Online travel in decline in the US Stock market

After the failure of positive votes from the US congress on the big rescue plan suggested by G.W Bush, the tech companies listed on the NASDAQ have taken a big hit yesterday. In the online travel market, we saw listed companies like Priceline or Expedia seeing their share price down by 11% and 14% just before the closing of Wall Street. The impact of their market cap is huge.

Priceline (PCLN) ==> $2.6 billion with $66.84 share price (vs. $144 in May 08)

Expedia (EXPE)  ==> $3.58 billion with $13.71 share price (vs. $35.28 in Oct 07)

Orbitz (OWW)   ==> $494.4 million with $5.94 share price (vs. $12 in Oct 07)

TRX (TRXI)       ==> $17.44 million with $0.94 share price (vs. $2.62 in Oct 07)

See how these stocks have been traded in the last 6 months...

I will have a look at the hospitality sector on another post. Will be interested to see how shareholders see the future with hotel groups like Starwood.

Comments

[HospitalityLawyer]

Great blog, I love reading articles & other blogs about the hospitality industry. My website, HospitalityLawyer.com provides legal information for hotels, motels, restaurants, spas, resorts, casinos, and all types of hospitality-related businesses. We have a number of legal articles that involve national laws and specific information for states.
Check out my blog at http://blog.hospitalitylawyer.com when you get a chance.
The Hospitality Lawyer

[Eric S Pratum]

One thing that is also affecting these online travel companies is a judgment against them in court. One court recently set a precedent, saying that these companies are required to pay higher taxes than they previously had been. In the cases of many cities, this is a difference of millions of dollars every year. Our original post on it is here: http://thehotelexperience.blogspot.com/2008/09/cities-suing-online-travel-companies.html
The second is here: http://thehotelexperience.blogspot.com/2008/09/cities-suing-online-travel-companies_25.html