Over the last 10 years online travel sites offering discounted deals have seen great success. And about three years ago, the new Groupon concept of group coupon shopping deals also hit the Internet, also to explosive success. Now the two industries have come together in a recently announced joint venture between Groupon and Expedia. The two companies are partnering to launch a brand-new website geared at connecting travellers with deeply discounted deals all across the globe.
The new website will be offered in the U.S. and Canada to start, then later in other countries. Right away users will have access to deals from more than 135,000 hotels and resorts already working with Expedia. The service will work similar to Groupon in a model that presents users with new deals at regular intervals. Users can claim those deals, within a limited time frame, in order to receive a voucher to be used sometime in the future. Dates for booking the actual travel are flexible.
It remains to be seen exactly what the final product will look like, but Groupon and Expedia both expect the site to be very successful. With millions of regular users already between them, the two companies are holding out hope that their partnership is one that will set the course for the future of discounted travel online.
Although the new site won’t be officially launched until the end of June, interested consumers can sign up now at the website.