Webinar Session 2 - E Reputation

In this video, I learn about :

OTAs: consolidation & growth

• Expedia merger with Orbitz approved; now world's largest online travel services company by bookings, including Hotels.com, Travelocity, Trivago and Wotif

• Priceline Group includes Booking.com, Agoda, Kayak, OpenTable and BookingSuite

• Priceline stock price up 20% this year; Expedia up 50%

• Priceline account for approx 94% of OTA market in the U.S. (PhoCusWright, 2014)

• OTAs account for about 1/3 of online travel market and 16% of total gross bookings in U.S. (PhoCusWright)

• OTAs dominate paid search results, drive up costs of acquisition

Also, I learnd differents kinds of strategies such as : 

Strategies to stay on top of trends 

• Diversify distribution, experiment with new booking channels 

• Calculate costs of acquisition and profits on each channel 

• Don't offer lower rates on OTAs than direct channels 

• Give travelers reasons to book direct 

• Focus on guest service 

• Collect, analyze and use data on guest behavior and preferences to personalize marketing activities and the guest experience 

• Offer a mobile friendly site, guest services and communications by mobile 

• Invest in the necessary tools, technology and training 

Concerning direct booking thanks to this webinar :

• Goals: keep the traveller from leaving our site to shop, and in turn converting them to book directly 

• Focus: to build a level of trust/confidence that they are going to receive the best rate by going direct

• Strategies & Tools: 

       -  Triptease : a software that displays through a widget on your website the rates of various OTA's that the traveller is searching

       -  Guestfolio : email campaigns to target OTA guests with a 10% discount to return and book direct 

To finish we saw tips for connecting with travelers like :

• Keep it easy and simple; i.e., no download of apps involved 

• Listen to how your guests want to communicate 

• Make sure it's not overtly sales focused 

• Offer value to the guest for using any software 

• Don't overload the guest with communications 

• Treat everyone like a VIP!