The online travel industry threw everything it had to stop Google's proposed $700 million acquisition of ITA Software. ITA Software provides airline travel software used by most major airlines and travel sites such as Hotwire, Kayak, Orbitz and Microsoft's Bing.

If Google acquired it, these companies maintained, it would be able to manipulate and dominate the online air travel market especially as it is already the source of more than 30% of all search engine traffic to online travel sites.

A Variation of the Same

Now that Google's ITA-fueled travel site has launched, it does not appear to be the boogeyman that competitors envision. Instead, the portal, called Google Travel, is a variation of the technology that is already on the market. A user enters origin, destination, dates, price parameters, durations, stops and so.

Search Engine Land reports that Google will be experimenting with advertising as well as refining the functionality. The former is a given. The latter, however, is still the subject of much speculation in the industry.

Search Engine Land suggests that the site's matrix search may be an indicator. Some options allow users to plan a trip with a listing of events and things to do (the event finder tab) or search via real-time filters. There are any number of product scenarios that Google could concoct with ITA, said Frost & Sullivan analyst Mike Jude (via the E-Commerce Times) when Google first indicated it was focusing on this space.

Using Google TV, for example, Google could offer up an ad to someone viewing a travel documentary or nature show to book a trip to that same locale, he says. "Right now for most people casual travel is something that is planned. But with ITA Software and Google’s marketing capabilities I could foresee a new market developing where casual trips are planned in a more spontaneous manner - fueled by Google’s one-click technology that comes across your television set or mobile device."