Expedia Jumps into Flash Sales - ASAP - A Sudden Amazing Price

Just when you thought there were not enough flash sale sites out there, Expedia has jumped into the fray with a slightly different model. Expedia is calling their program ASAP - a cute moniker for "A Sudden Amazing Price." ASAP offers an even shorter purchase window (12 hours) than industry pioneer Jetsetter.com. In addition, ASAP is open to all consumers rather than the Jetsetter (and others) private sale version which requires registration.

Interestingly, Expedia is promoting ASAP as a short-term program between today and December 17th. Does this mean ASAP is not a long term program? Given the high placement on the Expedia home page and in other places throughout the site, we expect it will be around beyond the holidays...

Wyndham takes a Tryp

Wyndham Hotel Group (NYSE: WYN) has announced that they have acquired the Tryp Hotel brand from Sol Meliá Hotels & Resorts. This must be a little trippy for at least a few Wyndham executives as the old Cendant hotel loyalty program was built around "Trip" as in Triprewards.

It is a great deal for Wyndham as it greatly expands their presence in Europe and South America with an additional 91 hotels while remaining true to Wyndham's "franchise only" model of not owning or directly operating.

Tryp hotels will benefit from Wyndham's sales and marketing efforts, loyalty programs and broad centralized distribution platform almost immediately.

Wyndham gains a new, youthful brand ripe for expansion beyond its current European and Latin footprint. And a nice new fee stream. Tryp isn't as hip as Aloft but it will be a pretty nice additional to the Wyndham brand stable. We are waiting for the first Tryp to open in New York.....