Even before the Sept. 11 attacks, Asia's online travel business was taking a beating. Unlike its American and European relatives, the Asian family of holiday portals had no singular success to point to with pride. What was the region's best site,
ebookit.com
, quit booking it shortly before the suicide strikes on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon. The travel site
worldroom.com
shut its Asian operations even before that. Why the busts? Ebookit, despite operating a service that worked quite well, wasn't able to offer customers any particular advantage. Users found pretty much the same prices that...
