencies about its new credit card policy.

Travel Weekly: United: Only one batch of agencies informed of new card policy: United Airlines informed Travel Weekly on Wednesday that it has sent just one batch of letters to selected agencies, informing them that they won't have acces to the airline's merchant account. Read more


San Francisco reportedly won an important round in the hotel-tax battle against Expedia and Hotwire.

Dennis Schaal Blog: Expedia.com, Hotwire Reportedly Pay $35M in Hotel Taxes to San Francisco: Andrew S. Ross broke the story today that Expedia and Hotwire wired some $35 million in hotel taxes to the City of San Francisco.

If true -- and I'm trying to confirm it -- the development is a shocker. Read more

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Orbitz continues to apply pressure on Expedia's hotel business by extending Orbitz's policy to reduce its own hotel-booking fees.

Orbitz.com Press Release: Orbitz.com Extends Hotel Booking Fee Cut: Orbitz.com (www.orbitz.com) today announced the extension of its dramatic booking fee cut on all of its hotels around the world. This move follows a successful promotional trial that began in April. Read more

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My colleague Nadine Godwin at Travel Weekly produced a trifecta in her unparalleled reporting on United's new credit card policy, slated to begin implementation July 20. Her three stories follow.

Travel Weekly: United informs more agents about credit card cutoff: United Airlines has sent out a second round of letters to agents, informing them that the carrier will cut off access to United's merchant accounts, effective Aug. 3. Read more

Travel Weekly: Alaska, JetBlue not matching United's new card policy: Alaska Airlines said it has no plans to cut off agencies from access to its merchant accounts when agencies book its air services. Read more

Travel Weekly: For United, credit card policy might have unintended effects: United is cutting off credit access for several travel agencies starting July 20, but if three affected agencies reached by Travel Weekly are any indication, the carrier won’t save much on merchant fees. Nor will it enjoy the consolation of eliminating GDS fees on targeted agencies' business. Read more

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A hole in the fuselage of a Southwest Airlines 737 jet triggers inspections and safety concerns.

Wall Street Journal: Southwest Incident Renews Maintenance Worries: Federal aviation investigators are examining a Southwest Airlines Co. airplane that developed a one-foot-wide hole in its main body midflight, a setback for the discount airline just four months after it agreed to pay a $7.5 million civil fine for maintenance lapses. Read more

YouTube: Video: Southwest, Boeing Inspecting 737 Planes: View it

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Expedia Inc. takes a step to integrate TripAdvisor's content with Expedia.com.

EyeforTravel News: TripAdvisor destination content now available on Expedia: Expedia.com has launched a new interactive Drive Getaway ideas tool. The tool, developed in partnership with TripAdvisor, provides users with ideas for driving-distance trips accessible from their starting city on a single tank of gas or less. 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.

Wednesday's Travel InsideOut

San Francisco reportedly won an important round in the hotel-tax battle against Expedia and Hotwire.

Dennis Schaal Blog: Expedia.com, Hotwire Reportedly Pay $35M in Hotel Taxes to San Francisco: Andrew S. Ross broke the story today that Expedia and Hotwire wired some $35 million in hotel taxes to the City of San Francisco.

If true -- and I'm trying to confirm it -- the development is a shocker. Read more

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Orbitz continues to apply pressure on Expedia's hotel business by extending Orbitz's policy to reduce its own hotel-booking fees.

Orbitz.com Press Release: Orbitz.com Extends Hotel Booking Fee Cut: Orbitz.com (www.orbitz.com) today announced the extension of its dramatic booking fee cut on all of its hotels around the world. This move follows a successful promotional trial that began in April. Read more

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My colleague Nadine Godwin at Travel Weekly produced a trifecta in her unparalleled reporting on United's new credit card policy, slated to begin implementation July 20. Her three stories follow.

Travel Weekly: United informs more agents about credit card cutoff: United Airlines has sent out a second round of letters to agents, informing them that the carrier will cut off access to United's merchant accounts, effective Aug. 3. Read more

Travel Weekly: Alaska, JetBlue not matching United's new card policy: Alaska Airlines said it has no plans to cut off agencies from access to its merchant accounts when agencies book its air services. Read more

Travel Weekly: For United, credit card policy might have unintended effects: United is cutting off credit access for several travel agencies starting July 20, but if three affected agencies reached by Travel Weekly are any indication, the carrier won’t save much on merchant fees. Nor will it enjoy the consolation of eliminating GDS fees on targeted agencies' business. Read more

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A hole in the fuselage of a Southwest Airlines 737 jet triggers inspections and safety concerns.

Wall Street Journal: Southwest Incident Renews Maintenance Worries: Federal aviation investigators are examining a Southwest Airlines Co. airplane that developed a one-foot-wide hole in its main body midflight, a setback for the discount airline just four months after it agreed to pay a $7.5 million civil fine for maintenance lapses. Read more

YouTube: Video: Southwest, Boeing Inspecting 737 Planes: View it

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Expedia Inc. takes a step to integrate TripAdvisor's content with Expedia.com.

