Note From the EditorThe Priceline Group dominates headlines for being the biggest and baddest — in a good way — online travel company on the planet with its huge lodging business, and profit margins to die for. But wait: As Skift elucidates in a story today, Google will likely command $14 billion in advertising revenue from travel companies in 2017. And if Google Travel were theoretically a standalone company, its valuation, we project, would be in the neighborhood of $100 billion. Last time we looked, the Priceline Group's real-world valuation on Nasdaq was "only" $90 billion. If Google's market power and those numbers don't wow you, then consider, too, that Google Travel likely has higher profit margins than Priceline's because they come mostly from advertising, which is traditionally more lucrative than bookings.
In Europe, Lufthansa has been trying to make its own business more lucrative by tacking on a fee for bookings that occur through global distribution systems rather than the airline's own websites and phone lines. European regulators, as our story points out, are taking a look at the surcharge out of competition concerns. Their decision could be very impactful because other airlines are watching and considering similar fees. — Dennis Schaal, Executive Editor |
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