Passkey Acquires Event411Online group housing provider Passkey has purchased online meeting and attendee management provider Event411, Passkey officials confirmed on Friday. "We were the primary creditor to Event411 and acquired the assets of the organization through an asset foreclosure proceeding, and subsequently attained all rights, title and interests in their reorganization strategy," said Passkey president and CEO Greg Pesik. "The system remains live, to allow Event411's existing client base uninterrupted use of the registration application while we finalize our strategic direction regarding the technology." However, as of Friday, Event411's Web site home page was static. The acquisition could allow Passkey its most direct entry thus far into the corporate meetings market. The company's other products primarily have been directed to convention and visitors bureaus and hotels, offering all parties the ability to transact and manage hotel room blocks and bookings online. Event411, once one of the industry's most promising entries, raised $30 million-plus in two separate funding endeavors in 1999 and 2000 and provided online registration for attendees at the 2000 Democratic National Convention. However, its star has dimmed due to a lack of large corporate clients, a slim roster led by the New York-based Philip Morris Management Corp.
EC Ends Probe, Set To OK Two U.S.-European Air AlliancesAfter years of investigation, the European Commission in about a month is set to approve antitrust immunity for United Airlines/Lufthansa/SAS and Northwest Airlines/KLM Royal Dutch Airlines now that competitive concerns have been addressed, according to various printed reports. The two transatlantic partnerships—anchors of the Star Alliance and the informal Wings alliance, respectively—have had similar approvals for years from U.S. regulators. Reports late last week suggested the Star Alliance carriers, in particular, will surrender slots at Frankfurt and lessen service to key U.S. gateways to gain the EC okay, but that the EC is not prepared to grant similar approval to the Delta Air Lines/Air France/Alitalia SkyTeam alliance. The EC is seeking comments before formalizing its decision.
Sabre To Attempt Squeeze On Rivals, Sees Getthere GrowthSabre is anticipating a 24 percent adoption rate next year among clients of its GetThere subsidiary's corporate self-booking systems, versus the 16 percent recorded in the second quarter ending June 30. During that period, GetThere's top 10 customers put up an average adoption rate of 49 percent, Sabre officials said. Calling the entry of Expedia and Orbitz into corporate travel, "noise," Sabre chairman and CEO William Hannigan said, "We like our position a lot in the corporate space, between Travelocity at the low end of the market, where about 30 percent of bookings are unmanaged business, and at the high end of the market, unquestioned leadership with GetThere in the highly managed space. The next piece you'll be seeing from us is for the lightly managed, medium or small business traveler, which is a tougher nut to crack. I like our position in what we call our pincer strategy." A pincer movement is one in which attackers send two side columns around the enemy's back toward each other. GetThere revenues rose 21 percent, to $13 million, during the second quarter. Excluding the airline IT outsourcing business it sold last year, Sabre reported 26.8 percent higher year-over-year earnings, to $83 million on 8.5 percent lower revenues. Worldwide bookings and revenues in Sabre's marketing and distribution division fell about 10 percent.
Continental Folds Fuel Fee Into Base FaresContinental Airlines late last week eliminated fuel surcharges from all domestic and Canadian transborder fares and raised those fares $40 to reflect the change. "The cost to travelers is not affected," the carrier said in a statement. "Continental made the modification to simplify its fare structure and to expedite the fare-quote process," offering travelers a more accurate initial fare display. It is unclear how fluctuations in fuel prices will affect those base fares. At press time, no other carriers had matched Continental's move. Most major airlines began levying the passenger fuel surcharge more than two years ago to compensate for spiking fuel prices
(BTN, Jun. 24).Layoffs Versus Flexible Schedules For Hotel EmployeesHilton Hotels Corp. was cited last month for its approach to layoffs. Rather than fire employees, only to have to rehire new ones later, Hilton focuses on flexing the number of hours employees work, said Bear Stearns lodging analyst Jason Ader. Industrywide, PricewaterhouseCoopers has estimated that U.S. hotels will eliminate 275,000 jobs by year-end.