Online Travel Agencies
The Future of Hotel Distribution Channels: Seizing Opportunity in Channel Disruption
Jochen de Peuter-Rutten | April 4, 2024
By Jochen de Peuter-Rutten, Youri Sawerschel The hotel distribution channel landscape is undergoing a seismic shift. Online travel agencies (OTAs) that once leveled the playing field for independent properties now dominate, their economic muscle squeezing hotel margins. Metasearch engines commoditize the search experience, making standalone properties indistinguishable. Meanwhile, the growth in alternative lodging threatens hotels' grip on the accommodations sector. Yet within this disruption lies opportunity for savvy hoteliers. Emergent technologies now enable hotels to tailor the guest experience as never before. Strategic partnershi...
Cloudbeds Publishes ‘Big Book of OTAs,’ Unveils Top Performing Distribution Channels and Strategic Guide to Driving Growth
Cloudbeds | August 11, 2022
Award-winning hospitality tech company releases comprehensive directory of 75+ top revenue-generating online travel agencies (OTAs), plus a recipe for building the ideal channel mix (SAN DIEGO) — Cloudbeds, the hospitality management platform powering more reservations and happier guests for lodging businesses around the globe, revealed data on top performing distribution channels in a free guide released today titled, “The Big Book of OTAs: A Hotelier’s Guide to Top Distribution Channels.” Among the key findings, Cloudbeds found that lodging businesses connected to at least six distribution channels saw an average revenue increas...
Understanding Distribution: OTA Channels
Vizergy | April 5, 2022
With countless channels and platforms to manage, distribution can be tricky. Today, we begin our series on distribution to help demystify some of the process and provide you with information you need to boost bookings and create new business. Building a Hotel Distribution Channel Strategy When it comes to hotel channel distribution, you have several options. To maximize production and revenue, you need to consider the right channel mix that best fits your property’s target market. Understanding different traveler segments who book at your property allows you to diversify your business mix and optimize your distribution strategy. The ...
The Brave New World of Booking Direct
Grace Azcarate | August 11, 2021
By Grace Azcarate Over much of the last decade, OTAs (online travel agencies) have become the most common way that people book hotels. These companies streamlined the booking process and added convenient features (such as easy price comparison) at a time when most hotels lacked an effective digital presence. As the OTAs’ share of bookings grew, they were able to charge higher commissions, meaning less revenue for the hotels themselves. In response, many hoteliers took a stance to win business back and reclaim direct bookings. However, the COVID-19 pandemic prompted a huge shake-up in the travel industry. While travel came to a halt ar...
Study Reveals Increasing Importance of OTA Travelers in Economic Recovery
Expedia Group | October 14, 2020
SEATTLE - A new Expedia Group study, in partnership with global research firm BVA BDRC, examines the contributions of online travel agencies (OTAs) to the US travel and tourism sector, the spending patterns of OTA travelers, and the role of OTAs in the hotel booking journey. The research points to the increasing importance of OTA travelers to propel economic recovery for the US travel industry. Key findings Traveler Preferences Traveler Behaviors Travelers are 57% more likely to book their travel through an OTA now than before COVID-19 Domestic OTA travelers spend 16% more per trip and 5% more on-property tha...
How to Pick the Perfect Hotel
PolyU’s School of Hotel and Tourism Management | September 25, 2020
Online travel agencies should be able to better predict their customers’ decision making and meet their needs, suggest Dr Sangwon Park of the School of Hotel and Tourism Management (SHTM) at The Hong Kong Polytechnic University and his co-researchers in a ground-breaking study published recently. Through identifying a simple typology of decision-making styles, the researchers offer unprecedented insights into precisely how and why Internet users decide which travel products to buy. As the online share of travel revenue increases in the Asia-Pacific region and beyond, their findings have far-reaching implications not only for online hotel ma...
Comscore Sees Signs of Recovery in Travel Industry
Comscore | June 5, 2020
Visitation to Online Travel Agencies and Airline sites rose in May 2020 RESTON, Va., June 5, 2020 -- The latest insights from Comscore (Nasdaq: SCOR), a trusted partner for planning, transacting and evaluating media across platforms, show an increase in consumer interest across several travel categories, signaling the industry may be showing signs of recovery. According to data from Comscore Media Metrix, visits to travel sites during the five-week period between March 23, 2020 and April 26, 2020 were down as much as 70 percent versus early February 2020, as the coronavirus pandemic altered the global travel landscape. However, May 2...
Industry Dematerialisation
Youri Sawerschel | May 14, 2020
By Youri Sawerschel What services can hotels offer that digital upstarts can’t? For centuries, the core of the hotel business has been essentially the same everywhere. Sell rooms, check in the guests, serve breakfast and check them out. But now Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) have taken over the booking element, apps like Deliveroo and Uber Eats offer a myriad of breakfast, lunch and dining options, and Airbnb is challenging even the room portion of the business. This disruption has forced hoteliers to rethink their value proposition around a simple question: what can I offer that these digital upstarts can’t ? One answer to th...
