1. Travel Search Engines
Polytechnic Institute of NYU
SPRING’09

2. Outline
•
Intro
•
Threats
for
agents
•
E-­‐commerce
•
SideStep
•
Yahoo!
FareChase
•
Conclusion
1 of 13

3. Intro
•
Old
model:
Travel
agents
•
System
used:
GDS
,designed
by
airlines.
•
E-­‐commerce
model:
First
B2B
•
Travel
agents’
main
source:
airlines
commission
•
Airlines
were
looking
how
to
reduce
payments
•
SoluKon
-­‐
new
channels:
Web
sites,
call
centers
•
Benefit:
reach
travelers
directly
2 of 13

4. Traditional Model
3 of 13

5. New Model
4 of 13

6. Threats for agents
• DisintermediaKon
(airline
companies)
• ReintermediaKon
(Cybermediaries)
5 of 13

7. E-commerce
•
Products
are
sold
effecKvely
over
the
Web
•
Many
travel
Web
sites
were
established
•
Examples:
Expedia,
Travelocity,
Sidestep,
Kayak,
Farechase
and
Priceline.
6 of 13

8. What is Metasearch?
7 of 13

9. Top 9 Travel MSS
8 of 13

10. SideStep
•
SideStep
-­‐
the
traveler's
search
engine
•
Type:
Metasearch
engine
•
Income:
AdverKsing
and
referral
fees
•
Alliances
with
leading
travel
marketers
9 of 13

11. SideStep strategy
•
Acquired
TripUp
•
Acquired
TravelPost
•
The
Trips
Facebook
applicaKon
•
The
Extended
Info
applicaKon
•
SideStep
toolbar
10 of 13

12. Yahoo! FareChase
• Yahoo!
FareChase
–
online
travel
search
engine
• Type:
Metasearch
engine
• The
site
provides
useful
search
tools
11 of 13

13. YFC advantages
• FareChase
is
the
default
search
engine
• Travelocity
booking
engine
sKll
avaliable
• Fourth
largest
travel
aggregator
12 of 13

14. Conclusion
• Get
new
and
save
exisKng
customers
• Branding
issues
• ConKnuous
improvement
13 of 13

15. Thank You!
Any Questions?