Busted: 5 Myths About Online Travel Agencies

While OTAs play a large role in the online travel and hospitality industry, there are many misunderstandings about how they work, their role in the development of the travel industry, and exactly what value they provide.

Because we believe it’s important to accurately understand the role that OTAs play, we would like to debunk some common myths and misconceptions!

Myth #1

OTAs don’t provide a unique personalized travel booking experience

Untrue.  Many believe that OTAs cannot offer travelers a unique and personalized booking experience simply because of their size. But improvements in algorithms that offer up personalized recommendations, geo-targeting, and autocomplete returns do allow for a tailored booking experience for each traveler. Additionally, the technology of direct communication channels, such as messenger apps and online chatbots, offer an opportunity for customers to engage with online travel agencies on a one-on-one basis.

Myth #2

Direct booking efforts will impede your property’s success

We disagree. OTAs will try to argue that providing cheaper prices, better discounts, or specifics for direct bookers will lose you money overall. They affirm this by saying you’ll sell fewer rooms on their platform and in turn, will plummet in their rankings. Typically, OTAs overinflate their importance and changes in ranking that comes with giving a customer a better deal by booking direct. In the end, the goal is to get more bookings, not gain rankings in their system.

Myth #3

I can’t offer a better price on my website

Questionable. Typically, OTAs focus on controlling your prices in the overall distribution while ignoring your direct channel. The fact is that your direct channel isn’t a huge threat to an OTA and therefore there isn’t much time spent monitoring or understanding what is going on in it. Most often OTA time and money are better spent monitoring other OTA sites. Hardly ever do OTAs automate price control within the direct channels and when they do it is typically because your direct sales have become a threat to their sales, or your hotel earns a lot of money for them.

Myth #4

OTAs invest a lot in my property

Not really. The fact is OTAs invest their money in helping searchers find properties by price and availability, but they don’t specifically market your property. They may mention your property in an ad but that is simply driven by someone searching your property’s name and the OTA using it in one of their online ads. This gives the appearance they are marketing your property but in reality, they are spending money marketing themselves.

Myth #5

Traditional travel agents are practically extinct and soon OTAs will follow the same path

On the contrary. Traditional travel agents have seen a recent revival all thanks to millennials and the younger generation of travelers. At the same time, OTAs are seeing astounding growth due to improvements in booking technology and digital trends.

One fact remains, OTAs will be part of our landscape for a long time. With the rise of international markets and the continued growth in the United States, OTAs are and will remain, a force to be reckoned with in the travel industry.

If you need further assistance in your OTA management process, be sure to reach out to the marketing team at rezStream at marketing@rezStream.com and see how we can market your property for you.