It should come as no surprise that Orbitz, Kayak and a few online travel websites complained this week that Google’s new Flight Search tool is taking traffic away from OTAs. Earlier this month, Google began placing its new search service above general results so that its own results appear above links to major OTAs. Searches also now generate an interactive chart with flight results between desired destinations, but link exclusively to airlines’ websites.

The OTAs, which, according to analytic site Compete, depend upon Google for between 10 to 20 percent of their traffic, say the mega search company is reneging on its promise to the Department of Justice—made when the DOJ was doing an antitrust review of Google’s pending purchase of ITA Software—that it would make travel data available to competitors.

Even before Google unveiled its anxiously awaited Flight Search, in July the company debuted Hotel Finder, which allows users to choose a city and draw a shape around the area where they want to stay. Concerned about increasing cost-per-click costs, Expedia President Scott Durchslag suggested the hotel industry ban together with OTAs to remain relevant. Read more: Wall Street Journal (subscription), HotelNewsNow.com, VentureBeat

Businesses that benefit from tourism in the United States owe foreigners some year-end thanks. According to new data from the U.S. Office of Travel and Tourism Industries, international tourism spending likely will surpass $152 billion for 2011, up from the record of $141 billion spent in 2008. Through the end of October, foreign visitors spent $127 billion here, while outbound U.S. travelers spent $91.9, an 8 percent increase over the same period in 2010. That makes for a balance-of-trade surplus of roughly $35 billion. Not a bad way to end the year.

But some people are concerned that the expenditures of foreign tourists could be even higher if the government overhauled its visa application process.  Read more: LA Times, Philly.com

Other travel news/roundups of note:

HotelChatter 2011 Awards: Concierge.com’s irreverent and somewhat addictive blog shares its list of the best and worst from the year for all things hotel related.—HotelChatter.com
Samoa and Tokelau Skip a Day for Dateline Change—BBC
5 Air Travel Predictions for 2012—ABC News
Most Travel-Inspiring TV Show of 2011: ‘Portlandia’—On Location Vacations
Visitors to New York’s 9/11 Memorial Top 1 Million—CNN
…meanwhile…
NYC Mayor Says Work on 9/11 Museum Has Stalled—Newsday
Road Travel is Up During Holidays as Fuel Prices Fluctuate—Colorado Springs Gazette
American to Travel Farther and Spend More in 2012—Reuters

Photo: Google Flight Search

Related posts:
Google Flights Unwraps ITA Software
TravelTechnology Weekly: Google Hotel Finder, Saving CTP…
Tourism Outlook: USA Report From Visa Inc.

Feature: Google was in the dock for the Senate Judiciary subcommittee’s antitrust hearing on Wednesday, with testimony by Eric Schmidt.

Opposing testimony was provided by Yelp’s Jeremy Stoppelman and lawyer Tom Barnett for Expedia and the FairSearch coalition, among others.

Apart from the hearing itself, there was plenty spin before and after. Both Google and Fairsearch put out guides beforehand, and afterward put out responses to statements made during the hearing.

Tom Barnett, Expedia and FairSearch: “Just last week, Google launched its own online travel search service. Notwithstanding the judicial decree and Google’s promise, the service excludes any link to online travel agencies, which are key options for comparison shopping… Further, the Google service utilizes a new version of ITA software that, now that Google owns ITA, is available only to Google, also continuing to undermine choices for consumers.”

Google’s response to Barnett: We committed to continuing to license ITA’s QPX software to airfare websites on commercially reasonable terms, and maintain that commitment. Furthermore, Kayak said just last week, “We’re confident in our ability to compete, and we believe our flight search technology is superior. We recognize Google is a formidable competitor but they haven’t been successful in every vertical they’ve entered.”

As stated by Eric Schmidt, Google “Get’s it.” But that doesn’t mean they’re hearing what Fairsearch members are saying.

Responses to Senate Hearing witness claims – Google Competition blog
FairSearch statement on Google Hearing – FairSearch.org
Seeking a level playing field – Yelp Official Blog
Kayak updates IPO filing to acknowledge Google’s entry into travel – AllThingsD

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

Grubhub gets $50 million, acquires Dotmenu – Grubhub.com
Trustyou raises $5 million, acquires Review Analyst – Trustyou.com (pr)
Zimride gets $6 million to fill seats – NYT

Texas Judge sets trial date for AA-Sabre litigation – MarketWatch
Court rules American Airlines must allow Orbitz to sell its tickets – Bloomberg

Virgin Galactic spaceships to be built at $8 million Mojave plant – SpaceRef
Space taxis move one step closer to reality – LA Times

TripAdvisor hits 50 million unique monthly visitors – TripAdvisor.com
Fodor’s and TripAdvisor Announce Partnership – Fodor’s (pr)
Android travel publication launches – Wandrous

Study finds affluent households drive the travel trade – Travel Weekly
Fly a private jet, at public prices – NYT

U.S. lodging industry fees climb to record $1.8 billion – NYU
Survey: Airline fees reach $400 mark – USA Today

Photo credit – geetarchurchy

Related posts:
Google Flights Unwraps ITA Software
TravelTechnology Weekly – Search Wars on Travel Terrain

With the launch of Google Flights, the mega search engine has now officially unwrapped its first ITA Software-powered flight search tool.

