“In a sense, the millions of people who come to Expedia® are now serving as your own personal travel agent, helping you find the best and most popular deals from your home city,” said Joe Megibow, vice president and general manager, Expedia.com. “So many customers travel with Expedia every month that it puts us in a great position to deliver this type of service to our customers. With Last-Minute Deals, you can get the best deals available by letting everyone else do your research for you.”

The deals are part of a new program by Expedia titled ASAP (A Sudden Amazing Price).

Apparently, the travel deals will work the same way as Groupon daily deals. Customers will have a limited amount of time to buy certain deals for future use. No word on whether or not there will be the same kind of buyer minimums for activation. According to Expedia, “discounts will be significant, typically around 50 percent off retail rates found at other online travel sites.” This sounds consistent with the type of discounts currently offered by Groupon.

Although the deals won’t start rolling in until late June, customers can sign up to be on the email mailing list, just like with Groupon’s regular daily deals. It looks like it is an entirely separate email list from the standard deals.

According to Tech Crunch, the deals will most likely be regional, instead of super specific and local. They also say that Groupon was also in talks with Priceline and Travelocity before making the final deal with Expedia.

In other daily deals news, Google Offers officially launched in Portland today and recently Glenn Beck launched MarkDown, a deals service featuring no daily emails.

TripAdvisor will include domestic and international operations associated with the TripAdvisor Media Group. This includes the TripAdvisor brand, as well as 18 other travel media and advertising brands.

Expedia will continue to include the domestic and international operations of the company’s travel transaction brands, which include: Expedia.com, Hotels.com, eLong, Hotwire, Egencia, Expedia Affiliate Network, CruiseShipCenters, Venere, Classic Vacations and carrentals.com.

The announcement says:

It is anticipated that the transaction will take the form of a distribution of stock of TripAdvisor to Expedia stockholders or a reclassification of Expedia stock, with the holders of Expedia stock receiving a proportionate amount of TripAdvisor stock, in either case in a tax free transaction. It is expected that Expedia’s dual-class equity capital structure and the governance arrangements between Barry Diller and Liberty Media will be mirrored at TripAdvisor following the transaction.

The deal is still subject to final approval by the board in terms of the specifics. Expedia will seek stockholder approval as well. It’s all expected to close in the third quarter.

The promotion is called the “Expedia FriendTrips” and people can participate in the promotion by becoming a fan of Expedia on Facebook. Then participants will create a “virtual plane” and will point the plane towards one of a number of vacation destinations. They will fill the plane with five of their Facebook friends , who will need to become a fan of Expedia.

“Expedia FriendTrips is not only the largest sweepstakes ever hosted on Facebook, it is the largest promotion in Expedia’s history by a wide margin,” said Scott Durchslag, president, Expedia Worldwide.

“I believe a million dollars’ worth of free travel will be a magnificent experience for our friends on Facebook.”

Participants can double their chance of winning by bringing more Facebook friends into the game. A Facebook friend on one plane can join multiple planes, or they can build different planes of their own. Once a particular entrant has brought 25 friends into the Expedia FriendTrips Game, their chance of winning doubles.

Expedia said it would also give away four $250 travel credits daily to contest participants who submit pictures and share stories of why they want to visit a particular place.

Beginning today through February 3, users can visit the Expedia Facebook page and suggest a new name for Vacation Packages. Expedia will compile the entries and will select ten finalists. Users will then have the chance to vote for the winner among the ten finalists. The entry that receives the most votes will win the contest and get a vacation worth up to $10,000. The second-place winner will win a $500 Expedia credit. Voters can also win one of a several $250 travel credits.

Voting for the winning selection will begin on February 8 and end on February 15. Participants can vote for their favorite entry once per day through February 15. The voters themselves may earn a prize. Each vote counts as a sweepstakes entry.

"Vacation Packages have been available on Expedia.com for years. Billions of dollars in free money goes unclaimed because consumers simply don’t know, or don’t believe, that when they book their flight and hotel together, they may save,” said Tim MacDonald, senior vice president and general manager, Expedia.com.

“So we’re asking for their help in finding a name that will work better. Come up with a better name and win a trip of a lifetime."

Last night, CNN’s Jessica Yellin interviewed Tom Barnett, counsel to Expedia and former assistant attorney general for antitrust at the DOJ, and Adam Kovacevich, Google’s senior manager of global communications and public affairs together in what almost seemed like a court case in itself in which the audience was the jury. 

