A Leader in On-Line Travel Services Essay Example for Free

A Leader in On-Line trip up Services EssayThe pass away industriousness is billion dollar a year billet. Year or so people from exclusively walks fill the roads and departing plane seats in search of travel success. on that shoot down is no doubt that the travel industry will continue to be in demand, however, while passers, business travelers and everyone in between anticipate spending a good chunk of change to get from point a to point b, no person wants to part with their hard earned money. Thankfully, some genius bulge there understood this. Along with the evolution of the technological advances came a miraculous source for locating the go around deals in travel, from flights to hotels to car rental. Based on the number of travel clearsites available, no longer do discounted travel options belong solely to commissioned travel agents. Today, everyone from housewives to grandpas to beer-guzzling football fanatics have the capability of obtaining their own travel deal s. p atomic number 18nted by Expedia, Inc and based in Washington State, Expedia. com revolutionized the way people travel the world, and as time continues, its function only get better.With a bit of research, a pen and some paper, soon-to-be travelers be able to check what airline or hotel trump suits their needs (and their wallets) all with just a few clicks of the mouse. While competitors much(prenominal) as Travelocity and Priceline offer much of the same services, Expedia. com continues to be a leader in the travel industry (PR Newswire, p. 1). Thousands of hotels, airlines and other travel accommodators have joined in to vie for the travelers business, and the wooing has resulted in deep discounts and sometimes little extras, such as free hotel nights. Expedia. oms early days were a bit primitive, but as the demand for travel options increased, the business flourished. Expedia. com has become a household quote among travelers and will continue to be a source for deal s eekers around the world. Expedia. coms big to-do came in 1996 when Richard Barton, who, at the time, was responsible for creating CD-ROMS for Microsoft, presented the idea of offering travel options on-line (NetIndustries, p. 1).Microsoft Network1 reluctantly began assisting in web exposure in influence to generate business for the experimental company (NetIndustries, p. ). While discounted airline tickets were the only product Expedia was offering at the time, the investment Microsoft placed in technological innovations for the company greatly spread out the number of people coming across Expedia. coms website. A few short years would hear that Expedia. com was not just some fly-by-night dot-com. In 1999, Microsoft Network spun off a portion of their interest in Expedia for public availability a move that increased Expedia. coms worth at heart hours (NetIndustries, p. 1).With success under their belt, Microsoft opted to sell its entire interest in Expedia. com to USA Networks , Inc. 2. Led by chief executive officer Erik Blachford, Expedia. com is wholly owned by InterActiveCorp (PBM, p. 1). Teaming up with Classic Custom Vacations, Expedia Corporate Travel and Travelscape. com, Inc. , Expedia. com found itself in the perfect position to expand the types of travel services offered, and could continue fulfilling their mission of utilizing electronic sourcing in order to provide the best travel options to its users (About Expedia. com, p. 1).Services available through Expedia. com include discounted flights, hotel accommodations, auto rental, cruises and even vacation packages, all for domestic and international destinations. Additionally, the company offers guidance to travelers who are unsure of the type of travel they are seeking. By clicking the activities tab on the website, destination seekers are able to view events taking place all over the world (Expedia. com, p7).Additional services include printable maps, an easy 1. Microsoft Network, a major bundle developer, assisted Expedia. om by providing technological resources, to include premium web exposure, which played a major voice in Expedia. coms growth. 2. USA Networks, a media based operator, changed its call in to USA Interactive upon completing its leveraging of Expedia. com. USA Interactive also owns Expedia. com competitor Hotels. com (SJP, 2002). to maneuver website and 24/7 customer service. Along with success, Expedia. com endured its voice of struggles. In early operations, Expedia faced several lawsuits, including one from competitor Priceline. om for infringing on a patented name your price service. Other competitors, such as Travelocity. com were heating things up by adding new features and services to their websites. Expedia. coms defense was to play-up the features and services they already used by launching a major marketing operate using tags like Dont just travel. Travel right, and Where do you want to go at once? (NetIndustries, p. 1).While the mark eting campaign was a success, profit success was short-lived when some airlines stopped nonrecreational commissions to on-line travel agents, including Expedia. om. While competitors such as Priceline. com tagged on hefty $10. 00 surcharges to customers using airlines who didnt pay commissions, Expedia was able to negotiate with several airlines in order to avoid charging additional fees to customers, while go along to offer those airlines services without feeling too much of a punch (NetIndustries, . 1). Overcoming these challenges, Expedia continues its success by utilizing a product line pricing strategy, which entails offering a variety of products at ranged pricing, or bundling packages and charging accordingly.A mere 11 years old, Expedia. com has become established nationally as well as internationally. Today, Expedia. coms success continues. It employs 1,758 people, and averages sales at an estimated $590 million (NetIndustries, p. 1). The future includes focusing on the b usiness traveler, whose needs are being met by providing the widest range of products possible, and offering little comforts such as the Expedia. com Cafe3. Cornering the market with the best deals, Expedia. com will continue to lead the on-line travel industry without missing a beat.