Google Flights (google.com/flights) looks to be a work in progress and currently offers only results for round-trip economy-class flights for a limited number of U.S. cities.

Even so, the map-based functionality and query volumes it can generate in association with Google search and Google Maps make it a formidable competitor to existing flight search engines.

When someone types in a query on Google.com, like “flights from Chicago to Denver,” a “Flights” link shows up in the left bar which will take the user to the Google.com/flights page.

The tool also has a number of attractive features beyond traditional flight search. For example, you can explore possible destinations based on airline, flight time and price. You can choose to find destinations within three hours and $300 from San Francisco, and all the possible destinations will show up on the map as a solid blue dot. Hover over one of the dots to find the cheapest available flight for that route.

To compare multiple locations, you can enter up to five airport codes in the “from” and “to” fields. Once you have the destination figured out, the calendar visualization tool makes it easy to find the best date to get the lowest price.

As far as booking is concerned, Google Flights is currently offering booking links only for the airline websites in question, leaving everyone else in the lurch.

Kayak, which is among those most threatened by Google’s $700 million acquisition of ITA Software and foray into flight search, put out a statement which says, “We’re confident in our ability to compete, and we believe our flight search technology is superior.”

The Fairsearch coalition created to oppose the Google-ITA merger also had a fairly predictable response with a post titled “In travel search, the other shoe drops.”

The shoe has dropped, but it would be premature to say that Google is going to throw them out of flight search mid-air, without a parachute.

In a blog post on the Inside Search blog, Google engineering director Kourosh Gharachorloo said that they are working to “create additional opportunities” for others in the travel industry who might want to participate.

“This is just an early look: the takeoff, not the final destination!,” said Gharachorloo. “We’re working hard to improve this feature and look forward to sharing more updates.”

Related posts:
ITA Flight Search on Google – Coming Soon…
TravelTechnology Weekly – Google Hotel Finder, Saving CTP…

Feature 1: Google has acquired Zagat Survey, which now gives Google Maps a big leg up against user-generated restaurant-review sites like Yelp and OpenTable. Acquisition terms were not disclosed.

Zagat Google

Following are statements from both companies about the acquisition and what it means for them:

Marissa Mayer, vice president for local, maps and location services, Google: “Moving forward, Zagat will be a cornerstone of our local offering—delighting people with their impressive array of reviews, ratings and insights… With Zagat, we gain a world-class team that has more experience in consumer based-surveys, recommendations and reviews than anyone else in the industry.”

Nina and Tim Zagat: “After spending time with Google senior management discussing our mutual goals, we know they share our belief in user-generated content and our commitment to accuracy and fairness in providing users with the information needed to make smart decisions about where to eat, shop and travel.”

Google just got Zagat rated – Google Blog
Zagat got Googled - Zagat.com
Priceline CEO: Google web travel efforts under legal cloud – WSJ.com
Google Hotel Finder rocks the boat for Kayak – Forbes

Feature 2: Sunnyvale, California-based wireless location-based services provider Telenav has acquired Boston-based local-activity search startup Goby. The acquisition terms were not disclosed, and Goby’s existing core team will continue to operate out of Boston.

Goby was launched in October 2009 with $5 million in investment from Flybridge Capital Partners and Kepha Partners and raised another $2.5 million in 2010. Its mobile apps for the iPhone, iPad and Android have more than half a million users.

TeleNav completes acquisition of Goby - Telenav.com

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

Hotels.com extreme airborne stunt shows how to book a room “on the fly” – Hotels.com
Hipmunk first OTA to integrate Amtrak searches – Gadling.com
TripIt survey shows Android users travel less frequently - TripIt

Sabre Profiles: New customer profile management system – Sabre Holdings
American accuses Sabre of staging bookings boycott – Bloomberg
Amadeus and SITA to bring real-time baggage tracking to passengers - Amadeus.com

Survey: Airport security, baggage fees and trusted traveler program – Travel Leaders
Airport Screening: Shoe removal policy could come to an end – TIME

California Court overturns San Diego hotel tax ruling against OTAs - ITSA (pr)
Vail could sue online travel companies - VailDaily

Photo – Zagat

Related posts:
Google Acquires Ruba Travel
ITA Flight Search on Google – Coming Soon…
Goby: beautiful product, but how do you get discovered?