Pegasus Solutions

Feature 1: Pegasus Solutions has launched MetaSearch Services, a solution that allows hotels to capture direct bookings from metasearch results. The product, launched at ITB Berlin, is now available to Pegasus’ 90,000 hotel customers worldwide.

Pegasus says several major hotel chains have been beta testing the product and achieved a return on investment of up to 5:1 for every U.S. dollar spent.

The product allows metasearch engines to shop hotels and travel suppliers through Pegasus, but sends the booking directly to the hotel chain or hotel website. It was revealed last week that Pegasus is working with Google as well.
Pegasus Solutions launches MetaSearch Services – Pegs.com
Reps on site to pitch Google to hoteliers - HNN

Feature 2: The Consumer Travel Alliance (CTA) has published the results of a study that attempts to quantify airline fees, such as the $9.2 billion paid in 2010. On average, passengers paid a total of $36.80 in fees for every round-trip ticket, or nearly $150 for a family of four.

CTA also provides a state-by-state breakdown. California tops the list, with passengers paying $1.1 billion in airline fees, followed by Texas at $742.2 million.
Consumers paid $9.2 billion in fees on U.S. airlines in 2010 – ConsumerTravelAlliance.org
21 airlines fined for fixing fees - Chicago Sun-Times

Here’s the rest of the week’s interesting news:

ITB Berlin: World’s largest travel trade show showcases eco-mobility – ENS Newswire
ITB Berlin: Remarks by Mr. Taleb Rifai, secretary-general, World Tourism Organization – UNWTO
ITB Berlin: Iraq premiere at world’s biggest tourism fair - AFP
ITB Berlin: PhoCusWright Summit - The Future of the Internet – Carsolize

Travelport sells Gullivers Travel Associates (GTA) to Kuoni for $720 million – Travelport
Kuoni acquires Swedish luxury tour operator Lime Travel – Wallstreet-online.de

Mobiles to become tickets - Juniper Research
Google bullish on click-to-call ad potential - Investors.com

Visit Orlando launches new website and mobile solution - Biz Journal
Orlando makes Gowalla smile - Gowalla
Gowalla 3 for Android - Gowalla

Foursquare partners with AmEx for SXSW – Foursquare
Twitter-connected Chevrolet travel to SXSW - AutoEvolution

Bourdain’s live tweeting success spurs Travel Channel to do more - ClickZ
How Charlie Sheen and other stars get paid to tweet - WSJ

Interview with John Pistole, TSA administrator – Management.travel
Amtrak police chief bars TSA security operations - Trains.com

Photo – Pegasus Solutions

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