Travelocity.com buys Site59.com - e-Watch - Brief Article

DSN Retailing Today, April 8, 2002

FORT WORTH, TEXAS -- Travelocitycom paid $43 million in cash for last-minute travel package company Site59.com. The deal will increase the accommodations offerings of Travelocity.com, which also specializes in airfares, train travel, car rentals, cruises and vacation packages. The two-year-old New York-based Site59.com collects information on unsold airline seats, vacant hotel rooms and available rental cars and combines them to create bargain travel packages. Along with combo trips that include airfare and hotel stay, Site59.com also creates excursion packages for people already at their destination or who are having their airfare paid for by someone else, such as business travelers.

A recent offering geared toward Wall Streeters was dubbed "Beef & Guns," which invited New York City visitors to "squeeze off 150 rounds of ammo and then sink into a man-sized hunk of USDA Prime." The $98 package, minus travel, included time at Chelsea's West Side Rifle Range, followed by a price-fix meal at Frank's Restaurant. Prior to the Travelocity acquisition, Site59.com already had ties with its new boss, along with Orbitz, Yahoo! Travel, American Express and Lastminute.com.