Articles tagged “metasearch”

While the blurring of the lines between metasearch sites and online travel agencies is taking place, there are legions of critics and boycotters, including some major online travel agencies, airlines and hotel groups.

In the end, the way things are going, airlines will become hotels, and hotels will become airlines. Taxis will become Ubers, and Ubers will become taxis. Convergence, baby.

Can a metasearch company serve two masters: its affiliate partners and its own brand? HotelsCombined is dancing that dance and will let us all know the answer eventually.

Google’s revamped Hotel Ads — which amounts to a streamlined metasearch feature right within Google search results, obviating the need to navigate to Google Hotel Finder – will likely turn out to be one of the most important developments in the metasearch field in 2014-2015.

Booking.com and now TripAdvisor are getting deeper into the B2B side of the hotel business. That leaves Expedia as the holdout that so far is maintaining its focus on hotel distribution and is sticking to its proverbial knitting.

A smart look at the factors, including the rush toward direct bookings, that are shaping the entire metasearch sector in 2015.

There is no question that Kayak management would kill to be the beneficiary of the kind of marketing/advertising commitment that Expedia is making to Trivago. It is really tough to compete with one hand tied behind your back.

It's has to be a comeuppance for Expedia to see its offspring, TripAdvisor, turn into such a formidable frenemy. On the other hand, Expedia shareholders made plenty of money off the TripAdvisor spinoff and are laughing all the way to the bank.

End 2014 with the best gift you can get for your professional self. Aimed at the strategists, marketers and technologists in travel, the SKIFT TRENDS REPORTS provide you with in-depth trends analysis.

Coming off 2013 when metasearch was the fastest growing sector in travel, Qunar says metasearch isn't viable in the mobile era.