3 ms·
I like the service. But I wonder, what is their business model?
by billpaetzke 16y ago
I like the service. But I wonder, what is their business model?
- jambo 16y agoSpeculating, I'd say reap referral revenue. Orbitz has a program http://www.orbitz.com/App/Affiliate http://www.orbitz.com/App/Affiliate, and hipmunk can probably negotiate better at some point. For an acquirer: drive sales.
- zach 16y agoOh, there are a few segments where traffic is money, and it's not hard to work out a deal to convert it. Travel is one of them. Visitors are usually ready to become customers somewhere so it's not hard to get referral fees. I loved the story at the first SS from TripAdvisor co-founder Langley Steinert about how they got their first referral deal. They simply got permission from Expedia to start sending them free traffic, no strings attached. After they did that for a couple weeks, they just turned off the spigot... and soon got a call from Expedia asking them where the traffic went and how to bring it back. Expedia later bought TripAdvisor. If only it were always so easy...