CLEVELAND -- Rob Kneen was tired of friends and neighbors asking
him why they should pay his agency $20 to book a flight when they
could pay $5 online.
So the president and CEO of Traveline Travel Agency here worked
out a deal in August with Cendant -- which is also his GDS vendor
through Galileo -- to power his agency's Web site with a cobranded
version of Cheap Tickets, Cendant's consumer site.
Except it's not much of a deal. There's no commission-sharing or
any type of compensation coming from Cendant -- at least not
now.
For Traveline, a $130 million agency with predominantly
corporate business, this is a grand -- and expensive --
experiment.
"This is a six-figure investment," said Kneen. "I'm putting a
lot of marketing money into this. It's my choice. But it's cheaper
than developing my own version of Expedia."
Kneen is advertising his Web site, Traveline.com, on
Cleveland-area radio stations, hoping to attract leisure and
small-business travelers, two groups that are turning to the Web in
increasing numbers.
"Having Cheap Tickets power our site levels the playing field
for us," he said.
If Traveline can demonstrate to Cendant that local advertising
can drive business to a national Web site, Kneen said, that will
position the agency as a valuable affiliate for Cheap Tickets,
making a business deal possible.
Cendant isn't making any promises, though. In fact, the company
was hesitant to talk publicly about its arrangement with Traveline
because it doesn't want to give the impression that Cheap Tickets
is rolling out an affiliate program.
But the affiliate model -- which Cheap Tickets is trying with
two other agencies -- does have potential, said Mitch Gross,
executive vice president and general manager of Galileo for the
Americas, a Cendant unit.
"Anything that can increase profitability for Cendant and agency
customers is a good thing," Gross said. "When the pilot [program]
is complete, we'll have a better sense [of how to proceed]," he
added.
Kneen said he doesn't know when the pilot program will conclude
but guessed that Traveline and Cendant will evaluate their
arrangement during second-quarter 2004.
To contact reporter Jerry Limone, send e-mail to [email protected].