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.

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Matt Holliday reported, "Orbitz has launched a new Facebook Connect integration to help anyone making travel plans through the site share their flight and hotel details with friends and family on Facebook."  Which sounds nice enough – like something that users will even appreciate, even.

Holliday then continued, "With the new Connect implementation, Facebook friends are able to see users’ complete travel plans in their News Feed when Orbitz users share those details on Facebook.  By clicking on the feed story, they’ll be taken to the Orbitz site, where they can book a similar trip."

This last bit might represent more of a stretch than the 1-800-Flowers development; the average person will more readily spring for a $40 bouquet than book a flight to Panama.  It’s still an interesting move and a nod to Facebook’s importance, however.

Also, as with the 1-800-Flowers news, it’s possible that this will lead to something of a domino effect in terms of companies embracing Facebook.

Orbitz has introduced "Total Price" hotel search results which now show base rate, taxes & fees per night upfront on the initial search results page.

Barney Harford

The company says it is now the only online travel agency that displays total pricing information up front and that its competitors only show base rates on their initial search results pages. Only later in the booking process do consumers see the total price they pay on other travel sites.

"With the launch of Total Price hotel search results we’re making it dramatically easier for consumers to search for hotels," said Barney Harford, president and CEO of Orbitz Worldwide.

"Until today, there was no convenient way for consumers to compare multiple hotels on a Total Price basis. Consumers had to click through to the details page for each hotel to see how much it would cost to book. With Total Price hotel search results, Orbitz is changing that."

Orbitz hopes its latest move will help create loyalty while attracting new customers.

The company also launched the "Hotel Fee Cut" promotion, which reduces fees on all of its hotel rooms booked by July 15.
 

Orbitz.com replaces the Microsoft founded Expedia in the U.S. and affiliate ebookers.com will serve the MSN UK site.

Orbitz says the deal could attract 3.5 million visitors per month to Orbitz through MSN Travel. Orbitz did not offer data on how many visitors it could bring to its ebookers site.

"Our partnership with MSN will provide additional visibility and traffic to both Orbitz.com and ebookers.com, strengthening growth in both the United States and the United Kingdom," said Steve Barnhart, CEO and president of Orbitz Worldwide.

Microsoft said it choose Orbitz because of the travel site’s features and customer service.

Orbitz and ebookers.com will provide all of MSN Travel’s offerings, including air, hotel, vacation packages, cruise and rental car bookings.

"Orbitz provides an excellent online experience for its customers and has unique customer-focused services," stated John Russell, senior channel manager of MSN Travel at Microsoft Corp.

"Microsoft is committed to delivering innovative features that help our MSN Travel customers make smarter decisions, and the integration of Orbitz’s technology is another step toward fulfilling that commitment."
 

When asked if they would take a less convenient ore more expensive flight in order to have Wi-Fi service, 56 percent of business travelers said it was not a necessity, while 36 percent say they would try to book a flight with Wi-Fi available, but would be content if it were not. Only eight percent said the wireless service is very important, and would take less convenient or more expensive flights to have access.

Cell phone usage on commercial airlines faces obstacles and safety concern from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) and Federal Communications Commission (FCC). If never approved, it would not bother most travelers on planes, as 57 percent of business travelers oppose cell phone usage in-flight.

"Technological advances have made business travelers today more productive than ever before," said Dean Sivley, senior vice president, COO and general manager, Orbitz for Business.

"While there are those who use flight time to catch up on work, and Wi-Fi will enhance that ability, there are also many who view it as valuable downtime. If ever endorsed, many travelers feel it would be hard to rest with the person next to them talking on a cell phone."

Eighty-four percent of business travelers said they try to be as quiet as possible when on call, and are annoyed by those who don’t do the same. Only four percent admit they will do whatever they need to while working and traveling, no matter how it affects others.

Fifty-nine percent of business travelers said they would use Wi-Fi for both business and entertainment, while 21 percent said they would use it strictly for business. Twenty percent said they would use Wi-Fi only for entertainment.
 

That is particularly tough for cell phones, which access the mobile web, since small screens do not leave much room for advertising. If you feel that a major slice of mobile Web activity will be via sound technology, then there is an additional challenge. Who wants to wait patiently listening through a sound advertisement until they get to the information they were seeking?

Nevertheless the rewards will be high so it comes down to finding out the best way to make acceptable sound advertisements. Part of that acceptability will come from the desirability of the information being offered. An early contender in the field is 1-800-Flights. According to a NY Daily News item, this Houston, Texas company has developed a service, which will give you specific flight status information. The new service, which officially launched this month, covers 141 domestic and international airlines at all 432 U.S. commercial airports, as well as 173 international airports. Along with flight status, 1-800-Flights provides terminal and gate information.

All you do is call and give the flight number, which is picked up by voice recognition technology. You’ll then hear a short commercial while a computer checks the flight information. “The idea behind 1-800-Flights is to offer U.S. air travelers a simpler, more convenient way to check flight status while offering advertisers a one-to-one opportunity to reach these affluent, educated consumers,” said Sam Stolbun, president of the Houston-based company.

1-800-Flights is the first application of voice-recognition technology to flight information throughout the U.S. market although other Web services, including Orbitz and Google, provide flight information on your computer or as a text message to your cell phone. 1-800-Flights is currently a wholly cell-phone-based service, however clearly it could be easily extended to integrate with Web-based services.

