Just for fun. A headline to send its fellow members of the FairSearch anti-Google lobbying group running to the hills in horror, but Expedia is indeed helping run a site called GoogleDeal.
Before FairSearch member Microsoft quickly convenes a conference call to ask what the hell is going on, GoogleDeals (and the Expedia connection) is actually rather innocent.
First of all the site is NOTHING to do with the arch, (do no) evil enemy in Mountain View, California.
And the online travel agency’s involvement is just one of the vagaries of its fast growing Expedia Affiliate Network, where any third party site can sign up and take all the search and booking functionality of the Expedia mothership and white label it into their own platform.
In this case the search element is also shows a “Sabre connected” logo at the foot of the search results as well as hotel reviews from TripAdvisor – two companies which are, err, also members of FairSearch!
Given the protective nature of Google with its brand identity, GoogleDeals is more than likely to be heading in the same direction as the ill-fated Google Bypass service launched in the UK in the summer of 2010.
The site last just over a month before an injunction was slapped on it for use of the name. It eventually rebranded as Holiday Nights.
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About Kevin May
The site looks like it is caught in a pre 2000 time warp.
@michael – expedia, google, or googledeal?
It’s very user friendly though. I clicked on the hotels icon and got prompted to enter a pick up destination for a car…..it must be triangulating my location and knows that I need a car to get to my hotel.
LOL Kevin!
Whoa, not sure whether to laugh or cry looking at that site.