PAUL BLACKNEY will step down as president and CEO
of Worldspan when its acquisition is completed. After the Travel
Transaction Processing Corp.--a company formed by Citigroup Venture
Capital Equity Partners and Teachers' Merchant Bank--purchases
Worldspan from Delta, Northwest and American, Blackney will assume
the role of "special advisor to the company" and serve on the
company's board of directors. Blackney said the prospective new
owners were "looking for a CEO to commit to five to seven years.
I'm almost 57 years old. I don't want to work that long."
WORLDSPAN announced March 4 that its airline
owners were selling the company, which is a leader in booking
engine services for Internet travel sites like Orbitz, Expedia and
Priceline. If the acquisition, which is subject to financial and
regulatory approvals, falls through, Blackney said he would stay on
as Worldspan's president and CEO. Blackney, who prior to his
Worldspan stint held executive posts at United and was president
and CEO of Apollo Travel Services, was named president and CEO of
Worldspan in 1999. When this recent sale was disclosed, Blackney
said his tenure at Worldspan has been "enlightening and
staggeringly productive."
EXPEDIA said if the U.S. declares war or
implements a code-red security alert, then it will waive
cancellation penalties and change fees for hotel, rental car and
destination-attraction purchases, if travel is scheduled within 60
days of either the war declaration or code-red status. Customers
will get full refunds on these purchases, if they so desire, the
company said. Customers must call Expedia within 14 days after war
is declared or code-red status is implemented, however. For cruise
and airline purchases, Expedia said it will adhere to the
cancellation policies of suppliers.
TRAVELOCITY, meanwhile, launched a travel
information center at www.travelocity.com/update, which is intended
as a source where consumers can read about the latest travel
developments, including airline exchange policies that recently
have been altered due to the threat of war with Iraq.
ORBITZ launched a merchant hotel program in
which the airline-owned Web site will negotiate net rates with
individual hotel properties. Orbitz said participating hotels can
update rates and availability via the Web and receive reservation
confirmations by e-mail. The new program, Orbitz said, supplements
its affiliate deal with Travelweb, the distributor of wholesale
inventory owned by major hotel chains and Pegasus. An Orbitz
spokeswoman said nothing in its Travelweb deal precludes Orbitz
from negotiating rates with individual properties affiliated with
Travelweb's owners if the properties do not participate in
Travelweb itself. Two Harrah's properties in Las Vegas--Harrah's
Casino & Hotel and Rio All-Suites--are among Orbitz's first
clients in the merchant program.
STEVE PERILLO, president of Italy specialist
Perillo Tours, said 3,000 travel agents have registered to use its
online booking engine at www.perillotours.com since it was introduced in
January. With the booking engine, powered by White Plains,
N.Y.-headquartered HyperTech Solutions, agents can book land/air
packages. "It's a good tool for booking and for checking
availability" if Perillo agents are busy on the phone, he said.