Shares of online travel agency Expedia Inc gained 5.18 percent to $7.71 on Tuesday on talk that the company might be a takeover target for Google Inc.Google declined to comment on the speculation, which has been in the market for about a year. An Expedia spokeswoman did not immediately return calls seeking comment.
The search giant plans to expand its travel offering, which currently seems to be confined to one-off videos and ads from tourism boards. In the future, the site will have marketer-sponsored pages where would-be vacationers can learn tons about a destination and see related user-generated content.
signor_john
9:32 pm on Mar 20, 2009 (gmt 0)
It seems to me that, if Google wanted to get into the travel business, it would be more interested in (a) acquiring a travel search site like Kayak or (b) setting up its own "Google Travel" fare and hotel search than in taking over a company like Expedia (not to mention taking on such Expedia subsidiaries as TripAdvisor and Cruise Critic).
nealrodriguez
6:45 pm on Mar 23, 2009 (gmt 0)
imho their best option would be to take over a company like expedia that already is positioned among leading brands in the traveler's mind. they enhance it with google webdev-brain power and expedia staff's vertical-specific expertise; and there is no need to extend google into a category in which it will be seen as an inappropriate participant in the mind of the traveler. an airport specific query already produces feeds into 6 leading providers. a g-travel option will just produce a low to no-revenue line extension.
LifeinAsia
7:03 pm on Mar 23, 2009 (gmt 0)
If Google took over Expedia, I wonder if Google Checkout would finally allow travel-related sites to start using it (Google Checkout)?
signor_john
9:46 pm on Mar 26, 2009 (gmt 0)
imho their best option would be to take over a company like expedia that already is positioned among leading brands in the traveler's mind.
Trouble is, it would be taking over a lot of baggage along with the brand, and an OTA isn't the kind of business with the scalability of, say, a fare-search engine or a hotel-search engine. What's more, Google already has a powerful, proven brand that millions upon millions of travelers already rely on for researching trips. Expedia may be a well-known OTA, but it isn't nearly as dominant a brand as Google is.
steve40
10:15 pm on Mar 26, 2009 (gmt 0)
seems like a clever fit , if you take the number of people who use google maps to find hotels / reviews ( most hotels and accommodation have hundreds of reviews both good and bad ) and then add the little book online with Google Travel / AKA Expedia could be a big winner for Google , not sure what the effect would be on the rest of the travel industry suspect could hurt competitors
steve
steve40
10:21 pm on Mar 26, 2009 (gmt 0)
Plus on checking a high number of the reviews come from Tripadvisor ( not sure if they are part of Expedia ) but if so could be money maker,
One proviso though could Google be opening itself up to legal issues re: unfair competition
steve
signor_john
3:08 am on Mar 27, 2009 (gmt 0)
The potential value for Google would be in acquiring data about Expedia users: e.g., what those users have searched for, what they'd booked, where they're going, etc. But how far can Google push the "user data/behavioral advertising" envelope before somebody in Washington or Brussels makes a fuss?
