Expedia acquires car rental company

Expedia the internet based travel agent has acquired CarRentals.com an online car rental booking company.
Despite the fact that details of the acquisition were not immediately available, reports indicated that CarRentals.com would be able to retain its brand identity. CarRentals.com will be able to share resources with Hotwire which is a subsidiary of Expedia. Hotwire’s specialty is discounted travel solutions. This is expected to boost CarRentals.com’s performance in this highly competitive segment of the travel market.
Besides making car hire reservations online, with Expedia one can also book airline tickets, make hotel reservations, book cruises, vacations just to name a few all through the internet or by use of telephone travel agents.
The Expedia portal previously utilised the Worldspan reservation system but now makes use of the Sabre reservation system as the key global reservations system. The firm has won many different awards for innovation and high standards. For example in 2006 Expedia won the ‘Best in Travel Websites’ Webby Award. That same year it also scooped the ‘Most Innovative Company’ Stevie Award from the American Business Association.
Although Expedia is one of the most renowned internet based travel agencies, recently it has come under stiff competition from upstarts which are often accused of employing unfair business practises such as price undercutting. Expedia which was started Lloyd Frink and Rich Barton also faces competition from similar online travel agencies such as Travelocity and Kayak.com.
Other internet based travel agencies with the same business model as Expedia include opodo, ebookers www.ebookers.com and travelbag.

www.expedia.com