Articles tagged “metasearch”

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.

Pressure from regulators and maybe disgruntled partners prompted Google to add free booking links in search results and Maps in travel. Google certainly hasn't leveled the proverbial playing field among advertisers and non-advertisers, but hotels and smaller online travel agencies may see some benefit.

Google Travel turned off Russia advertisers, but is still getting a limited amount of advertising for Russia travel from ad partners outside Russia. In contrast, Skyscanner and Kayak don't display any information about Russia travel.

Booking.com has a substantial presence in the Middle East, but there is a vacuum that Wego Group and homegrown players could begin to fill over the next few years.

Trivago's expectation that it could benefit from the EU chomping down on Google Travel during 2022 is very much an open question. Beyond the fines levied and outside of travel, Google has managed to maneuver its way around regulatory crackdowns to a large degree.

Listen now to a conversation with Trivago CEO Axel Hefer at Skift Global Forum in September 2021 in New York City.

Listen now to a conversation with Kayak CEO Steve Hafner at Skift Travel Megatrends event on January 19, 2022 in New York City.

HomeToGo has been outracing rivals and disproving doubters. The metasearch brand runs operations efficiently. For example, it offers a subscription model to property managers who list with it, and that model appears to be more consistently profitable than charging traditional pure commissions.

If the revamped Tripadvisor Plus turns out to be a flop — and it very well could be — don't put all of the blame on CEO Steve Kaufer. The board of the Liberty Tripadvisor-controlled company went along with the plan, despite obvious rate parity issues, every step of the way. Kaufer's successor will inherit the challenges.

With the exception of business travel, Trivago officials argued that travel will be back to a semblance of normalcy by next spring or summer. That would be great for Trivago, but none of that is assured.