Travel Technology

Food tourism is one trend that we don’t see ever going away, but it will never stop evolving. Destinations and other stakeholders need to understand what it means today in order to reap the benefits food tourists can bring.

Feeling pigeonholed, the expense-tracking company is betting big on the Super Bowl to break free.

Few companies other than activist investor Elliott Management expressed a serious interest in acquiring Travelport. Elliott twice lost potential private equity partners after they reviewed Travelport's books. The deal price is underwhelming, and that's a signal that some things haven't been going the company's way.

Google's voice-powered assistant now lets you check in for United flights. Nice. The tech giant is also working with Hyatt and other hotels on testing a translation device at front desks. The early word is that the translations need to improve.

What's clear from the report is that Facebook and some travel apps are sharing way more personal information than they had admitted to. The backlash will undoubtedly pick up steam, although Facebook seems to have largely escaped condemnation from this latest disclosure.

We're not mad, but we are tired of buzzwords being used by travel companies to obscure what is really going on, which tends to be either a strategic erosion of quality for consumers, or a slow process of change to become more competitive in a certain marketplace.

The early consensus is that Elliott Management put together a disappointing deal for investors. We cover the case for and against the deal here. But expect larger Travelport investors to consider resisting the deal or hope that a white knight acquirer rides in with a better offer.

The long-predicted buyout of public-company Travelport has happened at a premium of about twice the market capitalization of the company. Expect a spinout of the company's eNett payments division and the proverbial "cost restructuring."

This year Lufthansa made a series of small moves that, when looked at together, reveal a doubling down on its multi-front strategy to pressure Amadeus, Travelport, and especially Sabre to conform more to its preferred airline distribution practices. Connect the dots, and it looks like a low-grade war.

Travelport has only been on the public market for four years, but hedge fund Elliott Management believes it can engineer a leveraged buyout that will unlock more value from the company. A spin-off of payments unit eNett is a likely early goal.