A while back I introduced international readers to the joint venture running Lastminute.com in Australia. At the time Lastminute.com.au was majority owned and operated by Australian pubic company Travel.com.au. I discussed that the privatisation of Sabre (owner of Lastminute.com) meant that Travel.com.au had the right to put the joint venture to Sabre. It was expected by all - me included - that this is exactly what they would do, with the result that Sabre would own the operations of Lasminute.com.au and Zuji.com.au in Australia. However, in a twist that I did not see coming, Travel.com.au has instead waived the put right and bought out Lastminute.com's share of the venture to become the 100% owners of the brand in Australian and New Zealand (here is the stock market filing pdf).
According to the filing the price was $4.75mm (half now, half later). This values the Lastminute.com.au business at $19mm versus the total market cap of TVL at $32mm based on today's close. Announcement was after the close so will have to wait until tomorrow to see what the market thinks.
Produces a fascinating outcome where other than general brand guidelines, Lastminute.com will have no operational control or influence on the Australian business as it goes head to head battling with the Zuji operation. The challenge for the Travel.com.au management and board is that they will have to look outside of the online travel industry for a potential buyer of the business should they ultimately seek to delist as part of a trade sale as it is highly unlikely that any global online travel company other than Sabre would want to operate a Lasminute.com branded business.
Monday, July 2, 2007
Venere.com - unravelling the numbers behind the success
Venere.com's results and performance have recently become a very secretive affair - you could could call it the European online hotel misterioso. There was no doubt about their success and growth from their general presence in Europe and feedback from customers and hoteliers but since 2004 we have heard little in the form of concrete performance metrics and results.
For background, Venere is one of the older online hotel players - having established itself in 1995. The founders -Matteo Fago, Renata Sarno and Gianandrea Strekelj- took some funding earlier in 2000 and 2001. However recently they sold down their their holdings, bringing in private equity firm Advent International - who took majority control at the end of 2006 through it's Italian director Filippo de Vecchi.
Up until 2004 they published on their site their turn-over under the heading "Key Figures" shown here below
You can see more than a million room nights and Euro 100mm in turn over. Since then the information flow has dried up....until now.
The Relations blog has posted an informative interview with Venere.com's SEO Manager, Susan Geraeds. Well worth a read.
Interesting facts out of the article are:
UPDATE - June 07 PhoCusWright European Online Travel report (have to subscribe to get it) puts the Venere.com 2006 turnover at EUR290mm. If true it means little to no slowing in their growth last 3 years.
For background, Venere is one of the older online hotel players - having established itself in 1995. The founders -Matteo Fago, Renata Sarno and Gianandrea Strekelj- took some funding earlier in 2000 and 2001. However recently they sold down their their holdings, bringing in private equity firm Advent International - who took majority control at the end of 2006 through it's Italian director Filippo de Vecchi.
Up until 2004 they published on their site their turn-over under the heading "Key Figures" shown here below
You can see more than a million room nights and Euro 100mm in turn over. Since then the information flow has dried up....until now.The Relations blog has posted an informative interview with Venere.com's SEO Manager, Susan Geraeds. Well worth a read.
Interesting facts out of the article are:
- 9,000,000 unique vistors per month;
- 16,500 contracted hotels;
- 4,500 international destinations;
- 160 members of staff;
- over 350,000 hotel reviews;
- affiliate program with 3000 partners, an offline travel agent program with more than 1000 travel agents;
- hotels do not pay commission on no-show bookings; and
- no booking fees and no cancellation fees
UPDATE - June 07 PhoCusWright European Online Travel report (have to subscribe to get it) puts the Venere.com 2006 turnover at EUR290mm. If true it means little to no slowing in their growth last 3 years.
Sunday, July 1, 2007
what you get in agra, the city of the taj?
