Cendant Picks Up Lodging.com, Appoints New Galileo CEO

NEW YORK— Adding to its ever-growing distribution outlets, Cendant Corp. has inked a deal to acquire Lodging.com for an undisclosed sum. This builds upon Cendant’s existing travel distribution division, which currently includes Trip.com, Cheap Tickets, and Galileo International. Lodging.com, an online hotel reservations website, generates about 115,000 hotel bookings per month, according to a statement, and is expected bolster Cendant’s presence in the hotel distribution arena, said newly appointed Galileo President and CEO Sam Galeotos. Galeotos, who joined Cendant in October as CEO of strategic distribution and travel services, following the company’s acquisition of Cheap Tickets, was appointed to his post last week in an effort to place all of Cendant’s travel distribution businesses under one operating umbrella. This corporate structure is expected to maximize supplier and customer value, and drive synergies and growth throughout Cendant’s portfolio of brands. Galeotos expanded responsibilities include overseeing Galileo’s global operations while integrating his current duties, which involve Cendant’s travel agency operations, hotel distribution businesses, and strategic supplier development. For Galileo, the acquisition of Lodging.com could bring more hotel suppliers… just not yet, according to Galeotos. “I’d like to be able to find a way for those suppliers on Lodging.com to distribute their inventory through Galileo,” he said. “But that’s not in the immediate plans.” However, some of Cendant’s other divisions will greatly benefit from the added distribution of Lodging.com— namely its timeshare flags, like RCI. These products were previously not offered through Lodging, which will now give the site incremental inventory while allowing the timeshare brands to benefit from the added distribution and exposure. In fact, the acquisition should boost participation on Lodging.com from all of Cendant’s brands, he stated. Year to date in 2002, Cendant flags have accounted for 10% of Lodging’s total sales. Overall, the website has seen significant growth over the past year. According to Galeotos, Lodging.com received 1.3 million unqiue visitors this June, up from 233,000 visitors in the same month last year, representing a growth rate of nearly 475%, he said. In addition, bookings on the site are up 680% for this first half of 2002, compared to the same period last year. Cendant plans to continue operating Lodging.com on its existing URL and will maintain the site’s current staff headquartered in Florida. It will also distribute its hotel inventory on Trip.com through an affiliate relationship. “We clearly intend to continue promoting the [Lodging.com] brand… and will leverage its relationship with the Trip network,” he explained.