In light of the recent, much publicised news around the misleading approaches taken by online travel agents (OTAs), has there ever been a better time for hotels to capitalise on driving their own “book direct” propositions?
Hotels make their rooms available through OTAs (i.e. Booking.com, Hotels.com) to drive bookings or to supplement any direct bookings generated. Hotels need to trust OTAs to operate fairly. By this, hotels advertising their rooms elsewhere need to trust these platforms, hoping that they won’t break room rate parity, mislead consumers, or even bid on a Hotels own trademarked hotel name through Google Ads (PPC). As OTAs are fully aware that hotels can be overly reliant, or in some instances even fully dependent upon selling their rooms through their sites, they take full advantage, and often unfairly.
The article recently published by the BBC about the OTAs misleading prices isn’t the first time OTAs have been warned about their conduct. The BBC alone has published about this multiple times before, way back in 2006, then in 2017 and 2018. Signs are still clear that the OTAs haven’t heeded the warnings, but (as the latest article indicates) they have until September 19 to comply or face court action.
Many of us, (myself included) have used the likes of Booking.com, Expedia.co.uk, Hotels.co.uk over the years to book trips away, perhaps at the expense of missing out on a better deal direct with the hotel.
Why do consumers use OTAs?
There are a number of reasons why many of us would choose to book our breaks through an online travel agent. Some of these reasons are cited below:
- Guests are not necessarily brand loyal to one hotel – willing to browse multiple hotels
- The OTA appeared first at the top of Google – for the hotel you searched
- Discounted offer on a stay – offer ends soon!
- Our personal/account details are already stored safely and securely – speed and ease of checkout
For those of us looking for a breakaway, we are often bombarded by messages to push us over the line to encourage us to make our booking, such as the following:
