Comments on: The Role of OTAs in the Travel Planning Process

By: John

John — Mon, 14 Jun 2010 20:27:29 +0000

No matter what website the travel shopper visits, a hotelier’s goal should be to convert that person into a buyer. In the same way that using rich visual experiences on 3rd party sites will help “get your hotel on the shopping list” that same visual experience on your own hotel web site will increase conversion.

Driving travel shoppers to your own website is a must and an admirable goal but keep in mind that all travel shoppers are not the same… some like to visit many sites before booking. Hoteliers have the opportunity to merchandise themselves on those other sites in order to capture as many buyers as possible.

By: Bobbie

Bobbie — Thu, 03 Jun 2010 17:21:59 +0000

The California Lodging Industry Association (CLIA) supports travel booking services that expands the tourism pie, creates jobs, and is critical to economic growth. OTCs put heads in beds and are often the difference between profit and loss.
Bobbie Singh-Allen
Executive Vice President / COO
California Lodging Industry Association

By: Judy

Judy — Wed, 26 May 2010 09:51:57 +0000

Very true! I am an online marketing analyst handling SEO/SEM for hotels/resorts with OTAs being an integral part of overall success as noted by the video -room nights, bookings, revenues, and also for the incredible research, comparisons, pricing, and exposure with a very high number of impressions per day, which is a much broader scope and higher percentage influencer than an individual property website (therefore reaching a higher number of travelers) with tracked conversions.

By: Tata

Tata — Tue, 25 May 2010 17:43:41 +0000

The follow on topic would be “how does a hotel increase the percentage of bookings on its own site i.e. what is the marketing mix to funnel as large a percentage as possible potential bookers onto the hotels own site. OTA’s are part of that mix but what are the other elements of the online marketing mix to achieve this?

By: Till

Till — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:37:58 +0000

nothing really new, but still interesting.

By: Vijay

Vijay — Tue, 25 May 2010 14:21:46 +0000

Interesting to hear the reversal of trend whereby shoppers are coming back to direct hotel channels to book.

By: Online Hotel Marketing & Merchandising Strategies for Success – VFM Leonardo Newsletter | VFM Leonardo - Better merchandised hotels mean more bookings

Fri, 05 Mar 2010 20:02:57 +0000

[...] Feature Video The Role of OTAs in the Travel Planning Process [...]

By: John

John — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 19:51:30 +0000

Bill, we couldn’t have said it better ourselves. The fundamental premise of merchandising your hotel online is to ensure that your hotel presents itself in the best, most current light wherever travel shoppers choose to look and find your hotel online.

The Internet has revolutionized how shoppers shop for travel by empowering them with the ability to do the research and comparison stages of the shopping journey on their own. They have thousands of web channels to choose from and will use those channels that easily satisfy their need at the appropriate stage of shopping.

Travel shoppers don’t care (or probably don’t know) if a web site’s business model is centered on the booking of travel or not… they just know they get what they are looking for from these sites.

So, hoteliers that focus their online efforts on a single channel (say their own website) at the expense of OTAs and many other sites do so at their own peril.

By: James

James — Thu, 04 Mar 2010 17:08:32 +0000

A very interesting video, teaches us to maximise our listings on OTAs. Any chance of a discussion on hotel blogs and their usefulness?

By: Nitin

Nitin — Wed, 03 Mar 2010 12:02:05 +0000

The role of Travel Meta Search Engine should also be discussed.