BBC
WORLDWIDE, the British Broadcasting Corp.s commercial arm,
acquired online travel guide publisher Lonely Planet. The guide
publisher, with operations in Australia, the U.K. and the U.S.,
offers first-hand accounts of often off-the-beaten-track locales
and properties. In addition to its hundreds of hotel road-testers,
for example, Lonely Planet offers travel videos, maps and community
features. Lonely Planet founders Maureen Wheeler and Tony Wheeler
retain a 25% stake in the company. The BBC purchase is viewed as an
effort by the media company to expand its presence Down Under. In a
joint press release, the BBC and Lonely Planet said the acquisition
will build the Lonely Planet franchise around the world.
GALILEO-CONNECTED AGENCIES will get photos
and rich-media content on their desktops as the GDS penned a
content deal with VFM Interactive. The deal comes several weeks
after Galileos Travelport acquired Worldspan, which has offered its
agencies VFM property images and video since 2005. The new Galileo
pact with VFM, which also offers 360-degree virtual tours and Flash
presentations, will benefit agencies as well as hoteliers, who will
be able to upload up to 10 photos per property for free. VFM has a
wide array of content distribution partners, including Travelports
Orbitz as well as Priceline, TripAdvisor and American
Airlines.
JETBLUE
TEAMED WITH LIVETV to offer cashless, in-flight purchases
beginning Nov. 1. The system will be mandatory as the airline will
cease accepting cash payments for in-flight purchases such as
cocktails. Using secure, handheld devices from LiveTV, JetBlue
crews will begin accepting only credit or debit cards. LiveTV is a
JetBlue subsidiary, offering in-flight entertainment in about 500
aircraft for several carriers. The JetBlue move appears to be part
of an emerging trend with airlines serving the U.S. market. Newly
launched Virgin America is cashless, and in September American
conducted a three-week test of credit- or debit card-only purchases
on flights departing from San Francisco.
YAPTA introduced a service where consumers
can forward e-ticket flight confirmations from Yapta partner
airlines and then receive e-mail notifications when the fare drops
and they are eligible for cash vouchers or refunds. Users also have
the option of registering with Yapta and including flight codes and flight
information to receive the same e-mail notifications. The tracking
begins automatically, and results are posted as soon as a fare
changes. Yapta uses an advertising business model and has
relationships with 10 airlines.
Technology
Editor: Dennis Schaal
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