I was there on hols during the time i visited ajmer, jaipur, agra and my final destination was delhi from where we took a train back to cal... i did feel a bit dizzy in agra as it lacks some maintain ace but fortunately i had bumped into some of the nicest people out there who were so willing to help in every way.its streets and lanes are narrow and crowdy and dumps of rubbish are seen around.i wont say the whole city is scared with dirt but the streets beside and near to the taj mahal are places that shouldn't go neglected.i definitely doubt ill be proved wrong because I've been there and wonder how many of my readers agree with me... how many??? response dears!!! i need to know....
to add to that i need to say one thing that the city is really fortunate to have the the presence of the taj mahal, just as we have the Victoria memorial and the Howrah bridge as ours.its also very famous for its art and crafts... it is renowned for its pure silken fabrics, leather works, daris and carpets. embroideries worked with silk,gold and silver threads the excellent industry of the city.i did do a alot of shopping and of course my most priceless souvenir i ever posses is the lovely taj mahal model that i carried back home.its totally priceless....
other places I've visited there was the agra fort,fatehpur sikri,ram bagh,jahangir mahal,seesh mahal & khas mahal and many other places.
i have been there so when will you be going?? my experiences were worth noting down so why not your turn now??
more about the city of taj below
Agra is globally renown as the city of the Taj Mahal. But this royal Mughal city has, in addition to the legendary Taj, many monuments that epitomize the high point of Mughal architecture. In the Mughal period, in the 16th and 17th centuries, Agra was the capital of India. It was here that the founder of the dynasty, Babar, laid out the first formal Persian garden on the banks of the river Yamuna. Here, Akbar, his grandson raised the towering ramparts of the great Red Fort. Within its walls, Jehangir built rose-red palaces, courts and gardens, and Shah jahan embellished it with marble mosques, palaces and pavilions of gem-inlaid white marble.
The crowning glory of the city is obviously the Taj, a monument of love and imagination, that represents India to the world
pictures below:
to add to that i need to say one thing that the city is really fortunate to have the the presence of the taj mahal, just as we have the Victoria memorial and the Howrah bridge as ours.its also very famous for its art and crafts... it is renowned for its pure silken fabrics, leather works, daris and carpets. embroideries worked with silk,gold and silver threads the excellent industry of the city.i did do a alot of shopping and of course my most priceless souvenir i ever posses is the lovely taj mahal model that i carried back home.its totally priceless....
other places I've visited there was the agra fort,fatehpur sikri,ram bagh,jahangir mahal,seesh mahal & khas mahal and many other places.
i have been there so when will you be going?? my experiences were worth noting down so why not your turn now??
more about the city of taj below
Agra is globally renown as the city of the Taj Mahal. But this royal Mughal city has, in addition to the legendary Taj, many monuments that epitomize the high point of Mughal architecture. In the Mughal period, in the 16th and 17th centuries, Agra was the capital of India. It was here that the founder of the dynasty, Babar, laid out the first formal Persian garden on the banks of the river Yamuna. Here, Akbar, his grandson raised the towering ramparts of the great Red Fort. Within its walls, Jehangir built rose-red palaces, courts and gardens, and Shah jahan embellished it with marble mosques, palaces and pavilions of gem-inlaid white marble.
The crowning glory of the city is obviously the Taj, a monument of love and imagination, that represents India to the world
pictures below:
Why do we call them Computers?
In the beginning, computers really were built to perform computations.
People have been around for a very long time... and during most of that time most people did not really have much of a need to perform complex calculations. If math was needed at all, it was generally limited to simple addition and subtraction.
There were two big exceptions to this general disinterest in computations, figuring out where you were and figuring out how to aim your weapons.
Both problems require solving complex equations with multiple steps... Make a mistake in any one of those steps and the answer you come up with is useless. Since people (the original computers) tend to get bored and make mistakes, that made it very important to develop machines to reduce the number of mistakes and increase the accuracy of the solutions.
In addition to accuracy, the time necessary to solve an equation was a big incentive for developing machines to perform the math... This was particularly true when trying to blast an enemy before they blasted you...
If you are moving (to keep from getting blasted), and your enemy is moving (to keep from getting blasted), then quickly computing how to aim your weapons is crucial: You'll never hit anything unless you can compute solutions very quickly.
By the early years of the 20th century the US and others had developed a variety of machines to rapidly "compute" the trajectory of artillery shells and torpedoes, and these machines played major roles during World War II.
