hile Priceline's
retail air product makes the company a more well-rounded travel
seller, some airlines are wary about consumers having access to
opaque and retail inventory on the same Web site, TC hears.
Those airlines reportedly are concerned that consumers will use
the retail service to look for the lowest fare as a benchmark and
use the opaque service to bid below that benchmark -- a phenomenon
known as "buying down."
It seems to TC, however, that consumers could "buy down" on
Priceline even if Priceline didn't sell retail air. They could shop
on any number of Web sites to produce a low-fare benchmark.
• • •
TC thinks Ritz-Carlton officials doth protest
too much. Although company officials claim "no knowledge" of a
resort in Turks and Caicos, it seems everyone -- from cab drivers
to bartenders -- in Providenciales (the main entry point and
largest resort island in the archipelago) has inside information to
the contrary.
TC was told that a prospective resort site is on West Caicos, a
smudge of an island 20 minutes by boat from the western tip of
Provo and that Ritz-Carlton already has carved out a road to a boat
dock on Provo. If so, this would be its sixth Caribbean resort --
the firm has properties in Puerto Rico, St. Thomas, Jamaica and
Cancun, and its 365-room Cayman Islands resort opens in
December.
• • •
Although Virtuoso will not confirm it, TC hears
that TCS Expeditions, the private-jet tour
specialist, negotiated a preferred-supplier deal with Virtuoso. TCS
traditionally got most of its business from nonprofit
organizations.
But under its new president, Mark Campbell, who was previously
with Virtuoso, it's hoping to expand its travel agent business. If
all goes well, the contracts should be signed by the end of May,
and the relationship will go into effect in June.
• • •
Group IST soon will unveil a "whole new product
line, with its own Web site," according to sources at the company.
The product will be based on special interests, which IST has made
its trademark for the last two decades.
• • •
TC hears that the Travel Industry Association
(TIA) intends to form a search committee, perhaps as early as this
week, to find a successor for TIA President William
Norman, who announced plans to retire at the end of the
year after heading the association for a decade.
TIA sources tell TC that it is possible a successor could be
named as early as July to coincide with a scheduled board meeting.
Ideally, the TIA would like the successor to work side by side with
Norman to ease the transition before his retirement takes
effect.
• • •
American Express, which launched the
Global Travel Shield travel insurance product line
in late 2002 for sale on the Web and through Delta.com, has in the
last year rolled it out to company-owned branches in this country.
Sources said Amex will next launch the line to its U.S. rep
offices, but the timing is undetermined because the training and
certification program for the reps is not ready. The American
Express reps have a preferred insurance supplier now,
Access America, but we are told the companies
expect to "continue working together in the future."
• • •
Emirates plans to add some American flavor to
the New York-Dubai, United Arab Emirates, daily flights it begins
June 1. The airline's in-flight meal options -- and TC can't make
this stuff up -- will include corn dogs.
The hot dogs dipped in corn batter, deep-fried and served on a
stick became an instant hit when they were served at the Texas
State Fair way back in 1942.
TC wonders how these tasty treats managed to stay off airline
menus for the last 62 years? It's just too bad Emirates didn't
launch its service March 20, or what some celebrate as National
Corn Dog Day.
Of course, that would have been even too corny for TC.