PhoCusWright@ITB 08 - Media model issues

There is no doubt that last year's announcement about Expedia's media model deal with InterContinental is THE hot topic.

The opening session of the day sees PhoCusWright's Philip Wolf ask a panel of the great and the good of the OTA world - Alan Josephs (Ebookers), Ignacio Josephs (Opodo), Ian McCaig (Lastminute.com), Jens-Uwe Parkitny (Expedia Germany) and Javier Perez-Tenessa (EDreams) - about their challenges/opportunities.

Uwe-Parkitny, understandably, says the shift from a merchant-intermediary system to a media model is a big opportunity.

Expedia is going down this route because there is a lot of money online that can be grabbed.

And, of course, it allows an agency like Expedia to monetise the people that are simply using it as a search engine.

McCaig: the blended model strategically provides a different dynamic. You have to be careful, he adds, about how it affects the brand.

The other panelists:

Josephs: No, we do not support it at the moment. And sceptical.

Perez-Tenessa: You can generate other revenues from the site.

No time for an answer from Martos.

Shame...

Kevin May, editor, Travolution