Aug 4th, 2010 at 10:00AM:
A new travel-planning website and booking engine is launching this month in beta, and I was excited to give it a test run, having first heard about the site this spring at a EuroCheapo travel happy hour. Wanderfly.com is a "personalized recommendation engine" that takes your interests, budget, and even social network connections to give you inspiration and help you plan your next vacation. ...Click on a label to read posts from that part of the world.
expedia posts
Wanderfly.com travel-planning site launches in beta
Aug 4th, 2010 at 10:00AM:
A new travel-planning website and booking engine is launching this month in beta, and I was excited to give it a test run, having first heard about the site this spring at a EuroCheapo travel happy hour. Wanderfly.com is a "personalized recommendation engine" that takes your interests, budget, and even social network connections to give you inspiration and help you plan your next vacation. ...Expedia announces 2010 Insiders' Select hotel rankings
May 5th, 2010 at 4:30PM: The 2010 Expedia Insiders' Select hotel rankings provides Expedia customers with an annual list of the world's best hotels rated for quality and value as determined mostly by traveler reviews. These are hotels that routinely exceed customer expectations – in their customer service, amenities, competitive pricing and more.
Now, I'll admit that when I first saw the list, I was a bit puzzled ...Travelocity announces the launch of Top Secret Hotels
Mar 23rd, 2010 at 7:00PM: The roaming Gnome has found a new way to book hotels: Travelocity announced it will offer unpublished - or 'opaque' - hotel deals as part of their hotel offerings.
tweetmeme_url = 'http://www.gadling.com/2010/03/23/travelocity-announces-the-launch-of-top-secret-hotels/'; tweetmeme_source = 'Gadling';
The concept is familiar: Find deeply discounted hotel rates based on preferred location, ...Expedia TripAssist puts your iPhone in touch with your reservations
Mar 5th, 2010 at 12:00PM: This week, Expedia released a renewed iPhone application designed to be a link between your phone and your Expedia reservations.
The app is called TripAssist, and it provides one-stop-shopping for anything Expedia related. Once you link the app to your Expedia account, you get instant access to current and past itineraries.
One of the cooler features inside TripAssist is the flight status ...Expedia launches new search tool for disabled travelers
Feb 17th, 2010 at 11:30AM: A new search tool from Expedia and Hotels.com makes it easier for consumers to find hotels that offer accommodations for disabled travelers. The search function will allow travelers to filter results to only show those hotels with accessibility equipment for the deaf, handicap-accessible bathrooms, Braille or raised signage, a roll-in shower and more. Once a hotel is located, a customer can ...AT&T, Expedia.com partner for easier hotel bookings on-the-go
Feb 10th, 2010 at 1:00PM: AT&T and Expedia are partnering to provide travelers with easier access to hotels and destination information. The new agreement allows travelers to check hotel rates, room availability and book rooms on AT&T Interactive's YELLOWPAGES.COM and YP.COM. The platform will be co-branded with Hotels.com, a subsidiary of Expedia.com.
HotelMarketing.com reported the new this morning, but no ...Read the fine print - Hotel tip
Jan 7th, 2010 at 3:59PM: When making reservations for a hotel stay, don't assume all booking companies (i.e., Expedia vs. Travelocity) are created equal.
If you book a hotel one month with one agency and then book the same hotel again the next month with a different agency, don't assume the terms and conditions for refunds or changes will be the same. Oftentimes, cancellation fees and refund policies differ from ...Five predictions for the European travel market
Dec 22nd, 2009 at 8:30AM: The end of the year is the time for all kinds of predictions for the next one. Usually, I treat such conjecture as the bullshit that it is, but when PhoCusWright puts out a list of what'll happen for the travel market, I tend to take it a little much more seriously.
The worldwide recession is still squeezing the European travel market, but the online sector is likely to be the star next year, ...Expedia drops telephone booking fees
Nov 5th, 2009 at 3:30PM: There is a bit of a war going on between the various large online travel sites. They are battling each other to see who can provide the best service, with the lowest fees. Of course, this war really only has one winner - consumers.
This morning, Expedia announced the removal of all telephone booking fees for trips booked through their service. This may not sound like a very important change, ...Choosing the right company for your carbon offsets
Oct 15th, 2009 at 3:30PM:
According to Carbonfund, with the amount of flying I do annually, I "produce" about 21,000 pounds of CO2 per year. If I want to make up for the environmental damage I've done, I can pay $125 to offset my carbon contribution.