Google’s stance is that it wants to provide better answers for consumers in travel search (airfares, flight times, etc.) and point them to third-party sites where they can actually purchase tickets – sites like those behind FairSearch. 

The main concern of FairSearch, which the coalition hopes the DoJ will agree with, is that Google could possibly cut off access to ITA, which provides technology to other travel sites, and that given Google’s dominance in search in general, the other sites that depend on the technology will not be able to compete. 

"It’s important to say, we haven’t designed this product yet, and we won’t be able to start designing it until we actually close this acquisition, so we don’t know for sure what these tools will look like," said Kovacevich. "But that said, we’re big believers that this is actually going to create more competition and more competition usually brings down prices for consumers. I think it’s also important to emphasize that we’re not going to be in the business of setting airfares. That’s up to the airlines, and we are going to be sending people directly to sites like Expedia and AmericanAirlines.com, where they can purchase these tickets."

He also said that Google will not deny service to competitors. "Google’s not going to do that," he said. "We’ve committed not to doing that, but I think also, more importantly, Tom and others have argued that ITA is somehow an essential input to some of these companies, and actually Expedia doesn’t even use ITA. Neither does Travelocity or Priceline. So the top three travel sites don’t even use ITA."

To this, Barnett responded, "With all due respect, Adam has misrepresented things. Google has not said that it would renew current licenses, that it would license continuing innovations, or that it would do so on reasonable terms. If Adam would like to say here and now publicly that Google will commit to do that to current licensees, that would address one of the concerns presented by the transaction."

Kovacevich maintains that Google plans to enter new agreements both with existing contactees and new ones, and that Google’s acquisition of ITA Software would help competition. 

As Google has said in the past, competition is always a click away, and frankly they’re right. Google may dominate search, but people are still choosing which search engine they want to use. Are they not?

There is more to the conversation between Kovacevich and Barnett. You can watch the interview here.

Earlier this month, FairSearch added some new members to its coalition, including Microsoft (which obviously runs Bing and Bing Travel). Kovacevich told WebProNews, "I’m not sure there are any surprises here. Microsoft is our largest competitor and lobbies regulators against every acquisition we make…"

TripAssist allows users to research flights, destinations, hotels, cars and activities. Once they make a reservation, they can manage and update their itineraries, find an alternative flight, research their seats and access real-time flight information.  The app also offers real-time SMS and email updates for free.

"Travel, by definition, is a mobile endeavor – you get up and go. Now, Expedia can travel with you," said Tim MacDonald, senior vice president and general manager, Expedia.com.

"TripAssist is the latest example of how Expedia.com is the easiest place to book your travel."

TripAssist allows users to view and update travel plans no matter where they were booked. Users can automatically sync an itinerary from their Expedia account or create a new itinerary. When travelers land at their destination, the app will automatically provide access to their hotel information.

Expedia says it has optimized its site for most mobile phone browsers, including BlackBerry, Android and Windows phones. The company says 55,000 trips were booked on smartphone browsers on its site in 2009, and it expects that number to increase.
 

The lawsuit states that while the companies have been collecting these taxes from consumers all along, they have only been paying a portion of the taxes to the state and keeping the rest as profit.  Florida says the practice denies it of millions of dollars every year in tax revenue.

"Consumers are already paying ‘taxes and fees’ when purchasing a Florida hotel room online, yet the online travel companies have been keeping too much of those taxes as profit," said Attorney General McCollum.

"If these taxes are due to the State, the companies should pay them for the benefit of the people of Florida."

For transactions not completed via an online travel company, Florida hotels pay the "transient rentals tax" similar to a sales tax on the rate they charge the consumer for the room. The hotel which receives the consumer’s payment for the hotel room owes the tax and is responsible for paying it to the Florida Department of Revenue.

According to the lawsuit, online travel companies purchase hotel rooms at a lower, wholesale rate they negotiate directly with hotels. The companies than resell the rooms to consumers at a higher retail rate and keep the difference as profit. The online travel companies are the merchant of record in these transactions and are responsible for paying the taxes to the state.

The Attorney General’s lawsuit claims Orbitz and Expedia have admitted they do not pay taxes to the state of Florida based on the amount a consumer is charged for the hotel room. Consumers are unaware that taxes have not been paid to the state on the rate they paid for the room.

Florida is the first state to file this kind of lawsuit, which will help clarify the application of state tax laws to online travel companies.
 

You can read the lawsuit here.

