Articles tagged “agoda”

Booking.com and Airbnb are tough to compare. Although Booking.com officials would admit it has a lot to improve in short-term rentals, the company is playing its hotel hand to an advantage.

Airbnb needs to provide more information to guests about hosts, and making them more searchable would be an improvement. The fear, though, is that such information would make it easier for guests to book directly with hosts and bypass Airbnb.

Agoda's new CEO appointment highlights the need for online travel agencies to be continually reinventing experiences from a technology point of view. If only the company would now balance it out by bringing in someone who understands the hoteliers’ perspective.

The confidence of the hospitality sector in Indonesia seems to be getting stronger as the archipelago relaxes arrival restrictions. As hotly anticipated properties now announce opening dates, Indonesia is clearly emerging as a key market in Southeast Asia's hospitality ecosystem.

Traveloka knows how to go local in Indonesia and some other countries in the region, and that's one element of its traction in these markets. But can local ever be too local when online travel agencies mull international expansion?

Tripadvisor's travel-planning help by text for Tripadvisor Plus subscribers plays to the company's strengths — user reviews and a global roster of hotels, restaurants and things to do listings. It really can't compete, though, with a real travel agent who has visited the destination and knows the hotel general manager personally.

Fintech is trending, and likewise for superapps in certain parts of the world. Getting into travel is too delicious to resist, but the world is not ending for incumbent travel competitors.

At a time when some big hotel brands seek to increase average daily rates, Booking Holdings' expansion of its Genius loyalty and discounting program could hurt that effort. Some individual properties, hungry for increased exposure as they compete with vacation rentals and other hotels, will welcome the move.

For years, industry analysts would muse: When is Booking.com going to launch flights? Well, now that business is showing strength, albeit from a small base. Seen as strategic, that airline ticket business comes at a price — lower profit margins.