But what does that really mean? How can paying $125 make the air cleaner or the ozone layer stronger? Where does that $125 go? Am I just paying to make myself feel ...Airlines roll out last-minute sales for Labor Day
Aug 24th, 2009 at 2:30PM: There are just two weeks left until Labor Day, but it's not too late to plan a getaway for the holiday weekend. In fact, waiting until now to book your trip might even save you money with some of the great last-minute deals that are available.
American Airlines Flights American Airlines has several destinations on sale for Labor Day. Buy your tickets to Belize by August 28th and travel Monday ...Biggest Hotel Sale Ever to combat swine flu travel fears
Jun 23rd, 2009 at 5:30PM: If you are after a bargain, Mexico is where it's at. We've posted about how a group of hotels have a deal for those who do get swine flu from their trip to Mexico. But since that probably isn't going to happen, there are deals for those who don't get sick.
There's a "Biggest Hotel Sale Ever" campaign in Mexico through Expedia. In general prices are 26% cheaper than this time last year. Resorts ...Online bookings just got cheaper!
Jun 2nd, 2009 at 4:00PM: Online travel deals just got better. Even though airlines are tacking on extra fees, fares have been plunging for a while now, so it still cuts in favor of travelers. Travel websites have started to get in on the savings, too. Several sites are ditching their booking fees - at least temporarily.
Orbitz, Travelocity and Expedia announced yesterday that they are waiving their booking fees. For ...UpTake takes the pain out of finding the best travel reviews
May 8th, 2009 at 3:30PM: The travel world is "blessed" with quite a few review sites. In recent years, millions of reviews have been added to sites like Yelp, Tripadvisor, Fodors and more. Of course, this means that it can be hard to find the best place for an honest review, or a site with enough reviews to help you make the right choice. Enter UpTake - this service takes reviews from all those sources, and displays them ...PhoCusWright releases moronic report
Apr 19th, 2009 at 4:00PM: Travel research firm PhoCusWright is trying to get people to buy its latest report by making some (supposedly) bold predictions about travel industry technology trends. Realistically, most of this stuff falls into the "No Shit" category, but alas, Gadling will not make that one of the official labels from which I can choose. These are some real gems. In fact, I'd be willing to bet my MBA that a ...Expedia's Profits Don't Live up to Expectations
Oct 31st, 2008 at 11:30AM: Expedia, a giant among giants in the online travel booking game, is struggling. Sort of. The Washington-based company was riding high at this time last year. Their profits for the third quarter of '07 were just shy of $100 million ($99.6 million to be exact). This year's third quarter brought $94.8 million. Still respectable considering the hits the travel industry has taken during the summer and ...Microsoft and Travelport Make Travel Services Dream Team
Oct 24th, 2008 at 9:00AM: Microsoft has collaborated with the travel technology company Travelport before. The two giants of their respective industries teamed up to create the pricing system that was first used on Expedia and is now used by all of Travelport's clients. Think Microsoft's profit power has been impressive for the past couple of decades? What about Travelport? The company flies below the radar in terms of ...Lonely Planet Joins The Hotel Booking Game
Jul 20th, 2008 at 3:30PM: Since it was sold to the BBC, everybody's favorite guidebook company has had uncertainty looming in its future. The brand took a step away from its paper-and-binding roots recently by signing a deal with Expedia and Hostelworld. The trio will join forces to provide an online hotel booking service. Lonely Planet will put all those hotel reviews it has in its vaults to good use, while Expedia and ...Adventure vacations inspired by Indiana Jones
Apr 27th, 2008 at 4:40PM: In the world of travel, it is impossible to keep up with the Joneses. No matter where you go and what you experience there, "they" have always been someplace more remote, did something more adventurous, and saw something far better than you. Now, try to keep up with the Indiana Joneses! On Friday, Expedia launched 10 Indiana Jones adventure vacations. Travelers can take a custom tour to 10 ...Holiday Travel Hell Part 3: If you book with Payless Car Rental, make sure your flight is on time
Jan 9th, 2008 at 9:30AM: As I've written over the past few days, my and my sister Ali's trip to Tampa started about fairly rocky. There was the disinterested and blatantly untruthful American Airlines customer service agent, and then the lost car rental reservation with Expedia and Payless Car Rental (we still don't know who to blame, but Exepedia eventually worked it out for us).
But while I sat around the Payless Car ...
