Net travel clicks in troubled times

Online marketers learn to survive amid 'clutter' of failures, falters and mergers

By Laura Bly, USA TODAY

Jan. 15, 2001

When it launched four months ago, Savvio.com touted a "dynamic pricing model" that let bargain-hungry online travelers watch airline ticket and cruise prices drop by the second. Alas, Savvio.com took a plunge of its own: The Web site shut down last week, posting a home-page notice thanking customers for their support and assuring them that "all ticket purchases made online at Savvio.com will remain valid."

Savvio.com isn't the only travel-related site to feel the heat in today's crash-and-burn Internet marketplace. Dozens of ventures have faltered, failed or been acquired - from Wal-Mart's highly anticipated but short-lived online travel service to former Wall Street darling Priceline.com, which has shed several non-travel portions of its business while facing government scrutiny over consumer issues.

But Web travel marketers are hardly drowning their sorrows in mai tais. Online travel remains "an oasis in an e-economy desert," with 20 million U.S. Internet consumers expected to spend more than $20 billion on travel sales this year, says Philip Wolf, head of PhoCusWright, an online travel research firm.

Travel continues to rank as the largest e-commerce segment, and the current round of consolidations and shakeouts is "simply Darwin's principle at work," adds Henry Harteveldt, senior travel analyst at Forrester Research.

So what does that "survival of the fittest" ethic mean for consumers?

Most online travelers already steer their business to airline sites or a handful of established, brand-name agencies - a trend that will continue to escalate, Harteveldt says.

In an effort to retain existing customers as well as attract new ones, major players like Expedia.com and Travelocity.com are adding features and expanding old ones - and can do so, despite their sagging stock prices, because of financial backing from corporations rather than venture capital, Wolf says.

Since most Web sites require payment by credit card, "there's less danger than picking some consolidator from an ad in the local paper and sending in a check," says San Francisco travel attorney Alexander Anolik.

And there's a plus to the shakeout: In a chaotic, clamoring online arena, fewer ill-conceived business plans may distract travelers. "There will definitely be less clutter to wade through," says Jupiter Research travel analyst Heidi Kim .

Use care when surfing the sites While your risk of being left holding the mouse if a travel site bids farewell may be minimal, experts offer these tips on how to be a smarter shopper:

Start by evaluating a Web site the same way you would a "real-world" travel company. Check for industry affiliations and/or seals of approval from consumer protection agencies, and be particularly leery of any site that doesn't post a physical address and phone number.

Make sure the site has a privacy policy that promises financial information will be transmitted securely and stored on a secure server.

Use a credit, not a debit, card, which offers more protection if a purchase goes awry or the company heads south before you take a trip. Under federal law, you have up to 60 days from the time you receive your credit card statement to contest a purchase you made but didn't receive. So if your departure is several months away, paying off the minimum balance "could be cheap insurance," notes travel attorney Alexander Anolik.

Steer clear of amateurish sites that include grammatical mistakes or misspellings; they could be evidence of a company that's short of cash.

Gather as much information as possible about the travel suppliers who actually operate the trip you're considering. Keep a paper trail, with printouts of confirmation numbers, itinerary, customer service contacts and other details.

ฉ Copyright 2002 USA TODAY, a division of Gannett Co. Inc.