I chose this article because it illustrates the paradox faced by the travel industry during the economic crisis.
Indeed, during the economic crisis, the budget dedicated to leisure, and therefore travel, is the first to decrease. This phenomenon totally explain the fact that the travel industry is going down.
However, thanks to the OTAs or other Reverse Auction websites, travel websites are generating more revenue than expected.
This can be explain by the fact that those websites are proposing better best rates or special promotions than the hotels websites.
Eventhough those sites can be persued as rivals by the hoteliers because they have to pay a commission foreach reservation and propose discount and maybe sell their rooms at a lower price than expected, i think the hoteliers should see them as partners since they can get rid of their distressed inventory and, therefore, increase their revenue.
Indeed, OTAs and reverse auction sites have an important role in the hospitality industry nowadays. They take advantages of the current economical context to develop themselves. I agree with you that hoteliers'd better to see them as partners than as competitiors because OTAs allow hotels to remain competitive and to adapt themselves to customers' new expectations.
RépondreSupprimerI also agree with you both that in today's context, travel websites are becoming more and more important, thus there are more partners to hoteliers rather than competitors. Indeed, as OTAs have now much more "power" and success with customers, they became essential in the travel industry. Hoteliers need only to understand this major point and develop a strategy related to this.
RépondreSupprimerI think that travel websites have generated more revenue than expected because clients, who were used to book directly through the hotel or Tour Operator, have now chosen to book trhough the travel websites which offer more promotions and attracting packages.
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