With the recession in full swing and bookings down, online travel agencies are in a price war with some cutting fees and reimbursing customers if the price of their trip drops after booking.
Reuters is reporting that Priceline, Expedia, and Travelocity are offering “promotional price guarantee on airline tickets and vacations” and Orbitz will announce “a major hotel sale” on Friday.
Priceline said that it will “reimburse travelers up to $300 for a flight, $600 on vacation packages that include a hotel, and $300 for airfare and car rental packages if another Priceline customer makes an identical reservation at a lower price.”
Travelocity said that it would “reimburse its customers between $10 and $500 if the price of a vacation package falls after booking” and “it would waive booking fees for domestic and international flights during its promotion, which ends May 31.”
Expedia said that it would “waive booking fees for all flights booked by May 31. The travel agency also said it would give its customers the last night free of a three-, four- or five-night hotel stay.”
Orbitz said that it would “offer discounts of 30 percent or more on hotel room booked until May 24. The company said the discount was its ‘biggest hotel sale ever.’”
Of course what these sales will do to booking remains to be seen. One analyst is pessimistic.
Expedia shares tumbled on Thursday after JP Morgan cut its rating on the company to neutral from overweight.
“We believe increased competition and pricing wars will cut into prior revenue streams and limit further market share gains,” JP Morgan said in a research note.