EyeforTravel News: TripAdvisor destination content now available on Expedia: Expedia.com has launched a new interactive Drive Getaway ideas tool. The tool, developed in partnership with TripAdvisor, provides users with ideas for driving-distance trips accessible from their starting city on a single tank of gas or less. 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.

Legacy Carrier American Airlines Gets Downright Inspirational -- Who Knew?

In recent weeks, this blog has fielded some pretty great discussions on innovation -- or lack thereof -- in the planning, or the inspirational phase, of the travel-booking continuum.

In a recent post , "Travel's Best and Brightest on 'Legacy OTAs' and State of Online Travel 2009," and several related posts, the following execs and analysts, among others, commented on inspiration and other issues in the travel-planning lifecycle: Kevin Fliess, Henry Harteveldt, Gregg Brockway, Joe Buhler, Lorraine Sileo, Valyn Perini, Elliott Ng, Robert K. Cole, Rick Seaney, Tom Lewis Katie Deines, Douglas Quinby, Jeff DeKorte, Josh Steinitz ,and Sarah Kennedy.

So, it took me by surprise when an American Airlines AAdvantage Program e-mail, with this video link, featuring travel to Madrid, popped into my in-box.

An image of Madrid, with the video link embedded, was prominently displayed on the top of the e-mail, running across its entire width. The image highlighted "New DFW to Madrid" service, and "Destination Madrid. Tapas, Flamenco, The Prado -- come see what makes Spain's capital city such an intriguing destination."

I have received plenty of AAdvantage promotional e-mails before and many of them have touted various destinations, but I don't recall such effective use of video in them.

When you follow the link to the American Airlines AAdvantage Milestones page, you can access additional Madrid videos on nightlife and off-the-beaten path locales, as well as videos about American Airlines' new One-Way Flex Awards in English and Spanish.

The Milestones page has social-media features, too, including a link to view and share your photos, and some forums, which look a little old-school for my tastes.

I am not a great fan of American Airlines' service and would much rather fly Continental or JetBlue out of my home airport, Newark.

But, I have to give American Airlines credit for going beyond an all-consuming transaction focus, and getting out there and trying to inspire some travel for AAdvantage members, who may have some miles to burn, but may not know up-front what destination they'd like to visit.

Speaking of 'Legacy OTAs,' it's a great sign for the travel industry that a legacy airline puts some energy into the inspiration phase of travel planning.

You can even say it is stimulating.

Expedia, Priceline in Twitter Trash-Talk

No, Expedia didn't name any names.

But, Expedia clearly took a swipe at Priceline and TheNegotiator on Twitter this afternoon with the tweet:

"Happy Friday to our 7,000+ followers! We are honored that you follow us, bribe-free :)"

Expedia's jab clearly was in reaction to Priceline's series of hotel-coupon promotions in the past week. TheNegotiator's following has gone through the roof in the past week. When I just looked it was at 8,420.

Expedia obviously has a problem with Priceline's success.

And Expedia's we're-on-high-ground and you're-not tweet assuredly could not have been tweeted without the explicit authority of Chairman Barry Diller or CEO Dara Khosrowshahi. (OK, I'm kidding on that, but I loved writing it.)

TheNegotiator indeed had an answer when Susan Black pointed to Expedia's diss.

TheNegotiator tweeted: "@Susantravels I don't know why they are jealous. They already received their $50 Hotel Coupon, oops ... I mean bribe. :)"

Meanwhile, some in the travel business, including myself, are enjoying the sparring.

As Douglas Quinby opined on Twitter: "Love competitors going at it on Twitter. EXPE vs. PCLN. TVLY, OWW, why so quiet...?"

Orbitz and Travelocity, among the other major online travel agencies, what is your strategy for getting up to the JetBlue level on Twitter?

And, we're wondering just how jealous Expedia might be about Priceline's rapid Twitter ascent.

Could this be a case of Coupon Envy?

JetBlue and Social Networking Differentiation

Some companies "get" social networking and some companies just don't. ("Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes you choose between the two." But I digress.
Take JetBlue, and its perspective on social networking. Morgan Johnston, the guy behind many of the airline's tweets, told me how JetBlue stumbled in the beginning of its Twitter experience and then figured out a way to engage its followers. Today, if you can't figure out where to drop your bag at the airport, give JetBlue a tweet and the airline will try to hook you up, Johnston says.
But, alas, I follow companies on Twitter all day long and see them just pumping out promotion after promotion. There's no personality to it. No candor. No transparency. Duh, little value.
Some companies just don't get it.
I liken it to the difference between an effective PR person and an ineffective one (you know who you are...or maybe you don't.) The good ones will level with you and not try to spin a journalist like a top. For the others, all they do is spin, spin, spin -- and these have no credibility.