Expedia has acquired Travelocity from Sabre Corporation for US$280 million in cash. Dara Khosrowshahi, president, Expedia said, “Travelocity is one of the most recognised travel brands in North America, offering thousands of travel destinations to more than 20 million travellers per month. 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. Evolving this relationship strengthens the Expedia family’s ability to continue to innovate and deliver the very best travel experiences to the widest set of travellers, all over the world.”
The acquisition follows the 2013 strategic marketing agreement between Expedia and Travelocity under which Expedia has powered the technology platforms for Travelocity’s US and Canadian websites. That deal also saw Expedia provide Travelocity access to Expedia’s supply and customer service programme.
Tom Klein, president, Sabre said, “Our primary focus at Sabre is to provide mission-critical software solutions to our global airline, hospitality, and travel agency customers– and to help them support their customers every day. We have had a long and fruitful partnership with Expedia, most recently by partnering to strengthen the Travelocity business, so our decision to divest Travelocity is a logical next step for us both.”