Orbitz 2014 Annual Report Download - page 6

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6
Orbitz for Business (“OFB”) (www.orbitzforbusiness.com)
Orbitz for Business leverages our technology expertise for corporate travelers, offering a complete portfolio of travel
products and services that help corporate customers plan, search and book business travel. In addition to its leading technology,
Orbitz for Business delivers customizable, full service, cost-effective travel products and travel management solutions
including 24/7 support, expense reporting and policy management tools. Orbitz for Business also offers a mobile web solution
that allows business travelers to search for and book flights, hotels and car rentals directly from any web-enabled smartphone.
Through partnerships with leading regional corporate travel companies, Orbitz for Business offers its services in over 80
countries to over 1,100 corporate travel clients.
In addition to our customer-facing brands and services, we also generate revenue through other sources, including:
Orbitz Partner Network (“OPN”) (www.orbitzpartnernetwork.com)
Orbitz Partner Network offers a full range of travel solutions to over one thousand partners globally, which include many
of the world’s largest airlines, travel companies and financial institutions. Orbitz Partner Network enables our partners to
provide a wide range of travel products on their websites under their own brands through solutions ranging from hosted
services that can be launched in a matter of weeks to custom developed solutions that are fully tailored to meet the needs of
more complex partners. We share net revenue with our partners from transactions booked on their websites. In February 2014,
we announced the acquisition of certain assets and contracts of the Travelocity Partner Network (“TPN”), which provides
private label technology solutions for bank loyalty programs and online commerce sites. TPN brings us deep technology
capabilities and a strong customer base in the bank loyalty market.
Partner Marketing
The Partner Marketing team is responsible for building innovative online marketing and advertising partnerships across
our global portfolio of consumer and business travel brands. We generate advertising revenue by providing our partners access
to our customer base through a combination of display advertising, performance-based advertising, video production and other
marketing programs. Travel companies, convention and visitor bureaus, credit card partners, media, packaged goods and other
non-travel advertisers advertise on our websites.
Supplier Relationships and Global Distribution Systems
Supplier Relationships
We work with suppliers to provide our customers with a broad and deep range of highly competitive travel products and
services on our websites. We have teams that manage relationships with hotel, air, car rental, cruise, travel insurance and
destination services suppliers. Our supplier teams negotiate contracts regarding access to the supplier’s travel inventory and
payment for our services, manage supplier relationships and obtain supplier-sponsored promotions.
For hotels, we are focused on offering our customers the ability to book the most relevant hotels at the most competitive
prices. To do this, we focus on infrastructure to ensure we have appropriate connectivity with our suppliers, sophisticated sort
order algorithms and robust promotional capabilities. Our global hotel services team works closely with hotel chains and
independent hotels to increase the number of properties that participate on our websites and to ensure that our customers have
access to their best available prices, including prices exclusive to our brands, where possible.
For airlines, we have long-standing relationships with hundreds of airlines, including most major U.S. and international
carriers. We work with our suppliers to provide our customers with a highly competitive product offering.
Our suppliers continue to look for ways to decrease their overall distribution costs, which could significantly reduce the
net revenue OTCs earn from travel and other travel-related products. As a result, the revenue we and other OTCs earn in the
form of mark-ups and commissions from our suppliers is likely to be negatively impacted over the long term as supplier
contracts are extended or renegotiated or as we add new suppliers.
Global Distribution Systems
Global distribution systems (“GDS”) provide us access to a comprehensive set of supplier content through a single
source. Suppliers, such as airlines and hotels, utilize GDSs to connect their product and service offerings with travel providers,
who in turn make these products and services available to travelers for booking. Certain of our businesses utilize GDS services