Articles tagged “direct booking”

Hopper will eventually be a force to be reckoned with in vacation rentals. There, we said it.

HomeToGo is among a bevy of newly public companies that vow to get to a semblance of profitability in 2023. They are tired of seeing their share prices pummeled.

Other than at exception-to-the-rule Google, metasearch has been on a downward spiral in vacation rentals for years. HomeToGo is turning itself into a series of booking sites instead, which just might work in that holiday home sector.

Just about every travel company — Sonder included — wants more direct bookings because of the lower costs and chance to build customer relationships. Still, Sonder may be at a growth stage where adding distribution channels can be an important hedge against over-reliance on the bigger ones.

People in the West traditionally have used mobile phones as a research tool and a desktop for transactions whereas in the East, since people mostly skipped the offline era, users began directly in the digital age through mobile. Companies looking to boost mobile commerce need to create unique touchpoints and tailor their product offerings to achieve a greater sales mix.

Mobile is already the primary device for travel planning in the majority of the world. Still, mobile bookings are yet to surpass desktop bookings in volume or value. Undoubtedly, travel companies need to increase mobile investments while also deploying an overarching multi-device strategy to engage customers throughout.

Lufthansa's test partnership may or may not work out. But what's certain is that all major travel rewards programs have broad opportunities to use their customer databases in ways that luxury retailers such as Aston Martin and Omega will actually like.

Serent Capital was an investing chaperone to Revinate's acquisition of Navis. Its thesis is that the technological stars have finally aligned to produce many of the business intelligence breakthroughs that hotel companies have long sought.

As Covid-19 recovery continues, hotels must turn their attention back to a concern that’s been growing for years and promises to accelerate rapidly as guests come flooding back: rising cancelations.

Despite years of marketing campaigns to drive direct bookings, our look at hotel distribution shows that little has changed for most hotels and that driving room nights via first-party channels remains a difficult uphill battle.