Related Articles:

> Turkey Asks Google For $47 Million In Taxes

> Legalized Online Gambling Would Bring In Billions

> NY Lawmakers Approve Internet Tax

80% of football fans with tickets to an "important" game would travel an average of 554 miles to see their team play, and 40%of football fans would pass up a "hot date" or their own birthday party to go to a professional football game according to Expedia.

Of course you won’t find many games as important as the upcoming Thanksgiving Day match-up between the undefeated-until-Sunday  Tennessee Titans and the 0-11 Detroit Lions. Clearly I’m being sarcastic, although the absurdity of it (it’s ok, I’m a Lions fan…yeah, that’s right) and the holiday family-togetherness hasn’t stopped the game from being nearly sold out.

"More than two-thirds of Americans are fans of the NFL, and for many, that passion extends well beyond their living rooms, permeating their travel and social plans during the football season," said Sean Kell, general manager of Expedia.com. "As the Official Travel Team of the NFL, Expedia is here to help fans plan their football weekends, whether they’re following their favorite team on the road or making a city weekend in their hometown."

Expedia’s "Go Like Pro" survey is an extension of a deal the site has with the NFL, also called "Go Like Pro," which is Expedia’s on and offline program connecting fans travel options to and from NFL cities.

The program showcases Seattle Seahawks Quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and Washington Redskins Quarterback Jason Campbell. The two star in Expedia’s national advertising campaign and provide personal travel tips in all 32 NFL cities, plus Honolulu. Expedia also offers two "Go Like Pro Show" webisodes, which are extended versions of the ads. The show features the two quarterbacks as hosts of a travel talk show.

But back to the survey. Some more fun facts for you from Expedia:

-  18% of pro football fans are so dedicated to their team that they could never marry a fan of their team’s biggest rivals.

– 25% of professional football fans have a better memory for pro football stats and scores than they do for birthday and anniversary dates of their friends and families.

– More than four in ten professional football lovers would rather see a child of theirs become a star professional football player than win a Nobel Prize.

– Nearly six in ten pro football fans would skip work if they had tickets to an important game.

-  More than half admit it takes at least a day for their moods to recover after their team loses. In fact, the average time it takes for this group to feel better is two days (It’s pretty bad up until about 0-8, and then you start to become immune to it and just hope for a good draft pick).

– 61% of pro football devotees say they’d gladly spend their money on a Super Bowl ticket if their favorite team were to make it. The average price they’re willing to pay is $694.

– Those who spend money on being fans part with an average of $483 each year on everything from going to the games to collecting memorabilia to joining fantasy leagues.

– 23% of pro football fans who spend money being a fan, spend $500 or more a year

If you are not a football fan but plan to invite some into your home for Thanksgiving, think about these stats before turning on the dog show. Although, I’m sure there are plenty of people spending more than $500 a year on being dog fans.

Like we needed a survey; we saw Talladega Nights *.

Reinforcing lots of old stereotypes (except for the B.O. thing), Time reports that even the French think the French are obnoxious, and also cheap, very likely to complain, and expect everybody to know French. Vacationers from France scored just better, prancing in at 19th place among 21 countries ranked according to pleasantness abroad, than India and China, where it’s likely too darn crowded to think about being polite.

France took the silver, just behind Italy, in one positive trait: They’re really well-dressed. So they’ll look great while stiffing the waiter.

America wasn’t awesome in the survey, ranking eleventh and well behind the Japanese, Germans, British, and Canadians. In general, Americans are considered loud, plaintive, and impolite, but also generous and willing to give the local language the old college try before resorting to English.

Expedia’s marketing director for Europe, Timothée de Roux, defended nations on both sides of the pond. de Roux said Americans are jerks sometimes (paraphrasing) because they expect the same excellent service abroad as they get at home. Likewise, the French expect certain levels of quality, just like a la maison.

You’d almost believe that, but when French vacationers spend 85 percent of their vacations in-country and even French hotel staffers don’t like them, it makes de Roux’s explanation a bit suspect. He may be right that 37 days of vacation on average makes the French tourist a bit tighter with the money.

We can accept that and forgive so long as others understand that if Americans actually take their whole two weeks per year (assuming they don’t check in with the office every day, too), we get a little cranky if our hard-earned leisure time doesn’t go as planned. Blowing off steam can get a little loud, too.  

No worries though. With the Olympics in dead-last-place China this year, the natives likely won’t notice anything out of the ordinary from either country. 

^{*Please, no flaming. That joke should be sufficiently self-deprecating. If flamed in the comments because of it, I’ll assume your sarcasm/humor receptors are either broken or made by a French company**.}

**Honestly, take a joke, will ya?