In March 2013, the company launched NOMAD, an online travel and lifestyle magazine.

His strategy is to exploit the reservations business, a cash cow, for as long as he can and use the money to build new lines of business, especially online travel.

The research shows that individual airline Web sites, most of which were only minor players in online travel until fairly recently, are surging forward.

The airline sites are "clearly the sleeping giants" of online travel, Ms. Kim said.

IT'S too soon to call it mature, but online retailing, including online travel, is a $100 billion business.

Given the fact that, like auctions, online travel has been a runaway favorite among Web surfers, it seemed only a matter of time before the two ideas were melded.

All that is according to a survey by Travelocity.com, an online travel booking site.

Lastminute.com is an online travel and leisure retailer.

"The impact of expectation disconfirmation on customer loyalty and recommendation behavior: Investigating online travel and tourism services".

But he was very involved in getting Mr. Diller's company into online travel, perhaps the most successful of its many Web-based enterprises.