Travelocity is giving up and becomes just a skin of Expedia starting in sometime 2014. Expedia will start taking care of reservations, ticket issuance, customer service etc. on behalf of Travelocity that merely becomes a front end “brand”.
Travelocity admits that it has fallen behind on search capability in recent years and this deal with Expedia helps it to concentrate merely on “marketing and promotions” according to the CEO.
You can read more about this change on WSJ’s website here.
Conclusion
Do we really need yet another “skin” for Expedia? I used Travelocity few times in early 2000’s but it has dropped off my personal radar for a long time. And I have hated the globe trekking Gnome and the “useless” Travelocity guarantee.
If Travelocity is just a skin of Expedia, why wouldn’t you just go directly to Expedia and buy the service from there in the first place?