Hotwire teams up with TripIt
Travel discount site Hotwire announced on Wednesday that it has partnered with travel itinerary service TripIt to help its users organize and share their travel plans.
According to the company, users booking a trip through Hotwire will now be able to click an "Add to TripIt" button after completing their travel plans. Upon doing so, those plans are added to a TripIt itinerary.
TripIt, which is a main competitor to the recently acquired Dopplr, will also bring its premium "pro" package to the service. The feature, which costs $69 per year, monitors itineraries and sends mobile alerts when delays occur. It also finds alternate flight options.
Hotwire joins what is becoming a growing list of TripIt partners that are utilizing the company's "open itinerary platform." Currently, Virgin America, Plaxo, LinkedIn, and several other services are using TripIt's itinerary tool.
"Our strategy of building an open itinerary platform is becoming a reality with a growing number of travel users and new partnerships," a company representative said in an e-mailed statement. "There are now over 250 developers signed up for the TripIt Developer Program and we're offering commissions to partners who sell our TripIt Pro premium service."
It's that last element that TripIt hopes will help it increase sales. According to the company, it will now share with partners the revenue generated from sites that offer its TripIt Pro version. The company wouldn't divulge any more details on the sharing agreement. But since it's offering access to TripIt Pro, Hotwire stands to gain from its partnership with TripIt.
Related story: TripIt aggregates your travel info
Don Reisinger is a technology columnist who has written about everything from HDTVs to computers to Flowbee Haircut Systems. Don is a member of the CNET Blog Network, and posts at The Digital Home. He is not an employee of CNET. Disclosure.
