Originally Posted by Athena53
One travel writer (who, at the time, was writing for BizTravel.com) pointed out that the people who use sites such as Orbitz to look at prices and then book on the airlines' sites could eventually run the "independent" sites out of business.
Well, if that's the case, it sounds like they'd better come up with a different business model.
FWIW, I don't think that's the case. I think the big portals know very well that people use them to query airfares and then leave to get the 1000 miles. It is illogical not to - except in the cases people here have pointed out. I think the big sites know this, but also know that if they provide a good service for airfare queries, you will come back and use their other services, such as the hotel booking engine.
For hotels, the portals do provide a valuable service: they bridge the gap between Priceline and the full points-earning rates. I use Expedia Special Rates frequently when I'm traveling on leisure to a very opaque Priceline zone. Expedia probably clears a tidy profit on that, but it's a premium I'm willing to pay over the Priceline number to hand-pick my hotel.