Hot-to-Shop InternetBrands Making Cruise Reservations

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InternetBrands.com is continuing on its spending spree as it seeks to establish itself as the Internet’s go-to spot for big-ticket purchases.


Two luxury cruise sites are the latest acquisitions for the Los Angeles-based e-commerce firm, which started as the No. 1 online car retailing spot Carsdirect and has since used that leverage to expand aggressively into home finance, real estate and most recently, travel.


“We decided that what the company is good at is helping consumers research and facilitate big-ticket purchases,” said Chuck Hoover, senior vice president of marketing and business development for InternetBrands.com. “We’ve gone into travel, cars, real estate and mortgages.”


Executives at the privately held firm won’t discuss numbers, but Bill Gross of Idealab, one of Carsdirect’s primary backers, said that Internet Brands has grown into a $300 million company in April. A report earlier this year in Business Week said that the firm was contemplating an IPO, but InternetBrands executives declined comment, citing company policy.


This month’s acquisitions of CruiseMates.com and CruiseReviews.com the company’s 14th and 15th Web site purchases in the past 12 months bolster a roster of global travel sites that includes VacationHomes.com, Vamoose.com, WikiTravel.org, World66.com and BBOnline.com.


“These acquisitions are a continuation of our strategy to provide high-quality content Web sites that enable consumers to research their major purchase decisions,” said Bob Brisco, chief executive for InternetBrands.com.



Cars, homes, loans


Some of the sites, like CruiseMates.com and Cruise Reviews.com, are strictly informational, providing help in judging the major cruises, boats and overall experience of the journey. The site solicits professional reviews from former passengers and they post them on both reader reviews and message boards. Others like Vamoose.com, VacationHomes.com and BBonline.com enable users to book bed and breakfast rooms and vacation homes.


Internet Brands got started in 1999 with the launch of CarsDirect.com, the No. 1 site for online consumers who need cars, new or used. The site now draws more than seven million users per month.


“Consumers decided they wanted to work with us,” Hoovers said. “We have a network of deals across the country for selling cars.”


The success on the automobile sales front led to the acquisition of Autos.com, a research portal that ranks cars from best to worst, and Autodata.com, which markets analysis, product planning, vehicle configuration and order placement for all dealership retail systems. Additional purchases included InstantCarLoan.com, which helps credit challenged buyers find and afford the car of their dreams, TestDrive.com and Wikicars.com. GreenHybrid.com, another recent purchase, provides information about the rapidly growing Hybrid market.


But you’ve got to park that new car in front of a house, right?


-The purchases set up a battle between InternetBrands and Zillow, which is backed by Benchmark Capital and Technology Crossover Ventures, which beat Internet Brands to the real estate site punch.


Online analyst site The Deal gives InternetBrands the edge in terms of accuracy when it comes to home pricing estimates, but gives Zillow the nod in terms of accessibility, and said that refinements to the site over the next few months would determine which becomes the market’s dominant site.



Not happy


Wired consumers may love the accessibility the sites offer, but not everyone is enthusiastic about InternetBrands’ capabilities.


Jan Everly-Prisco, who owns the Village Travel Agency in Whittier, complains that the Web sites like it are taking bread off of her table.


“If it comes anything down to airlines or hotel packages, to say, Cancun, or you’re looking to rent one of those rental homes, it certainly does step on our toes,” Everly-Prisco said. She bemoans the fact that she is forced to bond and certify herself through the state in order to sell travel, while the travel Web sites don’t.

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