by manicminer on 3/9/18, 3:21 PM with 33 comments
by manicminer on 3/9/18, 3:21 PM
The perception of many travelers is that the best hotel prices are to be found at the big online travel agencies.
The hotel chains have recently been attempting to alter this perception by offering lower prices when you book via their own websites. This usually requires membership in a loyalty program but they have streamlined sign-up so that you can become a member during the checkout process.
This channel shift is really important for the hotels because they lose so much in commission to the OTAs, not to mention market relevance and a direct relationship with the customer.
Room Key is a joint venture between six of the largest hotel chains in the world and has unique access to these lower direct rates.
We have just launched a new product called Scout, a Chrome browser extension that activates whenever you view a hotel at major OTAs.
Scout looks at the lowest rate being advertised by the OTA and then searches in the background to see if it can find a lower direct rate. If it does, it automatically displays a notification along with a button that takes the user to the hotel's own site to book the lower rate and get additional perks of booking direct (e.g. points, free wifi).
For now the hotels Scout works with are mostly limited to brands belonging to larger chains (Marriott, Hyatt, Wyndham, Choice, IHG). E.g. try looking at a Holiday Inn on Expedia and you're very likely to see a Scout notification.
The OTAs are currently limited to the major players (Expedia, Orbitz, Priceline, Booking.com, Hotels.com, Travelocity) but we hope to grow this list to include metasearch engines (Kayak, Trivago, etc) in the near future. We also hope to introduce the extension on other browsers.
by eldavido on 3/10/18, 12:45 AM
At the point where a customer is searching on Expedia or booking.com, you've lost. These sites have aggressive reward programs and are tuned machines to get people to buy.
The better approach is actual property-level differentiation that makes people want to stay at a particular hotel. If your customer sees hotel inventory as essentially fungible, which is what most of the undifferentiated inventory on booking/expedia is, they're going to pay commodity prices for it.
The chains need to step up and market directly to consumers, and GIVE ME A REASON TO LIKE THEM. Right now it's all sort of meh. Hilton, Hyatt, Rodeway, whatever, I just don't care, give me the lowest price and I'm there.
by jamesshamenski on 3/9/18, 9:50 PM
So no, I cannot 'see lower direct hotel rates as I browse online travel agents'.
The marketing messaging is completely disjointed from what the product actually does.
by whitepoplar on 3/9/18, 7:30 PM
by Eridrus on 3/9/18, 11:19 PM