I took the car today for the first time in a long time, and ended up driving westbound on the Gardiner. Big news! Looks like Travelocity.ca has changed their mega-billboard down there. And now? It's almost legible! You can almost make out the name, barely read the scrolling text, and marvel at that stupid frickin' gnome  there, bigger than life. Stupid, stupid, awful, supremely-poorly-testing, ugly, obnoxious gnome.

At the exact same time I am passed by one of the gorgeous Expedia.ca buses, in all it's completely perfect, screaming yellow, crisp, clear, made-in-Canada, right-in-context, plane-and-globe branding glory.

It was one of those moments when you just sorta "get" why, in Canada, Expedia won and Travelocity lost. And soooo badly, to boot. With due respect to Sam, Michelle, and the rest of the Sabre crew in Dallas, they just pooched it royally  up here. It was theirs to lose, and they did.

And yeah, I'm biased. Proud of it. But that doesn't mean I'm wrong.

Technorati tags: travelocity, expedia, online travel, travel, gnome

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It really isn't my plan to talk about only online travel here, but this post on The Internet Stock Blog caught my eye.

Seems Stifel Nicolaus analyst Scott Devitt downgraded Expedia Inc. (NASDAQ: EXPE) to “Hold” yesterday, due, among other things, his view that there is a revenue risk associated with their Worldspan CRS deal.

Now, going into detail around the arcane and obtuse workings of CRS agreements, kick-backs, regulations and money flows just isn't going to happen here. But, broadly speaking, is the reduction in CRS revenue, and conversely cost associated with direct-connect a real issue and challenge for any online player, especially one reliant on another party for said revenues?

Damn right it is.

Technorati tags: expedia

Somebody check the weather, because it could be that Hell has frozen over. Why? Well, I just made my first purchase on Priceline.com - and I am feeling pretty good about it. Now, as the guy who wrote the business plan for Expedia.ca and then was Chief Marketing Officer for Expedia.com, that's pretty scary stuff.

Here's the deal. We are heading to Halifax for Easter with the Grandparents, and as such need flights and a car. Well, for flights we had pretty specific requirements, so we went the traditional route (which in this case meant booking directly at AirCanada.com because it was $600 cheaper than on Expedia or anywhere else, but in fairness that's not always the case. Frequently, the online agencies have better deals, depending in when and where you travel - just not this time). We don't need a hotel, but do need a car. I went to Expedia.ca, Travelocity.ca, Hotwire.com (an "opaque" or you-don't-know-what-you've-bought-until-you-buy-it part of the Expedia family) and finally, to Priceline.com.

With due respect to my friends in the business, when you are picking a rental car up at an airport for a leisure trip, a rental is a rental. Though I do value the service bells and whistles when I am on business, when I travel on my own dime I will gladly trade a little convenience for savings. And for an airport pickup, you know who the choices might be, so what's the big fear?

So, in a nutshell? Priceline beat the pants off of everybody else. By a mile. And they have a neat little tool that guides your bid into likely-to-be-accepted territory. And I ended up getting the car from Hertz.

So, what will happen when I get there? Will it all be awful? Will I regret having done this? Will I hate William Shatner more than I do now?

We shall see. I will provide a full report when I get back.

Technorati tags: priceline, expedia, travelocity, online travel, william shatner