Expedia to launch Indian site soon!
We have mentioned earlier how the Indian Online travel space is one of the most crowded spaces in the Internet arena. Also now international players are also wanting to be a part of this crowd. So if earlier it was Travelocity which opened an india site with hotel bookings in march in a few months its going to be the global giant Expedia.com which would be opening shop in India.
For those who dont know Expedia does travel bookings $20 billion (Rs79,400 crore) a year through its online portal globally. And expedia is so well regarded that leading indian player makemytrip had chosen to call itself the Expedia of India in the past (wonder what they will call themselves once Expedia opens shop in India).
Expedia offers more than 80000 hotels across the world (wonder what traveguru which is trying to be the hotel bookings hub has to say about expedia’s entry.)
Sharat Dhall, managing director for India at Expedia said “We will be starting our own website in India shortly. We have the strength of our international experience and exposure. Based on that, we will build our Indian operations with a long-term view”.
I think the travel space is sure to see some consolidation soon like the news that came out last week in which Travelguru expanded its hotel booking capacity by acquiring Desiya.in another online travel bookings provider. I expect more and more such acquisitions or buyouts to happen. After all im sure selling to expedia would be one of the exit options both the VC’s and entrepreneurs in this travel space would be considering.
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Paople in India should be alerted that EXPEDIA has a really bad reputation. Read horrible stories (including an attempt to scam) from EXPEDIA ) at : http://www.expedianews.com
Expedia is a big fan of building business organically, and does not generally buy off growth. Ofcourse, India is a different market place from Europe, and they might choose to take a strategic stake as they did in China, but its unlikely they will.