...and all hell breaks loose.
While Travolution was hosting its latest advisory board meeting, Blackstone - owner of Travelport (Ebookers, Orbitz et al) - was busy splashing out an astonishing £13 billion on the Hilton hotel chain.
Well, fancy that..
Kevin May, editor, Travolution
It's been a few weeks now since Simon Vincent revealed he would be quitting as boss of the Amadeus-owned Opodo online travel agency for the world of direct selling with Hilton.
So, surely it must be time to speculate who might be in the frame for the job in the New Year.
A very well-informed source - i.e. a senior figure familiar with the process - told us this morning that the ideal person for the chief executive position would be someone from the marketing-consumer world, and not necessarily from within the travel industry.
Let the rumour-mill turn a little bit on that one.
In the meantime, demonstrating how important OTAs used to place - and still do? - on pay-per-click advertising, it turns out that Opodo spent somewhere between £300,000 and £400,000 in the first six months after its launch in 2001 in order to ensure it appeared in the Number One position for EVERY travel-related keyword.
Kevin May, editor, Travolution
Despite building a very strong brand for Opodo in France, but less so in other European markets, Simon Vincent has quit for the top UK & Ireland job for Hilton Hotels.
Shock move? Yes, in terms of timing, with the busy booking season approaching... [He starts his new job in the New Year]
Although to some two years may not seem like a long time to remain at the top of the one of Europe's leading online travel agencies, but there is a "whiff of change" in the air [not our cliche, thankfully, but that of another leading figure in the OTA world].
Direct selling by suppliers is becoming more prevalent. European OTAs are going to continue losing their share of the online cake, according to PhoCusWright, over the next few years.
Perhaps it's the right time to get out?
Kevin May, editor, Travolution
PING! Trawling through emails and the words “Hilton Dumped at Travelodges” scream out from a list of subject lines.
Is this a wisecracking PR from Travelodge mocking rival hotel giant Hilton?
Surely not. It is in fact the title of a press release plugging the results of a survey carried out by Travelodge to discover the top five books – all autobiographies, interestingly – left behind in its chain of hotels.
Just in case anyone is remotely interested:
1 – Paris Hilton (thus the, erm, clever title of the email)
2 – Jose Mourinho
3 – Jordan
4 – Jade Goody
5 – Sir Alex Ferguson
[NB: This is not a blatant attempt to improve the Travolution Blog's search rankings by targeting eager fans of the US socialite, Hilton.]
Kevin May, editor, Travolution
Tim Walters from Fatwire writes:
Just when you get used to the idea that mashup is not the first step in the preparation of a capirinha, Air Berlin announces plans to merge with DBA.
This reminds the mainstream business press that BA is likely to take over Iberia; Lufthansa has an elective affinity with Austrian; and Air France-KLM still obstinately refuses to become further hyphenated via the seemingly inevitable purchase of Alitalia.
Emirates, meanwhile, might acquire Austrian. Or British Airways. Or Britain.
[Are you sure? - Ed]
Not to be outdone by the avian few, the rest of the travel industry also has a bout of merger mania (or its flip side, a hankering for “strategic reorganisations” and break-ups).
In August, Royal Caribbean buys Spanish cruise and tour operator Pullmantur; MFS is sweeping the better part of the Australian/New Zealand retail market under its skirts; Travelodge is sold to Dubai investors; and KarstadtQuelle is about to buy Thomas Cook from Lufthansa, only to immediately flip Condor to an unnamed venture group. Kuoni calls off the marriage with First Choice, and banishes the over-eager bridegroom.
Seeking to eliminate redundant cost centres, Thomson/TUI will merge Hapagfly and HLX. (Haflxpag?)
Hilton buys Hilton from Hilton. Then there is (or is not) Cendant (Travelport).
In short, nothing like a revolution in product distribution to shake up an industry.
But: what does the future hold? What do your tea leaves or cappuccino foamed-milk stripes tell you about the upcoming mergers, acquisitions and renderings-asunder?
When and how do the UK’s “Big Four” tour operators become the “Big Three” – or less?
How will the GDSs diversify to counter the rise in direct distribution?
Bubble or not (see Kevin May’s recent posting), how will the online ecosystem (OTAs, consolidators, meta-searchers, etc.) evolve?
Who eats and who gets eaten? Or will Google just buy everything, Emirates included?
Tim Walters, director international marketing and strategy, FatWire Software
