photo

How to work with OTAs (online travel agents)?


Listing on OTAs

  • Travellers use OTAs to shop for hotels and accommodation comparing their pricing. By having a presence on OTAs, independent hotels are able to reach out to these ‘shoppers’ or to an extended reach of audiences.
  • Independent hotels also benefit from the ‘billboard effect’, which is having the increased brand awareness gained from being promoted on OTA platforms.
  • In most cases, audiences will look at only the top three pages of hits or results on OTAs, hence hotels should try to ensure that they are listed in the top three pages on each OTA platform.
  • In terms of content on OTAs – hotels need to upload eye-catching professional hotel photography of quality and variety. Concise hotel descriptions of its distinct Room Descriptions and Amenities, Unique Selling Points with nearby points of interest must be included. This will enhance both ranking and booking conversion rate.
  • Reviews on OTAs should be monitored closely and necessary follow-up actions should be taken by the hotel teams.

Rate Parity Practice

  • Hotels need to ensure the practice of rate parity to ensure the same prices are reflected throughout all online distribution channels (OTAs and hotel website), regardless of the OTA’s commission rates.
  • When shopping around for hotel rooms, guests must see rate parity or a consistent room rate on every website they visit.

Working with Meta Search Engines

Hotels need to distribute their room rates from their official websites to the Meta Search Engine platforms so that these rates are presented alongside OTAs as a part of the guest’s booking options, which means there is a better chance that a customer will book directly.

A Meta Search Engine compiles information such as hotel rates and room availability from other websites and displays the combined results, all in one place. Examples of common Meta Search Engines include Kayak, HotelsCombined, Trivago, TripAdvisor and Google. While OTAs sell directly via their website channel and hotels have to pay OTAs a commission, Meta Search Engines allow hotel properties to generate an increase in direct bookings.