expedia

Expedia, Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) is an internet-based travel agency headquartered in Bellevue, Washington, USA. It books airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruises, vacation packages, and various attractions and services via the World Wide Web and telephone travel agents. The company serves customers in the United States, Canada, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, the Netherlands, and Australia.

Founded as a division of Microsoft in October 1996(1), Expedia was spun off in 1999, and was purchased by USA Networks in 2001 [1] (USA changed its name to InterActiveCorp in 2003 [2]). IAC spun off its travel group of businesses under the Expedia name in August 2005, including Expedia, Expedia Corporate Travel, TripAdvisor, Classic Vacations®, eLong, Hotels.com, and Hotwire.com. Expedia uses Worldspan as their main CRS, with Pegasus and their own Canadian connectivity company for hotel direct connects as an adjunct for hotels not listed in Worldspan.[3]

Business Relationships

Expedia is currently in a legal fight with its primary Computer Reservation System (CRS) provider, Worldspan [4]. Expedia has historically negotiated very aggressively with providers to enhance its own profits [5].

Several airlines have opted to not sell fares on Expedia, such as AirTran [6] and Spirit [7]), primarily because Expedia insists on keeping distribution costs high to maintain its segment rebates[8].

A few hotel chains have also declined business with Expedia and its merchant model for selling hotel rooms at a low margin [9].

Customer Feedback

As is common with large internet travel agencies, some customers have been unsatisfied with various aspects of Expedia.com products and services. Common complaints include lost reservations, erroneous hotel accommodations, poor customer service, and failure to post negative reviews online at Expedia.com. [10] [11] [12]. Expedia.com was ranked highly in 2003 by Consumer Reports in a report that did not explicitly mention overall Expedia customer satisfaction. [13]

Jingle

The well-known jingle played at the end of U.S. Expedia commercials produced since 2001 consists of the singing of "Expedia... Dot-com!" It is performed by Matt Mahaffey and his rock band Self. United Kingdom Expedia commercials do not feature the jingle and instead have a woman singing, "Let yourself go."

External links

• Expedia.com - U.S. consumer travel website owned by Expedia Inc.
• Expedia.co.uk - U.K. consumer travel website owned by Expedia Inc.
• Expedia.ca - Canadian consumer travel website owned by Expedia Inc.
• Expedia.de - German consumer travel website owned by Expedia Inc.
• Expedia.fr - French consumer travel website owned by Expedia Inc.
• Expedia.it - Italian consumer travel website owned by Expedia Inc.
• Expedia.com.au - Australian consumer travel website owned by Expedia Inc.

References

(1) - The 'Net Magazine, March 1997 issue, "Where Do You Really Want To Go Today?", page 21.