Brands Target OTAs Offering Lower Rates For Booking Direct

Source: More hotels offer discounts for booking directly

An example of how Hotel BookDirect War Heats up as OTAs Fire Back, take a look at this dialogue:

Melissa Maher, senior vice president of the Global Partner Group for Expedia, says “having hotel chains offer a variety of loyalty rates has made the booking process more cumbersome for consumers.”

OTAs : It’s More Confusing for Travelers to get  Better Deals on Hotel Websites!

The argument is that Hotels BookDirect strategies are making if more difficult for travel shoppers who now have to look around more – in other words its no longer the case that the best rates are on OTAs! And here is what they are doing about it “Hotels that do not offer the same book direct to Expedia, with commission applied of course, “will no longer be as visible.”

Expedia Melissa Maher says, “Expedia lets consumers shop for travel vendors in one place. ” It has over 450 million monthly visits in more than 75 countries with over 269,000 hotels. But the Book Direct strategies are making an impact and the OTAs are on the offensive. Expedia is talking to some hotels about offering the same beast rates and offer BookDirect pricing at lower commissions.

Hotel Making Inroads With BookDirect Benefits

Hotel giants like Hilton and Mariott have invested heavily in BookDirect programs to convince travel Shoppers to book Direct and get a better. Hiltons  “Stop Clicking Around” marketing campaign was “the largest launched in the company’s 97-year history.” Hilton is “offering up to 10% discounts to Hilton HHonors members who book directly” –  In addition it offer loyalty points, free Wi-Fi, fast online to check-in, room selection and “digitals key via the HHonors mobile app.”

However it is an uphill battle as 57 billion HHonors Points went unearned as guests booked through a third party, according to Hiltons Mark Weinstein who added:

“There is a huge misconception that third parties always offer lower prices for our hotel rooms, which is simply not true.”

Its a marketing game that hotels just have not bothered to play and they have lost a lot of ground. The road to recovery will take determined effort to fix the misconception and get travellers booking direct with Book Direct Benefits.

Winning Strategies for Hotel to Get more BookDirect Visitors

In our last post we outlined a 3 pronged strategy that will get eyeballs rolling
– see it at  #winingstrategy for more bookdirect travellers

Related Post – How hotel Violate Rate Parity without even noticing >>