Travel

#Expedia Buys Travelocity, Merging Two of the Web - s Biggest Travel Sites

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Online travel giant Expedia has agreed to acquire big-name competitor Travelocity.

On Friday, Expedia said it would acquire Travelocity from its parent company, Sabre Corp. for $280 million. With the deal, Expedia is once again expanding its broad portfolio of travel sites, amid increased competition in the market.

The Bellevue, Washington-based company also owns Hotels.com, Hotwire, Egencia, and others. But it still faces competition from big names Priceline and Orbitz and other players.

The company s latest move brings together two of the market s largest travel services, but in a way, they were already together. Since 2013, Expedia has powered Travelocity’s US and Canadian websites as well as its customer service program, and it has shared its hotel offerings with the company.

Meanwhile, now that it has let go of Travelocity, Sabre Corp. says it can concentrate on its core business: back-end systems for the sale of airline tickets, hotel rooms, and car rentals.

We have had a long and fruitful partnership with Expedia, most recently by partnering to strengthen the Travelocity business, Tom Klein, Sabre President and Chief Executive Officer said in a statement. so our decision to divest Travelocity is a logical next step for us both.