UNIT 3 ( INFORMATICS FOR TOURISM AND HOSPITALITY )
What Is an Online Travel Agent (OTA)?
An online travel agent is a third-party website that sells travel-related services offered by their partners, such as hotels, hostels, airlines, car rental companies, event organizers, and more. It’s a website where people can search for and compare various services and make bookings without an actual travel agent.
Top Global Online Travel Agencies
There are too many global OTAs to list them all here, but these stand out due to exceptional quality, wide reach, credibility, trust, and first-class support.
1. Booking.com
Founded as bookings.nl, merged with Bookings Online, and later acquired by Booking Holdings (formerly Priceline Group), Booking.com has become the go-to booking website for all things travel. It’s one of the largest global OTAs that sells tons of activities, tours, vehicle rentals, rooms, and airfare.
2. Expedia
Owned by Expedia Group, Expedia.com offers hotel rooms, vacation rentals, airfare, cruises, car rentals, and activities. It also offers package deals that can include flights, stays, and/or cars.
By partnering with Expedia, travel providers can tap into Expedia Group’s network of over 200 booking websites, including Travelocity, Orbitz, Hotels.com, Wotif, and CarRentals.com.
3. Viator
Just like its parent company, TripAdvisor, Viator isn’t an OTA. It partners with OTAs offering travel activities, tours, and attraction tickets, and lets them create a TripAdvisor listing to grow sales.
It offers top-notch experiences, including VIP tours, which is why it’s prized in the industry as one of the best metasearch engines.
4. Hotelbeds
With over 60,000 travel distributors in over 140 markets, Hotelbeds is one of the top B2B travel agents. It has been growing exponentially after acquiring Tourico Holidays and GTA in 2017.
This Spanish OTA offers hotel stays, car hires, flight tickets, attraction tickets, airport transfers, and activities.
5. Hostelworld
Although it specializes in hostels, Hostelworld also promotes hotels and B&Bs. Additionally, it offers airport transfers, car rentals, flight tickets, tours, and activities.
Showcasing over 13 million guest reviews, it aims to help travelers, particularly millennials, find the best deals and experience various cities like locals. It’s especially popular among backpackers.
Top Online Travel Agencies in APAC
The Asia-Pacific region boasts of various OTAs with top-quality services and low commission rates.
1. Agoda
Owned by Agoda Company, a subsidiary of Booking Holdings, Agoda is a major player in APAC with growing connections in Europe and the US.
It offers hotel accommodation, vacation rentals, apartments, villas, and bungalows. It also provides flights, airport transfers, car hire, and activities, but those rely on metasearch to find the right OTAs for such services.
2. Trip.com
Trip.com is the largest OTA in China that went through many acquisitions over the years. Expedia owned it at one point before Trip.com Group (formerly CTrip) acquired it in 2017.
This Chinese OTA specializes in hotels but also provides fights, car rentals, train tickets, activities, tours, and attraction tickets.
3. MakeMyTrip
MakeMyTrip is a large OTA in India that provides hotel rooms, flight tickets, train tickets, bus tickets, and holiday packages.
It leverages AI, machine learning, and big data, enabling it to increase its partners’ bookings. It has been one of the most innovative OTAs in India from its humble beginnings.
4. Klook Travel
Klook Travel is a smaller APAC player than the previous three, but it’s a relatively new company.
Still, it has grown into a popular OTA in China, offering a wealth of travel experiences, transportation options, and hotel bookings. We believe it’ll play with the big guys in the near future. It certainly has what it takes.
5. Veltra
Veltra is a tour operator company that deserves a spot on this list because of its extraordinary offers. It partners with tour operators that offer fun things to do around the globe, including cultural events, sightseeing tours, spa getaways, and many other activities.
The winner: Trip.com
Trip.com wins this race because of its wide reach, a plethora of different offers, and some of the lowest commission rates for participating partners.
Top Online Travel Agencies in Latin America
There are fewer OTAs in the LATAM market than in the rest of the world, and most of them have a narrower reach. These are the most popular.
1. Despegar
Despegar is the largest OTA in Latin America that serves the entire region and then some. It has been growing in popularity in recent years, so we might see it expand to more markets. Expedia owns a portion of its shares, so it’s sure to keep growing.
It specializes in hotels and flights but also provides vacation rentals, car rentals, activities, and packages.
