For accommodation businesses such as hotels and lodge, there are pros and cons to using online travel agents or OTAs to sell their amenities. OTAs consist of online accommodation booking sites like Booking.com, AirBnB.com, and Expedia.com. These OTAs hold a massive record of hotels in several categories and more or less globally. The hotels’ websites are easy to exercise, integrated maps also pictures of the hotels, and on top of that, their charges are commonly competitive. There are several good causes to reserve your hotel from the convenience of your armchair but pause and think before you click on the ‘book now’ icon. 

Accommodation Providers And Online Travel Agencies:

Twenty years back, there were no OTAs, and hotels are dependent on different parties like tour machinists and travel agents for getting bookings. Flight booking was the first to digitize an automated booking system available to travel agents by the late 70s. Hotels were different; people who had a clear preference for the hotel chain often phoned directly to check availability and valued the personal touch for their hospitality needs. Travelocity is the first online travel agency launched in 1996, and Expedia followed hotels chased hotels for access to their inventories, offering a small commission of 10 percent. Hotels agreed as most of them didn’t have the websites, and this was their chance to occupy the vacant room, but once the traveler discovered online booking, they didn’t go back, and tables have turned on hotels. self-catering accommodation

Today hotels run an unofficial war against OTAs, which was a convenient way to make their room discoverable transformed into a real threat. Massive commissions cause hoteliers to hesitate to rely on online travel agencies; 15-30 percent commissions sounds too much to the hoteliers. OTAs bookings have turn out to be a staple instead of a compliment. Several properties rely on them for their industry. Above all, increased fees and commissions have stiffened the stronghold. Hotels have discovered themselves handcuffed in a phase of reliance as OTAs get boosted. Administrators and stockholders are keen to direct more of their bookings and state more of the real profit for the hotel services and facilities they make available, however, and it is a hard battle.

Accommodation Providers Versus Hoteliers:

You have frequently heard that hotelier nag regarding Booking.com, Expedia, and many other online travel agencies. However, as they can’t load their hotel rooms without them, they undergo the ache of paying the high OTAs’ commission price. Hoteliers a lot sense trapped in this affiliation, which they don’t feel like it, but they even can’t exist without it.

The nuanced relationship between hotels and online travel agencies dictates the hospitality industry’s present and future. Overall, these relationships are based on both mutual support and competition. Still, one party is eager to change that here’s what is happening behind the scenes of the invisible battle over the hospitality market.  serviced accommodation uk

How Hotels Can Directly Raise Their Booking:

Some of the biggest hotel chains like Hilton and Marriot have been started investing in a campaign to bring back market share. These campaigns ensure the traveler that they would receive loyalty and benefits from the hotels. Below are the few tips that help hotel for getting direct booking-

• Loyalty Program: Make sure when a customer visits your website, they must enroll for the lower prices on direct booking and best perks. In 2017 Marriott’s rewarded for the best loyalty program by Smarter Traveler. 

• Work with Travel Agents: Travel agents associate with hospitality providers. They proffer their clientele hotels that go with their requirements regarding locality, amenities, fees, and more. Several hotels offer their travel agent partners the chance to reserve guests at loyalty program charges, raising the benefits these agents propose to their clients, moreover, the volume of non-OTA bookings to the hotel.

• Reviews and client-generated content: One of the reasons travelers go with OTAs is that they provide many user reviews on their websites. By incorporating reviews and customer-generated content, for instance, pictures directly on their websites, hotels can reduce the chances of guests returning to the OTAs to settle their booking.

• Highlight Hotels Experience: Take care that your homepage recommends insight into the “experience” you put forward. Huge brands with large hotels and global reach should depict the experiences they propose across their brand hotels. At the same time, minor hotels can showcase their individuality on their pages. 

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