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Ol' Purple Eyes
Kirby's Korner · August 11, 2000

The Internet connection, reaching the Web site, suddenly turned the computer screen purple. It was a nice shade of purple, but the entire browser window was purple nonetheless. It stayed that way for a bit.

Oh jeez, I thought. Netscape's crashing.

Suddenly two spots appeared on the screen, gradually expanding into ovals. Two eyes were staring, black pyramidal pupils firmly planted on white eyeballs, resting on the purple screen.

The eyes gradually looked left, then came back to the center, then looked right. And then the whole screen dissolved.

Replacing the face of a purple demon was a much more typical Web page, albeit one on a purple background. The site said it would soon offer discounted travel sales, and it urged people to apply for jobs.

Right. Another cheap-travel Web site. Just what the world needs. We're supposed to take something called "Purple Demon" seriously? It was probably created by two kids who knew Flash or Java or something and put it up as a joke.

Well, as it turns out, the folks behind PurpleDemon.com hoped I wouldn't take the site seriously -- and they hoped no other serious person with an interest in online travel would, either. The site no longer exists -- PurpleDemon.com redirects visitors to Hotwire. But it was designed to distract accidental tourists who stumbled upon it while providing a place that potential employees could be directed to.

A Hotwire vice president had a good laugh when I told him about my reaction when I came upon the Purple Demon site a couple of months ago. "It did it's job!" he said.

Purple Demon was the code name for the Web site now known as Hotwire. The company was exposed by the Wall Street Journal last week, much earlier than Hotwire hoped to reveal itself. And the site, indeed, will be dedicated to selling discounted travel.

Hotwire is owned by an investment firm and six airlines. Unlike the Orbitz site that has attracted so much attention during the past half year, the airlines don't sit on the company's board of directors, and therefore allegedly can't control what the site's management does.

Instead, the six airlines will give the site cheap airline seats, and the seats won't always be ones available at only the last minute. Hotwire pointed out that some airlines know weeks beforehand they'll never fill all seats on a particular flight, and those seats will be available far in advance.

Once Hotwire opens later this year, you won't know what airline you're flying or when precisely you're leaving when you decide to make a reservation. But, unlike the situation at Priceline.com, you will know the price; you won't be asked to guess how much you should pay. After you fork over your credit card, Hotwire will tell you when, and with whom, you're flying.

The site expects to add hotel reservations and car rentals. Down the road, services such as cruise and tour packages will be added.

We'll see how all this shakes out. With the popularity of Priceline, I would expect this Web site to take off, too. And it gives consumers yet one more choice when they decide to leave for that long-desired vacation or quick weekend trip. I hope it succeeds.

Even if it doesn't, I applaud the initial effort, and so would Sherlock Holmes. Against journalists and others, Hotwire accomplished the task of hiding in plain sight, of successfully breeding the dog that didn't bark.

It smacked the newspaper sharply against our noses.

David Kirby is the editor of Interactive Travel Report. His column appears on Friday. You can reach him at david@ticked.com.