Articles tagged “direct booking”

The hotel industry has an opportunity to transform the direct booking process using website personalization. Doing so can help deliver a more efficient and customized booking experience, resulting in better conversion ratios and the opportunity to further cultivate relationships with guests.

If they can't beat the online travel companies, airlines might as well try to copy those companies' slickest moves. A couple of carriers are testing the display of flights on rival airlines in an attempt to prevent consumers from clicking away to shop elsewhere.

With less fanfare than hotels, but with a ton of TV spend, Booking Holdings is intent on increasing its share of direct bookings. Anything that gets in its way, including metasearch sites that go out of favor, will be collateral damage.

The direct booking wars are the true infinity war, at least in hospitality. In other words, don't expect a truce anytime soon.

A year from now — or perhaps sooner — we wouldn't be at all surprised to hear Expedia executives admit that hotels' direct-booking campaigns were having more of an adverse impact than the company initially articulated. Hotels have taken back some control from Expedia, and its shift toward independent hotels has far-reaching implications.

When it comes to Wyndham finally offering loyalty program members discounted rates, it's always better late than never, right?

Hilton has been working for years to keep customers booking on its website instead of with online travel agencies. Don't expect that to stop anytime soon — or ever.

Room Key is a bit like the train in the children's story, "The Little Engine That Could," which kept saying "I think I can, I think I can." While Room Key may never become the next Kayak, it may help hotel chains gain more direct bookings.

After pouring over third quarter earnings results and investor calls, it’s clear the big hotel chains have embarked on a new, but potentially arduous road.

The bigger question, however, is whether these campaigns will still work in 2017 and beyond; offering discounted rates can only last for so long. Hotels need to start thinking about how they can ensure this momentum continues in the long run without having to use discounted rates.