Comfort Inn Capital Beltway Weighs In on Sale of Travelguru

BELTSVILLE, Md., July 17, 2012 /PRNewswire/ -- Yatra, a Gurgaon-based travel agency, has acquired Travelguru from well-known online travel agency (OTA) Travelocity. Comfort Inn Capital Beltway believes that, while such acquisitions may negatively affect the market in some ways, this particular business deal may improve the United States travel market with regard to India-based visitors.

Reuters reports that Yatra Online Pvt Ltd has acquired Travelguru from the well-known online travel agency Travelocity. A hotel distribution network, Travelguru was originally bought by Travelocity just three years ago. Comfort Inn Capital Beltway, located between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland, believes that this acquisition has the potential to positively impact travel from India to the United States.

According to the article, Travelguru is a hotel booking service that partners with other online travel agencies to provide flight information and additional details to travelers; however, these partnerships will come to an end once the acquisition is finalized. This is good news for Yatra, which provides hotel and airline booking to travelers. With the acquisition of Travelguru, Yatra is expected to better compete with MakeMyTrip and Cleartrip, which are important rivals for market share.

"In the OTA space, consolidation is rampant," asserts Greg Miller, Managing Director of Comfort Inn Capital Beltway. "When Travelocity purchased Travelguru several years ago, it was on its acquisition spree with a focus on gaining global customers. With the Travelguru purchase, Travelocity was specifically focused on the massive marketplace in India. The upside of such consolidation in the OTA market is that it alleviates the confusion that comes from the highly fragmented online travel space, creating a reliable agency that assists consumers in meeting their goals and staying within their price point. The downside of all these consolidations is that fewer competitors results in less choice for consumers, which tends to result in an increase in price."

With less competition on the market, it is possible that consumers can see an increase in prices associated with travel; however, Miller believes that there is an upside to the sale of Travelguru to Yatra—an upside that may positively affect the United States travel industry.

"Still, the sale to Yatra may actually be a benefit for Indian travel consumers, since Travelocity did not invest as much effort to grow the market whereas Yatra has a specific need to expand from airlines into hotels," explains Miller. "While it remains to be seen if Yatra will be aggressive and provide outbound hotel selections to travelers from India to the United States, we believe this is a big opportunity for our Washington, D.C.-based hotels, like Comfort Inn Capital Beltway."

ABOUT:
Comfort Inn Capital Beltway is a hotel located in the ideal area between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland. As such, Comfort Inn Capital Beltway is a convenient and easily accessible lodging for visitors of both cities. The staff at this hotel is dedicated to providing the highest in quality and service to guests, who can expect top-notch accommodations. Additionally, Comfort Inn Capital Beltway provides the patriotic element that visitors of Washington, D.C., are looking for without compromising the comfort and class of modern hotel lodgings.

SOURCE Comfort Inn Capital Beltway