If, as we believe, the sound-based mobile Web will be a major sector, then this type of sound advertising will be a sector to watch.

Related:

How Will Advertising Influence Mobile Web Growth?

That ringing sound is Google on the phone

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Traveloctiy Tweaks Hotel Review Tool

The new tool allows travelers to sift through reviews to find information in a wide number of categories that include, families, couples, with young kids, with teens, mature travelers, solo women, group of friends, with disabilities, with pets, other vacationers and business travelers.

Travelocity’s new hotel reviews include a screening process for all reviews based on traveler’s interests and needs. User’s create a customized profile and give feedback on what is important to them when they travel. For example people with young kids can provide comments on hotels that are child friendly.

"With this launch, we have taken user-generated content to another level," said Noreen Henry, vice president of hotels and packaging for Travelocity. "Travelers do not have to scour the Web anymore for credible, relevant opinions – our new hotel reviews meet those needs."

 Travelocity has also added to the review tool 16 categories on amenities and services that allows user to leave comments on local cuisine, events and activities.

"Paired with Travelocity’s vast global hotel content, our revamped hotel traveler reviews allow travelers to find the right hotel for their needs and gather insight from travelers just like them," Henry said.

The survey, conducted by morefocus, highlights the fact that more people talk to their family or friends about vacation planning rather than consulting traditional avenues such as travel agencies.

Orbitz, Travelocity and Priceline are examples of sites that have seen exponential growth in recent years by providing comprehensive travel services to their customers.

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“As in a number of other industries, people are using the Internet to take control of things they used to have to rely on other people for,” said Dr. Regan Carey, research director at morefocus.

“Now, you can book your own hotel, plane ticket, rental car – all without leaving your home, and you probably save money, too.”

He concluded, “It’s a trend that will only continue to grow.”

The survey also offered some additional figures:

I wonder if the same 52% of people have ever been frisked by a disgruntled airport security officer, perhaps then they would be a little bothered by all the new heightened security practices that airport are enforcing these days.

Or perhaps they don’t mind the long lines and pat downs because they are saving money on airfare by purchasing their tickets online.

Lower airfare is the bread and butter of online travel agencies.

Advertising, however, leaves something to be desired. Anyone remember William Shatner touting Priceline with his vocal rendition of “Two Tickets to Paradise”?

If you don’t, consider yourself fortunate.

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The search advertising company began hunting for Chicago-based account executives last November, in the local, retail, tech communications, and travel verticals. About a month later, Google ads began showing up in the Chicago Sun-Times.

That deal permitted Google to fill up “remnant space” in the paper, with ads relevant to the context of the surrounding content. Handling those ads meant bringing people on-board to work with clients locally, thus Google looked for job candidates to handle those positions.

Recently Google places more ads on Mediabistro.com, the same site where they first advertised for Chicago-area talent. Russell Shaw has taken this latest round of want ads to indicate something more that ad selling: a travel portal from Google, partnered with Orbitz.

Shaw makes the case that Orbitz, based in Chicago, could saddle up with Google on this deal. Content Google already possesses on destinations could figure into Google Travel searches, and feed that to the Orbitz-powered Google Travel portal.

It’s difficult to see where this deal would make sense for Google, though. Travel sites make virtually nothing on booking airfare; it’s the hotels and other add-ons that return a commission to them. Why would Google settle for a minuscule piece of the travel pie?

There is a lot of functionality Google could provide to Orbitz or another travel search engine. They would likely make more money by selling Orbitz that content and contextual advertising than they would in building a search site.

Content Google has in its databases belongs to other people or companies. For Google to start providing that as part of a search service sounds interesting enough, but the content Google has indexed belongs to those who created it in the first place. Maybe that would fall under the fair use that lets Google index it in the first place, maybe not.

Google’s Mediabistro ads may be just more advertising sales support for the Chicago market. If they do launch Google Travel with Orbitz as a partner, be sure to let me know how wrong I was.

Personally, I think it’s more interesting that Google is hiring an account coordinator for Dallas, TX. Google Oil, anyone?

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Wives of sports fans, and probably a few husbands of fans, may find their fan spouses planning the next vacation around Pedro Martinez’s starts with the Mets instead of around a destination like Disney World. Unless of course, it’s spring training when the Braves take residence at Disney in March. At least the hotel rates are pretty reasonable in late winter.

The Orbitz and ESPN team-up will enable fans to book hotels and even vacation packages based around sporting events, Dow Jones reported.

“Orbitz’ agreement with ESPN.com is a slam dunk for sports fans who want to literally follow their favorite teams,” Randy Wagner, chief marketing officer at Orbitz, said in the report.

Though not limited to any one sport, it is easy to imagine this being popular with NFL fans. With a shorter season and game schedules mostly fixed on Sundays, the dedicated fan could easily plan out eight road trips.

Of course, the dedicated fan may have to plan a vacation around marriage counseling after that. But the New York Giants really do look like they could have a great season coming up this fall, ok so they play Indy at home and Seattle on the road, again, AGAIN, who made this schedule…

Did I mention the website hasn’t launched yet? It hasn’t. Darn.

Although fans can easily plan out such vacations today by using Orbitz and ESPN separately, we anticipate the pairing will have some compelling packages created by ESPN exclusively for the new site. ESPN’s owner, the Walt Disney Company, has considerable marketing strengths, and maybe they will build packages around ESPN notables like Dan Patrick. We’re sure Dan will be thrilled.

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