Expedia buys Travelocity from Sabre for $280 million

Expedia had been powering Travelocity's technology platforms, and giving it access to its programs

When I go to book a flight, I know there are a lot of different sites I can use to find deals and discounts on flights, hotels and the rest of my travel expenses. Who doesn't like saving money, right? The only problem is that there are just so many websites to choose from, and it's hard to know which one is giving me the best deal.

Well, that likely won't be too much of a problem going forward, as my options for where to find deals may have just gotten a little bit smaller.

Expedia has agreed to purchase Travelocity from Sabre Corporation, it was announced on Friday. The deal is worth $280 million, and will be made in cash

There is no indication of what will happen to Travelocity going forward, but it seems likely that Expedia would keep the brand, which Dara Khosrowshahi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Expedia, called "one of the most recognized travel brands in North America."

"The strategic marketing agreement we've had in place has been a marriage of Travelocity's strong brand with our best-in-class booking platform, supply base, and customer service," he said. "Evolving this relationship strengthens the Expedia Inc. family's ability to continue to innovate and deliver the very best travel experiences to the widest set of travelers, all over the world."

Travelocity currently offers thousands of travel destinations to more than 20 million travelers per month.

The deal expands Expedia's brand portfolio, which also includes Hotels.com, Hotwire, travel management company Egencia, Chinese travel site eLong, hotel metasearch company trivago and CarRentals.com.

Last year, Expedia bought Australian travel company Wotif Group for $658 million in order  to expand its international presence to the Asia-Pacific region. The deal was completed in November. 

Expedia and  Travelocity had worked together: they had entered into a strategic marketing agreement in 2013, under which Expedia has powered the technology platforms for Travelocity's US and Canadian websites along with providing Travelocity access to Expedia's supply and customer service program.

It's unclear what, if anything, will be different for Travelocity customers going forward. VatorNews has reached out to the company and we will update if we learn more.

Travelocity might not be the only travel search website finding itself with a new owner; earlier this  week, Bloomberg reported that Orbitz had begun exploring its option to sell as well.

This is a clear sign of an over saturated space, with a multitude of websites all showing generally the same information in the same manner, consolidating itself. Pretty soon it will likely come down to Expedia and Priceline, a company that has been making some pretty high profile acquisitions of its own,  including the  $2.6 billion purchase of restaurant  reservation service OpenTable last year.

(Image source: tecnohotelnews.com)