Travelocity
| File:Travelocity Logo.svg | |
| Company type | Subsidiary |
|---|---|
| Industry | Online travel agency |
| Founded | 1995 |
| Founder | Worldview Systems Corporation and Sabre Corporation |
| Fate | Acquired by Expedia Inc. in 2015 |
| Headquarters | Dallas , United States |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Roshan Mendis (Americas operational leader), Matthew Crummack (Europe operational leader) |
| Products | Airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruises, vacation packages |
| Parent | Expedia Group |
Travelocity operates as an online travel agency under the ownership of the American company Expedia Group. Drawing 12.4 million unique visitors each month, it stands as the third most frequented site within Expedia’s portfolio, following Expedia and Hotels.com.
As an innovator in digital disintermediation, Travelocity was among the first platforms to allow customers to directly purchase travel tickets online without third-party involvement. Its product range encompasses airline tickets, hotel reservations, car rentals, cruises, and vacation packages.
History
In 1978, American Airlines introduced access to its electronic booking system, Sabre, initially designed for travel agencies and later extended to consumers through online services during the mid-1980s. Kathy Misunas served as CEO of eAAsySabre. During the early 1990s, Sabre’s technology was accessible via platforms such as Prodigy and America Online.
Founded in 1995, Travelocity emerged from a collaboration between Worldview Systems Corporation and Sabre Corporation. The founding members of Worldview created the concept as a digital extension of their travel database distributed through Sabre, Bloomberg, AOL, among others. By 1996, Worldview’s investors divested their shares to Sabre, which then took full responsibility for Travelocity under the leadership of IT executive Terry Jones.
The brand’s growth accelerated following a 1999 collaboration with AOL. In 2000, Sabre combined Travelocity with Preview Travel and took the merged entity public on NASDAQ while maintaining approximately 70% ownership. In 2002, Sabre reacquired all remaining shares through a tender offer, shortly before Terry Jones exited the company.
In March 2002, Travelocity expanded by acquiring last-minute travel specialist Site59.com for $43 million. Michelle Peluso, Site59’s founder, joined Travelocity as senior vice president of product strategy and distribution, advancing to COO in 2003 and CEO by the end of that year. Several executives from Site59 also joined Travelocity’s senior leadership team.
The company introduced its well-known "Where Is My Gnome?" advertising campaign in 2004. The following year, it broadened its presence in Europe by purchasing lastminute.com for £577 million, which included its subsidiary allhotels.com.
Michelle Peluso stepped down as CEO in January 2009 and was replaced by Sabre executive Hugh Jones. In April 2011, Carl Sparks—previously general manager at Hotels.com and former CMO at Expedia—assumed the CEO role.
In December 2012, Travelocity sold its Asia-Pacific agency Zuji to Webjet for $25 million. By June 2013, it had divested its corporate travel segment, Travelocity Business, to BCD Travel.
A strategic partnership with Expedia Inc. was established in August 2013, leading Expedia to provide technology support for Travelocity’s U.S. and Canadian websites. Later that year, Travelocity discontinued its IgoUgo review platform.
CEO Carl Sparks resigned in May 2014; operational leadership for the Americas was taken over by Roshan Mendis while Matthew Crummack managed European markets. In December 2014, lastminute.com was sold to Swiss company Bravofly Rumbo for £76 million.
In January 2015, Sabre divested Travelocity to Expedia Inc. for $280 million, integrating the brand into Expedia’s worldwide operations.
Toward the end of 2015, Travelocity transitioned its U.S. media planning duties from Zenith Media to Assembly and relaunched its Travel for Good grant initiative supporting volunteer travel projects with nonprofits such as Habitat for Humanity.
February 2016 marked the debut of the "Wander Wisely" advertising campaign featuring the iconic Roaming Gnome mascot alongside a renewed customer-first guarantee message.
Travelocity served as a sponsor of the American reality competition series The Amazing Race from its launch through season 34 before sponsorship responsibilities were assumed by parent company Expedia.
Omission of surcharges and drop pricing
In July 2012, the United States Department of Transportation imposed a $180,000 penalty on Travelocity due to its "flexible dates tool" not incorporating mandatory fuel surcharges in the displayed international airfare prices, which contravened DOT regulations. Furthermore, customers were only notified on the final checkout page that certain itineraries required paper tickets accompanied by a $29.95 shipping charge.
Revocation of bookings made with promotional code
In August 2012, Travelocity provided a $200 discount code to participants of the National Federation of the Blind conference. After the code was publicly disseminated on Twitter without any attendee limitations, numerous individuals who were not eligible redeemed it. Consequently, Travelocity canceled reservations made using the code by non-qualifying users, leading to considerable dissatisfaction among customers.
External links
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- American companies established in 1996
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