Expedia Affiliate Network to open up its technology in 2012

Expedia Affiliate Network is to follow the example of Facebook and Amazon by opening up its technology to travel partners so they can develop their own unique selling propositions.

It hopes that lifting the lid on its technology by creating an open travel platform of services will spark a new flurry of innovation in the sector worldwide.Expedia plans to start rolling out this open platform in mid 2012, allowing access to a limited number of its existing products at first.

Benoit Jolin, global product and marketing vice president, said: “We want to unleash creativity in the travel sector.

“We want to provide our partners with the business assets to understand the complexity of online travel commerce, so they can build a better way for their customers to plan and book the perfect trip.

“The big focus is on how we go from being a manufacturer and retailer of travel products that help people monetise their traffic to becoming a platform.

“We are taking things miles beyond what we offer today to figure out if this can further fuel the innovation of online travel marketing. Will this create the next Hipmunk?”

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