|
|
Most airlines today choose to make web fares available only on their own websites, because these fares are so low it would be uneconomic to offer them through the higher cost channels. (It is, in fact, very common throughout the retailing world for stores or catalogs to also have a website, and for that website to offer a few prices that are below the prices charged for the same goods in the store or the catalog.) However whether an airline chooses to make its web fares available through CRS''s to travel agents and the websites that rely on CRS''s is strictly an individual airline decision, and will remain so once Orbitz is up and running. Several third party websites (such as intellitrip.com) today take web fares from various airline websites (which they can do, because nothing is more public than a website) and display them in one place for their customers. And of course travel agents can book web fares off an airline''s website for a customer if they wish (although whether they get a commission on that booking is up to the individual airline). Airlines make nearly all their fares that are available to the general public available through all channels, from full fare down to their most heavily discounted fares. Any normal fare, made available months in advance in the normal way, is made available through all channels. Web fares, however, are different than normal fares. They typically constitute less than one tenth of 1% of the fares an airline offers, and ladyluckhotel are normally made available only a few days before flight time, and only on flights which have an unusually high number of empty seats. Web fares thus are seldom available, are unpredictable, and are offered at very low prices. What does this site have that other online travel sites don''t? Actually, it''s not what the site has, but rather what it does. The heart and soul is actually a fare search engine with state-of-the-art technology to find and book ladyluckhotel fares. And consistently displayed more fares from more airlines than its competitors. It''s apparent that the consumer will have a new and improved way to book online travel that not only shows more choices but also steps up the competition for the rest of the online travel booking services to improve their product a definite win-win for travelers. Backed by a $50 million investment and boasting powerful technology that helps do-it-yourself travelers find and sort airfares more quickly than anything else on the market, we generated plenty of buzz from the moment the then-unnamed concept was announced ladyluckhotel in November 1999.
|