E-Commerce Times Talkback

Re: Orbitz - The Online Bogeyman
Posted by: ECT News 2001-05-31 16:27:36

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The launch of Orbitz is drawing near. And the travel industry, both
offline and on the Web, would have us believe that the approaching
footsteps it hears are those of a monster, a Godzilla coming to stomp
Tokyo into submission.

But is it really a monster? It seems that only a fraction of the fear
being expressed about Orbitz has much basis in reality or fact.

Re: Orbitz - The Online Bogeyman
Posted by: NJG 2001-06-02 14:14:10 In reply to: ECT News

Unfortunately, this article implies that people on the web are looking for a one-stop shop for travel where they can buy not only air tickets, but also cruises, hotel rooms, etc.

Yet, research by Jupiter and others indicates that today, and for the foreseeable future, online travel bookings will be largely for airline tickets that are less complex for web purchasing owing to the ease of comparison and commodity-like characteristics.

Orbitz is a very real threat to online travel agents as time will show.

Re: Orbitz - The Online Bogeyman
Posted by: TravelAgent 2001-06-05 09:07:49 In reply to: NJG

That has got to be one of the dumbest articles I've ever read. The author's point was that if other online travel agents simply work hard, they can compete with this Orbitz-Monster.

Yeah, maybe in fantasyland.

But in the real world people are going to view these sites like fast food chains; they're going to go where the best price is. Other online travel agents (as well as old fashioned travel agents) will quickly be squeezed out of the market.