One of the most common concerns we hear from hoteliers is that OTAs are competing for brand direct customers, rather than complementing their own efforts.

　　Isabelle Pinson, columnist and Senior Director of Market Management for Northern Europe at Expedia Lodging Partner Services discusses the importance of visibility on a number of platforms, to help hoteliers attract the right balance of customers, and maximise occupancy.

　　One of the most common concerns we hear from hoteliers is that OTAs are competing for brand direct customers, rather than complementing their own efforts.

　　As I presented on this very topic at an industry event this week, I thought I would share some of the insight we have to demonstrate why the question shouldn’t be “OTA or direct?” but “how can hotels work together with OTA partners?”

　　Research and insight

　　Findings from a study by Hotels.com, part of our wider Expedia family, supplemented by additional information from research agency Millward Brown, have shown that OTA and direct booking customers are quite different, both demographically and how they shop for travel, so the overlap is actually less than what many hoteliers think.

　　The research here focuses on US travellers as the US is a key feeder market for Europe although we did also analyse the characteristics and attitudes of Japanese and German travellers. The trends identified, such as OTA bookers being younger, travelling more internationally and being more interested in price, package and mobile features, were broadly similar across the three groups.

　　Comparing Consumers

　　Specifically, we compared US travellers who recently booked on an OTA, with those who shop an OTA but recently booked directly at the hotel’s site, which revealed two very distinct types of customers.

　　Those who shopped on an OTA but booked hotel direct (HD) tend to be older, and earn a little more than OTA customers, and they generally book more trips (9 vs. 8.2 over a two year period). Additionally, OTA bookers were more likely to travel internationally (14 percent compared to 7 percent with hotel direct). Expedia has invested hugely in bringing hotel partners international travellers and now brings demand from more than 150 sites in more than 70 counties in 38 languages.

　　In terms of their attitudes towards travel shopping, OTA and HD bookers differ in a few key ways. Unsurprisingly, chain familiarity is most important to HD bookers (87 percent vs. 82 percent), whereas OTA bookers place more value on package deals, lower prices and mobile features.

　　Expedia delivers a great variety of flexible packages for consumers and has invested heavily in mobile technology. The company now features more than 140 mobile web sites in nearly 70 countries, and mobile apps recently passed the 125 million download mark. Expedia delivers demand from this investment to its hotel partners automatically; exposure on these channels is part of the benefits of working together in partnership.

　　OTAs in the shopping process

　　OTAs are a global, one-stop marketplace for both brand loyalists and agnostics. The study confirmed that travel shopping on an OTA site is an important part of the booking process – even for shoppers that indicate they always or mostly book supplier direct. Specifically, nearly a third of those who always book supplier direct report shopping on an OTA during the shopping process, while nearly two thirds of those who book supplier direct the majority of the time use an OTA for shopping. For both of those supplier-direct preferred customer groups, more shoppers start their search on an OTA than a supplier site.

　　And why do supplier direct customers shop with the OTAs? Our research shows customers who shopped OTAs but book directly with the hotel use OTAs as a way of comparing prices and gathering more information, particularly valuing customer reviews. They tend to visit more sites when in the research phase than those customers who book on OTAs.

　　The results show direct bookers visit OTAs as a means of comparison shopping and information gathering (particularly customer reviews) before booking directly with their preferred hotel. OTAs, therefore, do play a key role even for those hoteliers that want direct bookings. It’s logical to conclude that minimising (or eliminating) a hotel’s visibility from the OTA channel may result in decreased bookings on a hotel’s own site.

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