Originally a subsidiary company of American Airlines, Travelocity has a long history and is one of the first travel search engines that was ever made available to the public. With its “Go and Smell the Roses” tagline and famous Roaming Gnome mascot, Travelocity is one of the largest travel companies in the world.
History
In the late 1970s, American Airlines began to offer customer access to its electronic reservation system, SABRE, through travel agencies. Beginning in the mid-80s, this service expanded, and was commercially available online by the 1990s. In 1996, Travelocity as we know it today was born, and became the first site of its kind to allow customers to view, reserve, and book tickets without a travel agent as an intermediary.
In 2005, Travelocity expanded to the UK with its acquisition of lastminute.com, adding more than 30 additional brands under its umbrella. Travelocity now allows users to book flights, hotels, rental vehicles, vacation packages, and cruises.
The service
The site has developed Travelocity Connect, which automatically pushes updates between your reservation or management system and the Travelocity site. Travelocity Connect will directly speak with whatever system you use to book your rooms, and send information regarding your availability, rates, and inventory through to their platform. When a booking is made through the Travelocity site, booking notifications will be delivered automatically to your system.
The Travelocity Connect system can either be integrated in house, or by using one of their connectivity partners. If you develop your own connectivity, there is no fee; but you may be charged based on which provider you choose should you go external. Travelocity Connect has a web developer section included in its portal that your developers may use at no additional fee.
Beginning in 2014, Travelocity began to partner with Expedia, another giant in online travel booking arrangements. In the deal, Expedia has agreed to act as the content, inventory, customer service, and technology provider, while Travelocity will continue to focus on marketing its brand, acting as an arm of the Expedia Travel Company. The partnership brings Travelocity into the Expedia Media Solutions group, where it benefits from the tens of millions of monthly visitors and expanded global audience.
Statistics and partnership perks
- Real-time updates and availability to potential guests
- Easy to sync with minimal data entry
- Listings will be available worldwide through Travelocity, lastminute.com and ziji
- Annual gross bookings of more than $10 billion
- 24/7 customer service
- 8.6 million unique visitors
- 111 million monthly page views
