Boeing, Nike, Chevron and Hewlett-Packard all booked business trips through GetThere.com before it went public. The Menlo Park, California company sold web tools that let employees reserve flights, hotels and cars themselves while the company kept control of policy and costs. It had started in 1995 as Internet Travel Network, selling travel to consumers. In November 1999 it sold 5 million shares at $16 to bet on business travel instead.

Internet Travel Network Turns

Daniel Whaley was one of the founders of Internet Travel Network, incorporated in California in August 1995. At first it sold trips to consumers through its itn.net website. In 1996 it turned to businesses and travel suppliers. It launched ITN Global Manager for corporate travel that year and ITN FlightRez for airlines in 1997. In July 1999 it renamed itself GetThere.com, and by October it had 61 business customers.

Sabre Buys Within a Year

GetThere priced its IPO at $16 a share in November 1999 and raised $80 million. Gadi Maier, a former Oracle executive, ran it as chief executive. Less than a year later, Sabre Holdings, the airline reservation giant, made a tender offer of $17.75 a share in cash. The deal closed in October 2000, and GetThere became part of Sabre's travel business.

Cover: Italian Landscape with Travelers, Jan Both. Art Institute of Chicago, public domain. Chosen for travelers on the road.