It is always an interesting thing to see large corporations spreading their wings into other business arenas. Some are great fits while others may have made sense at one point but the implementation fell flat. One example is a large grocery store chain that planned to get into the laundromat business to create a real all-in-one shopping experience (it would be great – get your laundry done while you shop!). The problems that manifested included people taking their dirty clothes past the produce and putting those dirty clothes in the same shopping carts that were used for food transport. 🙂
Amazon Getting in the Travel Business
In this case, it is being rumored that Amazon is getting in the travel business in an interesting fashion. The plan seems to focus on independent hotels and resorts. These locations would be near major U.S. cities like New York, Los Angeles, and Seattle. The hotels would pay a commission of 15% and Amazon would handle the reservation end.
The Skift article said that Amazon would use TripAdvisor ratings to help select the independent hotels for the service, to be called Amazon Travel. The service will apparently go live January 1. Any guesses on how long Amazon will wait before branching into the other travel arenas? They certainly have the technology to bring to the market as well as the reach. Now, if only we could use Amazon gift cards for the service (5X rewards, anyone?)!
Source: Skift
