PARSIPPANY, N.J. -- Cendant, which acquired the two Web-based
travel agencies Cheap Tickets and Trip.com in the fall of 2001,
moved to effectively make those businesses into one.
Immediately after buying the two Web agencies (Trip.com came as
part of the $1.8 billion Galileo purchase and Cheap Tickets was
picked up for $280 million), Cendant farmed out their operation on
a license basis to a newly created affiliate, Trip Network Inc.,
partially funded by Cendant.
Cendant announced April 2 that it bought Trip Network and that
the Cheap Tickets brand will be promoted as its primary consumer
brand; the sister company's name, Trip.com, will be phased out.
Already, visitors to Trip.com are being referred to Cheap
Tickets.
However, Trip.com lives on because it provides underlying
technology for the surviving operation, for Cendant's own
hospitality and car rental businesses and for third parties, such
as the travel section of the NewYorkTimes.com.
In addition, Cendant said, before the end of the year, it aims
to offer private-label versions of Cheap Tickets to Galileo
subscribers.
Sam Galeotos, president and CEO of Galileo, said it was "simply
not feasible to continue operating two separate brands, especially
in the current geopolitical environment," and the Cheap Tickets
brand survives because it is stronger, he continued.
A spokeswoman said that once Cheap Tickets had been moved to the
Trip.com booking engine last November, with its link to Galileo,
the two Web agencies were "very, very similar -- nearly identical."
For that reason, Cendant believes moving Trip.com customers to
Cheap Tickets, at www.cheaptickets.com, will not be too difficult.
Meanwhile, the company said it hoped to realize new efficiencies
by bringing Trip Network's 170 employees, primarily technology and
product development personnel based in Denver, into the Cendant
corporate fold, where they will play a role in the development of
the company's other travel distribution products, Highwire for
corporate self-booking and Lodging.com, as well as Galileo
itself.
Another reason for the transaction, Cendant said, was to
simplify its accounting because Trip Network was an independent
affiliate.
Terms of the deal were not disclosed.