NEW YORK: Online travel booking sites Priceline Group and TripAdvisor took a beating from investors on Nov 7, highlighting how the companies' once industry-disrupting model is under growing pressure from other competitors. Hotel chains also are putting up a tougher fight for the online sites' business. "We're a big business now," Priceline chief executive officer Glenn Fogel said on the group's third-quarter call on Monday. Hotels are driving harder bargains in negotiations on commissions paid to third-party sites, analysts said. To attract customers, the online travel sites said they were spending more on advertising, including television commercials.

Source: The Star November 08, 2017 05:48 UTC