Online travel agencies have been powering elements of third party websites for years – but here is one deal that flies in the face of the current direct-intermediary saga.

Expedia and Marriott have signed what they are touting as a “next generation partnership”, by which they mean the Vacations By Marriott service will use a dynamic packaging platform powered by the OTA.

The agreement is a relatively simple one used by Expedia Global Partner Solutions – and one often used by other third parties when needing a flight or hotel product element added to their existing website (such as airports for the latter, or tourism boards for both).

In this case, Expedia will be used by Marriott so that visitors to its Vacations service can add an air ticket, tour, attraction or ground transportation to their accommodation.

Expedia claims to have some 475 airlines available on the system.

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