2. BestDay.com
Offering its services to countries in America, Asia, and Europe, BestDay.com is becoming more popular worldwide, especially since Despegar acquired it recently.
It’s the largest OTA in Mexico that also offers bookings for hotels, flights, car rentals, tours, activities, and vacation packages. Additionally, it provides airport transfers at the convenience of its travelers.
3. PriceTravel
PriceTravel specializes in hotel and flight bookings and offers packages and tours as well. It provides bookings of some of the top destinations in Mexico, the US, the Dominican Republic, and the Caribbean.
We especially love it because it promotes social responsibility and human and environmental well-being.
4. Tiquetes Baratos
Tiquetes Baratos (lit. cheap tickets) is owned by PriceTravel and has the same connections. It’s primarily a flight OTA and provides hotel bookings, airport transfers, car rentals, package deals, bus tickets, cruises, and tours.
Apart from excellent offers at competitive prices, it stands out because of its personalized services, which include weekly emails with prominent recommendations.
5. Almundo
Almundo may not be as big as Despegar, but it’s just as popular in Argentina and the rest of LATAM. CVC Corp.’s Avantrip acquired it recently, which seems quite promising for Almundo’s future growth.
Almundo is an OTA with some of the lowest commission rates, and it offers bookings for hotels, flights, car rentals, packages, activities, and even travel insurance.
The winner: Despegar
All of these OTAs specialize in hotels and flights and offer additional travel services, but Despegar is the obvious winner. It may have higher commission rates, but its high-quality services and wide reach make the fees worth paying.
Top Online Travel Agencies in Europe
The European market doesn’t have a shortage of high-quality OTAs. Apart from Booking.com, Hostelworld, and Hotelbeds, there are plenty more that you could consider for a partner. Here are some of the best.
1. Atrápalo
Atrápalo, or Catch It, is a widely-favored OTA that offers airfare, hotels, car rentals, train tickets, event tickets, cruises, and packages.
It was always focused on European travelers, but it recently started expanding into Latin America. It provides its partners with Atrápalo Extranet, a feature-rich platform with tools for boosting their ranking and improving profitability.
2. On the Beach
On the Beach is a metasearch platform that helps travelers find hotels, flight tickets, and airport transfers provided by OTAs.
We decided to include it here because It’s massively popular in the UK, especially among Britons looking to book a package holiday.
3. eDreams
eDreams is one of the largest OTAs in Europe. It’s part of eDreams ODIGEO Group that operates in more than 46 countries worldwide.
It provides hotels, airfare, flight + hotel packages, vacation rentals, activities, car rentals, and airport transfers.
4. Skyscanner
Acquired by Trip.com Group in 2017, UK-based Skyscanner is a metasearch platform that offers services from over 1,200 travel providers.
Dedicated to simplifying travel, it offers only the most essential services – flight tickets, hotels, and car rentals. It’s focused on sustainable travel and makes bookings a breeze.
5. Kiwi.com
According to Deloitte, Kiwi.com is the fifth fastest-growing tech company in Europe, the Middle East, and Africa. It’s one of the most innovative metasearch engines that offers flights, hotels, trains, and car rentals.
Thanks to partnerships with Booking.com and Rentalcars.com, it offers travel providers excellent opportunities to improve sales.
The winner: eDreams
Most of these OTAs haven’t disclosed their commission rates, countries of operation, and the number of listings. Still, we believe eDreams might be the best to partner with, as it’s part of the world-renowned eDreams ODIGEO Group, which offers numerous benefits.
Top Online Travel Agencies in the US
.
1. Getaroom
Founded by Dave Litman and Bob Diener, the former CEO and President at Hotels.com, respectively, Getaroom is a big player in the US that’s great for finding special deals.
It’s a unique OTA that offers hotel bookings, but with a twist. While people can book rooms without an agent, they can also call a toll-free number to get discounts or other best-value offers.
Best for: Hotels and independent boutique properties
2. Travelocity
Ever since Travelocity was acquired by Expedia Group in 2015, it has become a household name globally. Avid travelers keep flocking to it for cheap hotel deals and other discounted offers.
Travelocity specializes in hotels and all-inclusive resorts, but its services also include flights, cars, vacation packages, cruises, and various experiences.
