Articles tagged “groupon”

Many people have worked hard for a long time to bring tours and activities into the digital age. So far, there's very, very little to show for all the work and all the hype.

Travel is still a relatively small portion of the overall Groupon business, although the segment notched solid revenue growth in the third quarter. The issue for Groupon in travel is whether a standalone app will make much of a difference as the popularity of flash sales seems to be diminishing.

Groupon's launch of tonight-only hotel deals in its mobile apps isn't exactly the "shot heard 'round the world," but Groupon has the audience and scale to do some damage.

Will Groupon emerge as a larger player in online hotel sales? It's possible, but the necessary focus probably isn't there, and flash sales aren't on anyone's 2014 trends list.

While some erroneously looked to Expedia to take tours and activities mainstream, Groupon, if it survives, is making the first move.

Groupon and Expedia have downgraded their partnership. Whether it was a mutual decision as both parties claim or push came to shove, it was clear that these two big brands weren't going to smoothly co-exist forever.

Groupon is rounding out its hotel offering after having acquired same-night hotel app Blink last September. The whole thing is still a very niche product.

Putting tonight-only deals into the Groupon App isn't going to put HotelTonight or other competitors out of business, but it adds a competitor with a huge user base. Game on.

We've yet to see the same level of excitement for local tours, activities, and events startups from consumers as we did from investors over the last few years. SideTour's unnamed purchase price is likely low, but it's also likely a sigh of relief for its investors and employees.

For Groupon, which has built its business on limited time-based inventory, the acquisition makes sense to add to its travel business. For the mobile booking sector, it is just the beginning, with a lot more to come.