Who owns who?

I have read that cruise critic and TripAdvisor are owned by the same company.

They are and are listed above.

Do you want to add Homeaway to the Expedia umbrella?

I added it. I didn't list every subsidiary just those that seem popular here.

Thanks Frank. Interesting.

Reminds me of a portion of the brilliant Paddy Chayefsky written dialogue in the film Network when Ned Beatty’s character is lecturing Peter Finch’s Howard Beale.....

“ You are an old man who thinks in terms of nations and peoples. There are no nations. There are no peoples. There are no Russians. There are no Arabs. There are no third worlds. There is no West. There is only one holistic system of systems, one vast and immense, interwoven, interacting, multivariate, multinational dominion of dollars. Petro-dollars, electro-dollars, multi-dollars, reichmarks, rins, rubles, pounds, and shekels.

It is the international system of currency which determines the totality of life on this planet. That is the natural order of things today. That is the atomic and subatomic and galactic structure of things today! And YOU have meddled with the primal forces of nature, and YOU WILL ATONE!

Am I getting through to you, Mr. Beale?”

In essence governments don’t rule the world, corporations do.

Thanks Frank II. I appreciate that North Americans may recognize VRBO (which is under the HomeAway umbrella if you read their website) more frequently, but HomeAway comes up in Europe, thus the request. And of course, due to some of the posts here of HomeAway/VRBO scams.

I am too lazy to check this morning, but doesn't TripAdvisor sometimes send you to Booking.com for a hotel reservation? That would be crossing the corporate line. Not that it matters, just curious.

@Stan, TripAdvisor lists 'their' price and the price of other 3rd parts - I assume hoping to show theirs is a competitive or better price.

Great post!! Thanks Frank.

OK, I got a sudden burst of energy and went to TripAdvisor website. Did a quick Hotel search for New York City, and for the first hotel on the list, the link to book goes to Booking.com. Click on that and a transition page pops up that says "we are connecting you now to our partner's website" with both TripAdvisor and Booking.com logos.

Not a big deal or important at all, but if they are owned by different companies, its collusion.

It's not "Carrental.com" - it's CarRentals.com

But...the more important issue is "why should anyone care who owns what?" I think the practical implications for travel are more important for people on this forum who are unfamiliar with third parties, how they work, and are largely biased against them. Giving some concrete examples would help.

Agnes, you're right of course - its not important. But some of us like to take a peak behind the curtain and see how things work. There are a lot of people who think the internet and such websites are impartial sources of information. But the ownership connections make it at least suspect that there's sponsoring or prioritizing of sister businesses.

Hey Traveling-and-Consuming Folks:

There is a lot of middle ground between "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!" and "It's all a scam!"

“..... tipple digit ....”

Is that when you stick your finger in the rum and coke?

Frank II,

That's quite a list! Thanks for posting. At least I now know who to blame for those dreadfully annoying Trivago commercials.

Of the firms listed, I do use Seat Guru, Gate Guru and Trip Advisor, but none of the others.

One minor correction.... TravelPod discontinued operations a few years ago and no longer exists.

I removed travelpod and gateguru since both no longer exist but added airfarewatchdog.

I wasn't aware that Gate Guru had also been shut down. I guess I can delete the App.

Do you have a source for your strong statements, Doug?

A lot like banks, buy your competitors.

A very helpful thread, Frank II, thank you!