3. Hotels.com
Also part of Expedia Group, Hotels.com focuses on deals on hotels and vacation rentals. Its partners are major hotel chains, self-catering properties, and independent hotels.
It also provides car rentals, airfare, and vacation packages.
4. Hotwire
Yet another Expedia Group company, Hotwire, has partnered with Hotels.com and offers the same deals – flights, hotels, cars, and vacation packages.
The site is a bit quirky in that it uses opaque pricing, meaning it hides hotel names. Travelers can see the names only after they make a booking. As Hotwire states on the website, it does so to help customers “score 4-star hotels at 2-star prices.”
Best for: Four-star hotels and resorts
5. Orbitz
Owned by Orbitz Worldwide, a subsidiary of Expedia Group, Orbitz is yet another big OTA in the US travel market, especially in North America. It offers hotel deals, airfare, vacation rentals, car rentals, packages, activities, and cruises.
Orbitz also serves as a metasearch engine. Its Vacation Value Finder feature helps travelers secure the best deals from other OTAs.
The winner: Travelocity
It’s hard to single out just one of all these massive OTAs, especially since most are Expedia Group companies. All of them provide first-class services to both their partners and customers.
However, Travelocity stands out because it’s more intuitive and provides travelers with useful content for booking the best adventures. That also helps its participating travel providers increase sales. Hotels.com offers the lowest commission rates, so it may be the first choice for many hotels.
ONLINE CHECK IN CHECK OUT
Online check-in for hotels has gained popularity in recent years due to its efficiency for guests and hotels, but its adoption got an extra boost since the Covid-19 pandemic. Since Covid-19, P3 has seen an increase of 280% of their hotel clients adopting the contactless check-in technology.
Let’s highlight some of the main advantages that any hotel can expect to leverage:
Enhanced customer experience
Being able to cater to the needs of modern guests is more crucial today than ever and it will help determine whether a customer chooses to return to your property in the future instead of looking elsewhere. Therefore, the ability to offer customers a frictionless check-in experience and the highest level of payment security is pivotal.
With online check-in, guests can skip the queues in hotel lobbies and have greater control over their booking – for example, they can add late checkout, extras to their stay and request to be notified as to when their room is available and given direct access using mobile key technology.
Adopting online check-in systems clearly demonstrates that your hotel is well aware of the latest technological trends. Customers are likely to view their experiences in a favourable light, which is helping to drive and boost loyalty as well as guest's rewards.
Increased efficiencies for hotels
Efficiency in hotel operations, especially during the ongoing pandemic and health and safety protocols in place, is more poignant than ever. It is only when a hotel adopts a single, unified commerce platform that they are able to deliver efficiencies and the best result.
It might sound impersonal, but this year due to Covid-19 is all about self-service and self-check-in so any chance to avoid touch or physical contact in any transaction is a win. Online check-in helps hotels reduce peak check-in/check-out times at reception desks. Management of ancillary revenue can be done easily by providing a way for guests to manage their own booking.
Payment Integration
Payment integration allows for a complete frictionless payment process for the guest, which is critical to enabling a fluid contactless check-in and check-out experience. Payments can be handled more efficiently and better data can be captured and used to understand customers and take advantage of marketing opportunities.
The Cons Of Online Check-in
Online check-in offers convenience but sometimes customers may face certain difficulties with the system. Here are some drawbacks or losses of checking in online.
- Contactless technology was introduced to minimize contact and significantly reduce the number of surfaces you need to touch in the lobby and in the hotel room. These changes result in less face time for guests and hotel staff, which means less personal interaction in what we all know is such a personal business as hospitality. It can be irritating for the customers because they like to talk to someone and they do not get any personal attention from the self-check-in machine or the online platform. It can also be frustrating for hoteliers because they like to see who is coming into their hotel.
- The lack of interaction also means flexibility for both guests and hotelier is removed. It can get even harder to resolve complex issues for the guests and it’s not possible for the hotel staff to monitor all guests arriving and departing from their hotel.
- Not all age profiles/cultures are comfortable with digitization of the hotel check-in. The online check-in technology is easy to use for those who have the technical knowledge but it will be difficult for those who don’t have any idea about this technology, especially when they require help or the website or mobile app is not working properly or not showing the information they need.
VIRTUAL OFFICE
A virtual office gives businesses a physical address and office-related services without the overhead of a long lease and administrative staff. With a virtual office, employees can work from anywhere but still have things like a mailing address, phone answering services, meeting rooms, and videoconferencing.
