Richard Turen:
D o ads play to outdated
s tereotypes of cruising?
P. 65
www.travelweekly.com
Bush budget proposal would boost
funding for air traffic system,
but would slash Amtrak. P. 8
Arnie Weissmann:
Q uantifying travels of ‘country
c ollectors’ can be complicated.
P. 12
THE NATIONAL NEWSPAPER OF THE TRAVEL INDUSTRY
FEBRUARY 11, 2008
[ OWNERS RETAIN CONTROL ]
Tralliance is sold;
Dot-travel domain
now privately held
By Dan Luzadder
Tralliance, the company that con-
trols the dot-travel domain, has
been taken private, removing its fi-
nances and activities from the scru-
tiny of public markets.
Until now, Tralliance, the official registry
of dot-travel addresses, has been a publicly
traded subsidiary of TheGlobe.com, which
in turn is publicly traded over the counter.
On Feb. 1, TheGlobe.com announced that
it had sold Tralliance to the Registry Management Co., a privately held enterprise.
However, the sale did not change the ultimate ownership or control of the company
by travel industry entrepreneur Mike Egan,
owner and chairman of TheGlobe.com, and
his financial partner, Ed Cespedes, the president of Tralliance, who together own RMC.
“We’re doing this for efficiency reasons,”
Cespedes said of the sale. “Let’s face it: It costs
a lot of money to keep Tralliance as a public
company. It’s money that could be spent in
promoting the dot-travel domain instead.”
The sale came close on the heels of significant policy changes at the start of the year
that company executives said would allow
them to turn the travel-oriented domain
from a little-used online marketplace into a
major player in the industry.
On the fast track
Thanks to large-scale capital improvements, a new era seems to be right around the bend
for European rail travel. BY ERIC MARX PAGE 26
[ FLORIDA INQUIRY TARGETS FUEL SURCHARGES ]
Cruise stocks take hit on news of probe
By Johanna Jainchill
‘Let’s face it:
It costs a lot of money
to keep Tralliance
as a public company.’
That process began last fall when Tralliance fired dot-travel’s founder, president
and promoter, Ron Andruff, and announced
that it would treat the dot-travel domain as
a for-profit business, rather than as a service
to the travel industry. Andruff, who remains
a stockholder and who tried unsuccessfully
after his dismissal to buy Tralliance, declined
to comment last week.
See DOT-TRAVEL on Page 66
Shares of Carnival Corp. and Royal
Caribbean Cruises Ltd. tumbled
early last week amid investor fears
that an investigation by the Florida
attorney general’s office would put
an end to the cruise lines’ policies of
retroactively adding fuel surcharges
to passenger fares.
The investigation was triggered by more
than 150 complaints about the surcharges
that consumers have filed with the Florida
attorney general’s office since November.
The question to be decided by the inquiry
is whether the charges are legal. Sandi Copes,
press secretary for the attorney general’s of-
fice, said the agency would review whether
the cruise lines can retroactively impose
fuel surcharges on passengers — specifically,
“whether or not the appropriate disclosures
about the surcharges are being made to consumers at the point of sale.”
Spurred by record-high fuel costs, most
cruise lines began assessing fuel surcharges
on all cruise bookings last November. Carnival Corp. started by adding a charge of $5
per person, per day, on all sailings on its six
North American brands. Royal Caribbean
Cruises Ltd. and NCL Corp. soon followed
suit.
Carnival and RCCL brands applied the
surcharge to all sailings that departed on or
after Feb. 1, but each major cruise company
instituted different policies:
• Carnival brands applied the surcharge to
all bookings, even if they had already been
paid in full at the time of the announcement.
• RCCL brands applied it to bookings that
See INQUIRY on Page 67
WORLD BEAT
The Venetian Service on a Will new film
puts stylish Segway at new give Bruges
spin on sea- resort in 15 minutes
food dishes. Turks & Caicos. of fame?
P. 50 P. 24 P. 59
