Daily deals website Groupon and online travel site Expedia announced on Wednesday that they were teaming up to provide “high quality travel offers.”
“Groupon Getaways with Expedia” will initially focus on the United States and Canada before expanding to other countries, Groupon and Expedia said in a joint statement.
Besides hotel offers, “Expedia and Groupon plan to also include package deals, airline tickets, car rentals, cruises and destination activities,” they said.
Groupon and Expedia said the deals will follow the Groupon model for other offers with members getting a limited time to buy a discount voucher.
“Discounts will be significant — typically around 50 percent off retail rates found at other online travel sites,” they said.
“We’re excited to tap into Expedia’s vast network of world-class travel providers,” Groupon chief executive Andrew Mason said.
The Groupon-Expedia alliance was announced as Mason made an appearance at the D9 technology conference hosted by All Things Digital in southern California.
Interviewed on stage at D9, Mason humorously parried questions about an initial public offering of Groupon or a reported $5 billion bid for the company made last year by Google.
Mason did say that Groupon, which has experienced spectacular growth and been valued at between $15 billion and $25 billion, now employs 8,000 people, up from 1,500 a year ago.