Comments on: Expedia to Buy Venere.com

By: Hotel suply

Hotel suply — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 20:44:08 +0000

Venere was a good company with a good business model. Let’s hope that Expedia will allow it to maintain it’s independence – although I doubt this.

Reducing the playing field to a few big distributors only limits the consumers choice and funnels revenues to the chosen few.

Lets see what the future brings

By: Marco

Marco — Mon, 04 Aug 2008 17:52:13 +0000

Dear commenters,
we at venere.com are taking great pride from your generous comments about our activities, our business model, our website etc. It is fair to say that, although we cannot afford to live only for this, at the same time we definitely could not live without your appreciation for what we do with so much passion.
The fact that a leading firm like Expedia (we see it is not getting full marks on our blog, but it is understandable that there may be users, within the venere.com community, that may like Venere more than our competitors) showed in a tangible way its interest for our business is an additional demonstration that your comments are not only widely shared across the community of our users, but that the major online travel operators are well aware of this, and are ready to support and increase our developments.
Concerning the way it will happen, we are very confident that this acquisition will provide Venere with more resources, and not with reduced autonomy; as a consequence we should all be able to have more rather than less.

By: Wendy Harding

Wendy Harding — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 20:33:51 +0000

I must agree with some other opinions that Venere is much better than Expedia. Let’s hope Venere does remain independent. As a travel consultant I wonder if our commissions will be protected? Hopefully the ability to hold a reservation with a credit card will not change as I never book hotels for my clients that need to be prepaid.

By: Marco

Marco — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:33:16 +0000

Will expedia quickconnect be available for venere.com sometime in the future?

By: Nikolas Hall - Hotel Guldsmeden Group, Copenhagen Denmark

Nikolas Hall - Hotel Guldsmeden Group, Copenhagen Denmark — Thu, 31 Jul 2008 08:01:32 +0000

Common guys – If you are going to be so critical about Expedia then state your full name the company you represent, and substantiate your criticism.

It’s not that I disagree with you – but to many whine in the background afraid of standing out publicly.

By: Andrea

Andrea — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 14:49:55 +0000

Venere.com is better then Expedia.

Expedia is a flop.

By: Soren Ranfelt

Soren Ranfelt — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 06:15:23 +0000

This is sad news. Venere is by far the best web page that can be found and their businessconcept is so much better than what I have seen from Expedia. It’s only to hope that Venere will continue as an independent company – or that someone else will start up a new company based on the same ideas as Venere. Thanks to the Venere staff for and excellent service – the same cannot be said about the Expedia people.

By: Dimitra Dolianiti

Dimitra Dolianiti — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 14:47:23 +0000

Being informed about the integration of Venere to Expedia came as a surprice for me.My first impressions when I read the article were both good and bad.Good because the “giant” of the travel industry called Expedia finally “went down from its throne” and decided to lend a helping hand,where there was no need for,to an experienced and well organized firm like Venere.On the other hand,during the years passed one thing came to my senses as a preofessional in tourism industry,that everything has its price,everything is used for profit,all efforts made by experienced people to progress do not count but can be bought up.Let us not be messengers of bad news though and wish full success to Venere.

By: Amnon Oren

Amnon Oren — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:45:51 +0000

Loved No. 6… Ermenegild says: Expenere or Venepedia ?…
So, the next step, is Booking to be sold to Travelocity, to make Travelooking or Bookilocity ?…
As a frequent user with Venere, let’s hope that they will continue as now without payment, which is very convinient to us all.
My next vacation – Amalfy region (october) – with Venere, of course.

By: Nikolas Hall - Hotel Guldsmeden Group, Copenhagen Denmark

Nikolas Hall - Hotel Guldsmeden Group, Copenhagen Denmark — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 12:21:10 +0000

Sad reading.

Venere was a good company with a good business model. Let’s hope that Expedia will allow it to maintain it’s independence – although I doubt this.

Reducing the playing field to a few big distributors only limits the consumers choice and funnels revenues to the chosen few.

Lets see what the future brings

By: Marco

Marco — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 05:46:49 +0000

Rebecca,
thank you for your question on charity, it does bring an additional and very valuable perspective to the deal between Venere and Expedia. As for private individuals, there are different ways for companies to support pro-bono organizations, more or less visible, more or less direct. Coherently with the foreseen organizational autonomy, also charity plans are expected to remain independent.

By: giacomo

giacomo — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 20:23:57 +0000

What an interesting blog!

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 16:16:08 +0000

Will Expedia take part in donating a portion of their sales to AMREF as Venere does?

By: Marco

Marco — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:16:43 +0000

Q&A
How will the Venere brand be integrated with Expedia brand?
At this time we expect that Expedia and Venere will continue to operate as separate and distinct entities.

Will Expedia continue to grow Venere’s consumer-facing presence?
Yes, it is expected that Venere.com continue as a distinct brand and consumer site within the Expedia, Inc. portfolio.

How will the Venere supply team integrate with the Expedia supply team?
Each team would continue to manage their supplier relationships as separate and independent entities.

What will be the corporate reporting structure, i.e. who will Venere mgmt report to within Expedia?
Similar to the other brands within the Expedia, Inc. portfolio, the CEO of Venere, Marco Ficarra, would become a direct report of Expedia, Inc. CEO Dara Khosrowshahi.

Will suppliers with relationships with both companies maintain relationships/contracts with Venere and Expedia as two separate parties?
For hotels that currently work with either one or both Expedia and Venere, there would be no immediate change in how the relationship is handled.

Will there be any changes for hotels that work with both brands?
At this time, we expect the Expedia and Venere marketplaces to remain separate and distinct.

By: Marco

Marco — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 08:15:20 +0000

Venere will continue operations as an independent unit, bringing value to the Group by adding its well developed hotel online reservation business, based on the agency model.

The organization of Venere will remain largely autonomous from Expedia, both in relationship with the hotel supply as well as with the demand generation.

By: Ermenegild

Ermenegild — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:44:11 +0000

Expenere or Venepedia ?

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 07:13:01 +0000

Linda and MB, Reservations made on the venere.com web site will still be Venere reservations, made with a credit card to guarantee your booking without prepayment. I am sure that Venere being part of the Expedia family will continue to create great job opportunities as always.

By: MB

MB — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 01:32:06 +0000

Will you still offer the ability to reserve hotels with credit card guarantee or will you have to pre-pay like Expedia?

By: Linda

Linda — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 23:28:30 +0000

Hi, i just wanted to know how this will impact future online reservations? will they be expedia reservations or venere reservations? what exactly will change? will there be more job opportunities available?

By: Susan

Susan — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 19:45:59 +0000

No worries, you can keep using the venere.com web site as always