The United States Navy's "fire control computers" were so good that during the Battle of Samar (in the Philippines) a relatively tiny Destroyer Escort was able to inflict horrific damage on some of the Japanese Navy's largest Battleships and Cruisers. Although vastly outgunned, the computers on the tiny US ship gave it the ability to fire much more accurately and much more frequently than the bigger Japanese ships... The US ship was eventually sunk, but the Japanese were forced to retire. It is not a stretch to say that computers (in addition to courage) determined the outcome of that battle.
So it really was about computations. The data points that were supplied to the programs were "real time" variables... The target's current location, speed, and direction of travel... The wind speed and direction... The temperature and humidity... Current factors such as these were used by sophisticated algorithms to compute a "firing solution" with far greater accuracy and speed than was humanly possible.
The computers of the 1940s were crafted to execute a specific program... and those programs were composed of mechanical or electronic components that were physically connected to each other (rather than as the "lines of code" that we're familiar with today). To create or change a program, you either assembled a collection of mechanical linkages, or you wired together a sequence of electronic components... The distinction between hardware and software was meaningless.
In the 1950s, general purpose programmable computers quickly replaced their predecessors. Programs were now expressed as instructions using programming languages rather than mechanical components... and this dramatically increased the utility of computers. A single machine could now be used to solve a wide range of problems.
Somewhere along the way, the focus of computers shifted away from computations and refocused on data: By the 1960's the number of business oriented COBOL programs began to eclipse the number of science and engineering oriented FORTRAN programs... "Data processing" took over as the primary need, but the term "computer" doggedly held on... and more than likely it always will.
That's why we call them computers.
People have been around for a very long time... and during most of that time most people did not really have much of a need to perform complex calculations. If math was needed at all, it was generally limited to simple addition and subtraction.
There were two big exceptions to this general disinterest in computations, figuring out where you were and figuring out how to aim your weapons.
Both problems require solving complex equations with multiple steps... Make a mistake in any one of those steps and the answer you come up with is useless. Since people (the original computers) tend to get bored and make mistakes, that made it very important to develop machines to reduce the number of mistakes and increase the accuracy of the solutions.
In addition to accuracy, the time necessary to solve an equation was a big incentive for developing machines to perform the math... This was particularly true when trying to blast an enemy before they blasted you...
If you are moving (to keep from getting blasted), and your enemy is moving (to keep from getting blasted), then quickly computing how to aim your weapons is crucial: You'll never hit anything unless you can compute solutions very quickly.
By the early years of the 20th century the US and others had developed a variety of machines to rapidly "compute" the trajectory of artillery shells and torpedoes, and these machines played major roles during World War II.The United States Navy's "fire control computers" were so good that during the Battle of Samar (in the Philippines) a relatively tiny Destroyer Escort was able to inflict horrific damage on some of the Japanese Navy's largest Battleships and Cruisers. Although vastly outgunned, the computers on the tiny US ship gave it the ability to fire much more accurately and much more frequently than the bigger Japanese ships... The US ship was eventually sunk, but the Japanese were forced to retire. It is not a stretch to say that computers (in addition to courage) determined the outcome of that battle.
So it really was about computations. The data points that were supplied to the programs were "real time" variables... The target's current location, speed, and direction of travel... The wind speed and direction... The temperature and humidity... Current factors such as these were used by sophisticated algorithms to compute a "firing solution" with far greater accuracy and speed than was humanly possible.The computers of the 1940s were crafted to execute a specific program... and those programs were composed of mechanical or electronic components that were physically connected to each other (rather than as the "lines of code" that we're familiar with today). To create or change a program, you either assembled a collection of mechanical linkages, or you wired together a sequence of electronic components... The distinction between hardware and software was meaningless.
In the 1950s, general purpose programmable computers quickly replaced their predecessors. Programs were now expressed as instructions using programming languages rather than mechanical components... and this dramatically increased the utility of computers. A single machine could now be used to solve a wide range of problems.
Somewhere along the way, the focus of computers shifted away from computations and refocused on data: By the 1960's the number of business oriented COBOL programs began to eclipse the number of science and engineering oriented FORTRAN programs... "Data processing" took over as the primary need, but the term "computer" doggedly held on... and more than likely it always will.
