Bottom Line: Travelocity has the experience and the content to help anyone plan and book their vacations online.

Travelocity was launched in March 12, 1996 as the premier Internet resource for the do-it-yourself traveler. Though this site has been the acquirer (it bought previewtravel.com, site59.com and World Choice Travel among others) and has been acquired itself (by sabre), it has done a great job of remaining a useful tool for the consumer to book travel.

The Travelocity booking engine is provided by Sabre Technologies, the owner of the site. It is quick and in tune with a user's needs. In order to book travel, you need to register, but it is a simple affair. Travelocity users have the ability to instantly book on more than 370 airlines. In addition, reservations and information for more than 28,000 hotel properties and more than 50 car rental companies around the world are available straight from the website. Users know that they are doing the same thing that a "real" travel agent does--just without the travel agent. Currently, Travelocity books about 4 Billion dollars in travel each year. And yes that's billion with a big "B"! This type of scale is an amazing source of leverage, so this site can often pass along great values to the user.

Travelocity is thought by many to have the best information in the Web travel business. According to Terry Jones, former president of SABRE Interactive, Travelocity is a site that surfers can "use to plan their dream vacations." The current management team is SABRE veterans and the former leadership team of site59, led by Michelle Peluso and Sam Gilliland.

Travelocity has always been a stickler for good content, even when other sites like priceline didn't cotton to putting a lot of information in front of the user. The site used to rely on Worldview Systems to provide all site travel content. This information was replaced by the content generated and housed by Sabre agents, as well as good destination guide content provided by Frommers. One of the key differentiators for this site is it's hotel amenity and ratings information, which was homegrown.

Travelocity has recently relaunched their site and their brand. The site has joined the rest of the pack in terms of usability -- comparing favorably to Expedia, Orbitz and Priceline. The marketing is also memorable.  The Travelocity team is betting that folks will learn to love the Roaming Gnome, a lawn ornament gone travelling.  It's a cute way to add personality to a once dry site.

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