IMMIGRATION CHECK
Officials at customs and immigration are checking travelers for things like whether they have the right documents to be in the country, whether they're legally allowed to be there, and whether they're bringing anything illegal with them
KIOSK
A kiosk is a touch-screen device allowing passengers to do self-check-in and pay with credit or debit cards for free. Kiosks provide a valid boarding pass at the end. Passengers can save time by using kiosks at busy airports and avoid long queues
What is a global distribution system (GDS) and is it right for your hotel?
If your hotel is struggling to attract enough attention from travellers, or you aren’t attracting the right type of guests, it might be worthwhile signing up to a global distribution system (GDS).
Don’t know what a global distribution system is or how to use one to win more bookings and revenue? This article will answer all the questions you have. Hint: it’s the best way to attract business travellers to your hotel.
More than 600,000 travel agents plug into the GDS every day on behalf of companies to book flights, hotels, car rentals and destination activities.
Despite the growth of third party online travel agencies (OTAs) like Booking.com and Expedia, the GDS remains the number one way to promote your hotel to the corporate travel market globally.
🛑GDS in the hotel industry
A GDS is a worldwide conduit between travel bookers and suppliers, such as hotels and other accommodation providers. It communicates live product, price and availability data to travel agents and online booking engines, and allows for automated transactions.
The GDS is often used to tap into the corporate travel market because it has the ability to present hotels, flights, and car rentals in one simple interface which is convenient. Many companies organising trips for their staff will use the GDS as their preferred booking method.
The history of global distribution systems dates back to the 1960s when a more sophisticated method was needed to keep track of flight schedules, availability, and prices.
As early as the 1970s GDSs were some of the first companies in the world to facilitate business to business (B2B) electronic commerce (now more commonly known as ecommerce). Airlines realised that by automating the reservation process for travel agents, they could make the travel agents more productive and essentially turn them into an extension of the airline’s salesforce.
Four of the major legacy GDSs are:
- Amadeus
- Galileo
- Sabre
- Worldspan
Hoteliers are always looking at ways to increase their reach to attract more customers, increase revenue, and make a profit. It seems a global distribution system (GDS) is a valuable channel to achieve this. A GDS passes on hotel inventory and rates to travel agents and travel sites that request it and also accepts reservations
Benefits Hotel -GDS
Although those in operating in hotel management aim to maximise the number of direct bookings they attract, using a global distribution system helps to reach a larger number of customers. This is because the GDS provides a single point of access for thousands of travel agents across the globe, who can then book hotel rooms for their customers.
Costs of Using a Global Distribution System
While there are numerous benefits of using a GDS, it comes at a cost too. Standard practice is that a hotel will pay a small initialisation fee, followed by transaction and/or agent fees on every booking that is made. These fees can vary significantly, but it is not unusual for the fees to account for around 10 percent of the amount paid.
The ‘Big Three’ Global Distribution Systems
Hotels can turn to a number of different GDS systems around the world, with each one having its own unique features and target markets. However, it is generally accepted that there is a ‘big three’ within this industry, which are responsible for the vast majority of travel agency bookings.
1. Amadeus GDS
When looking at market share for global distribution systems, Amadeus GDS ranks as the market leader and it is estimated that somewhere in the region of 40 percent of all travel agency bookings using GDS systems go through this particular network. However, most of these bookings are linked to flights, rather than hotel rooms.
2. Sabre GDS
The Sabre global distribution system is the closest competitor for Amadeus when it comes to total market share, and it is actually more proportionally reliant on the hotel industry than Amadeus is. In total, it is estimated that more than 200,000 hotels use the network to connect with travel agencies.
3. Travelport GDS
Finally, Travelport is a company that owns the Worldspan, Galileo and Apollo systems. While the parent company is based in the United Kingdom, the Worldspan and Galileo GDS databases are situated in the United States. As an organisation, it provides GDS services and a variety of other travel industry solutions
Connecting Hotel to All Global Distribution Networks
For the most part, hotels connect to GDS networks via a GDS provider. Such a provider will function as an intermediary between the hotel and the global distribution system, and in most cases a GDS provider will actually connect your hotel to all of the three major GDS systems at once, rather than focusing on a single one.
Comments
Post a Comment