PARSIPPANY, N.J. -- The Cendant Hotel Group, with its eight brands, signed an agreement with Groople, an online group-travel booking company, to provide special rates for group travel planners.

Hoping to boost its travel reservation business, Cendant Corp. has agreed to buy travel reservation company Galileo International for about $2.9 billion in cash and stock.

Cendant Corp. has agreed to sell its travel services division to an affiliate of private equity firm the Blackstone Group for about $4.3 billion in cash, scrapping plans to spin off the unit.

Under the terms of the deal, Cendant would control Galileo's travel-reservation system, which handles 92 billion transactions a year, and solidify its position as a leader in the travel industry.

Cendant's other travel-related holdings include hotel brands like Days Inn and Ramada, discount airfare seller CheapTickets, the airline ticket distribution system Galileo, and franchise real ...