SideStep Set To Boost Amazon's Travel Store

CHICAGO - Travel search engine SideStep potentially may jump from drawing 4.7 million unique visitors per month to being seen by more than 39 million people monthly now that it is the travel search engine for Amazon.com's travel store. The meta search site also is launching in the United Kingdom and Ireland.

SideStep began delivering travel results for Amazon on Jan. 3. Hotwire.com previously anchored the travel store.

SideStep's Anthony Rodio, vp-product management, hailed the trend as one that combines two customer-centric companies, while Rob Solomon, president and CEO of the meta search company, noted during a Tuesday press conference that consumers are gravitating to buying directly from travel providers. SideStep filters travel-search results according to attributes that consumers select, and sends them directly to the travel providers' Web site for purchase. SideStep makes money on negotiated acquisition fees paid by the travel provider and on advertising links appearing on its site. Ads from SideStep clients don't appear on Amazon's site, but the partnership at least does give the company breadth of distribution, which it lacked.

SideStep also brought its services across the pond where the European travel market is more fragmented. The U.K. consumer typically checks five to six Web sites before booking, compared with Americans who on average search three.

"Our travel search model has proven to be extremely successful in the United States and international growth is the next logical step," said Solomon.

U.S. online travel bookings are expected to grow to $94 billion by 2007 from $65 billion last year, per market research firm PhoCusWright. Online transactions are projected to comprise 55% of all travel buys by 2007, compared with 42% last year.