That's why we call them computers.
me, in front of taj!!!
to my dear friends i want to put down a note about the splendid mausoleum built upon the sands of our very own India and infact one of the seven wonders in the world, the taj mahal... its sad that once, what was considered most beautiful, outstanding and the greatest symbol of love is now waiting for its fate to be announced.i really feel it doesnt need "votes" in order to prove its a wonder.it was a wonder and always will be...
i have been to the taj just last year and was just astounded to be in front of such a beautiful structure... what i always read and seen images of, now i was facing it with praises worthy of its beauty.i did take a few pictures out there with my family and spent moments gazing and touching the pretty carved flowers on the marble... no vote or announcement that it will be a wonder, match the of beauty it possesses.
thats what i feel but as we Indians have to do something in order to stand up for our wonder, a vote is what we should return to the taj in the form of our gratitude to our king shah jahan who built the taj as a symbol of love for his wife.he really gave India a mark so precious... am sure its not only am who thinks so???
please vote for the taj, just a few days to go.. am sure taj mahal will still have its place!! will you vote? i and my family have voted too...
some facts about the taj below
Lovers die, but love shall not and death shall have no dominion...
In the year 1607 when a prince of the royal Mughal household strolled down the Meena Bazaar, accompanied by a string of fawning courtiers, he caught a glimpse of a girl hawking silk and glass beads. Five years and a wife later (in those days princes did not marry for love alone) the regal 20-yr-old went to wed his 19-yr-old bride. It was a fairytale union from the start, one that withstood court intrigues, battles for succession and finally, the grand coronation. And when she died on the 19th year of their marriage, he etched her story in stone. The Taj Mahal is the living symbol of the monumental passion of Shah Jahan and Arjumand Banu. Which other love story has so grand a memorial?
Agra, The Chosen City for Taj Mahal
Agra was the chosen city of the Mughal emperors duringthe early years. It was here that the founder of the dynasty, Babur, laid out the first formal Persian garden on the banks of the River Yamuna. Here, Akbar, his grandson, raised the towering ramparts of the great Red Fort. Within its walls, Jehangir built rose-red palaces, courts and gardens. Shahjahan embellished it with marbled mosques, palaces and pavillions of gem-inlaid white marble. Agra is globally renown as the city of the Taj Mahal, a monument of love and imagination, that represents India to the world.
History of Taj Mahal India
The origin of the name the "Taj Mahal" is not clear. Court histories from Shah Jehan's reign only call it the rauza (tomb) of Mumtaz Mahal. It is generally believed that "Taj Mahal" (usually translated as either "Crown Palace" or "Crown of the Palace") is an abbreviated version of her name, Mumtaz Mahal (Exalted One of the Palace).
The Taj Mahal is a deserving resting palace for an Emperor's Empress. It stands on the banks of the river Yamuna, which otherwise serves as a wide moat defending the Great Red Fort of Agra, the center of the Mughal emperors until they moved their capital to Delhi in 1637. It was built by the fifth Mughal emperor, Shah Jahan in 1631 in memory of his second wife, Mumtaz Mahal, a Muslim Persian princess. She died while accompanying her husband in Burhanpur in a campaign to crush a rebellion after giving birth to their 14th child.
MUMTAZ MAHAL - "Build me a Taj"
As Mumtaz Mahal lay dying, she asked four promises from the emperor: first - that he build the Taj, second - that he should marry again, third - that he be kind to their children, and fourth - that he visit the tomb on her death anniversary. He kept the first and second promises. Construction began in 1631 and was completed in 22 years. Twenty thousand people were deployed to work on it. The principal architect was the Iranian architect Istad Usa; it is possible that the pietra dura work was coordinated by an Italian artist.
TAJ MAHAL - Wonder of the World
To people the world over, the Taj Mahal, mausoleum of Mughal Emperor shah Jana's chief wife, Mumtaz Mahal, is synonymous with India. Its curving, gently swelling dome and the square base upon which its rests so lightly is a familiar image from hundreds of brochures and travel books. The Taj is undoubtedly one of the most spectacular buildings of the world. Renowned for its architectural magnificence and aesthetic beauty, it counts among man's proudest creations and is invariably included in the list of the world's foremost wonders. As a tomb, it has no match upon earth, for mortal remains have never been housed in greater grandeur
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