Online travel agents (OTAs) dominate the travel booking landscape. According to travel-management company TravelPerk, OTAs are the top online resource for travelers in 2023, used by 80% before making any purchase.
NB: This is an article from Lighthouse
Subscribe to our weekly newsletter and stay up to date
This surpasses search engines (61%), social media (58%), airline websites (54%) and meta-travel websites (51%).
Such stats – and there are many more like them – demonstrate the age-old adage that it’s not whether you do something, it’s how you do it.
The ‘something’ in question is working with OTAs or, more specifically, which OTAs you should focus your energies on fostering the strongest partnerships with.
Of course, OTAs take a cut of each sale, but the theory is that they more than compensate for this by increased reach. So, which OTAs can put that theory into practice by helping you drive bookings and improve your bottom line?
Let’s examine three of the biggest players in the OTA market to help you make informed decisions about your distribution strategy.
Priceline
Dealing in air travel and hotels, Priceline has been around since the late ’90s. Owned by Booking Holdings Inc., its URL – Priceline.com – was the original name of that parent company, which, rather confusingly, also owns Booking.com (see below), its arguably more prominent sister company. Together, they make up two of the Big Six brands united under the Booking Holdings umbrella, with Kayak and Agoda being others.
So what distinguishes Priceline.com from other OTAs?
Well, the basic way it operates is pretty standard: guests search for a room, pay the same price they would have had they booked on your site (a.k.a. Brand.com), and you as the hotelier pay a cut to them as the online travel agency. But it’s well-known for features like ‘Name Your Own Price’ and ‘Priceline Express Deals’, which facilitate discounted rates (see below).
It also has an enormous customer base, and reach is of course one of the biggest selling points of OTAs for hoteliers.
Is this combination of a big reach and a focus on discounted rates a good thing for hoteliers?
This is a judgment call. It’s legitimate and while you may not always want to attract the most ‘budget-conscious’ guests it will be a great source of bookings and revenue.
Priceline’s revenue figures offer a strong indicator of its rude health, but what of the Priceline review? A quick read of what its customers say about the service on Tripadvisor suggests that its users have mixed feelings.
