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External Agencies and OTAs
Online agencies, such as Expedia and Booking.com can also provide data
We have this amazing platform that’s called Expedia partner central and we use that on a day to day basis, to talk to hotels about their product and and the kind of customers that they are getting. But also about the overall markets. So it gives them really great competitor insights. It has some fantastic revenue management tools, including a tool called forever plus and that really gives them a great insight into, what the market is doing at that moment. It includes things around, kind of costing and pricing in the market. Right through to what kind of customers their competitors are getting and if they’re missing out on any of those those customers. So are they missing out on U.S.
guests, whereas their competitors are getting a lot of those guests. Through to when they’re getting the most traffic, what they’re booking window is. So it’s really data is embedded in absolutely everything we do and is the basis for all of our conversations, with with partners. So tourism businesses can interface with Expedia in a number of ways. It depends what kind of tourism business that you have. But for example if you are an accommodation provider, you can use us as one of your booking platforms. That is a very seamless process, particularly if you have a channel manager, that sits behind your business and that can feed out your rates and your availability as well.
It’s essentially you know, we’re there to support you in that. We can help you get set up in that and then there’s a lot of data information. You get your own log in to Expedia partner central, which offers you loads of data insights and and support tools to help you grow your business how you want and to focus your business on how you want. So a lot of businesses that we work with may want to use their, online travel agents to target certain segments in the market. So they may get really great direct bookings from from domestic travellers, but they may want to get more from the international travellers.
Using an online travel agent can be a great way to do that and we can provide them with data to support them to do that and also to get the most out of those travellers. Expedia’s data is a great way to understand your business a little bit more. Through those kind of insights that you can gather, from the data that we provide you, it allows you to better promote your business, whatever your business may be. So it gives you a really great understanding of what kind of visitors you’re getting already? What kind of year? What kind of time of year they’re coming? Where they’re coming from? What platforms they’re booking on? All of that sort of information.
So it gives you a really great basis, to build an understanding of your business on. It also gives you a great insight into what your competition are doing and I think that allows you to focus a lot more on, on maybe where you’re missing out and where you could get a lot more business and if there are any things that maybe you should be doing, that you’re not and all of Expedia’s kind of data will will support you in doing that. So I think that’s that’s a great kind of basis. There’s then a load of different tools that you can use to better promote your business.
So there’s traditional promotional tools, where you can kind of load a deal for customers and those can be designed in many, many different ways and essentially as to however your business wants them to be designed. Expedia data is a great way to increase your productivity and and efficiency as a tourism provider.
On lots of sides to be honest, it simplifies your booking process and allows your customers to be delivered to your door, with with minimal kind of work on your side, which is great, So it simplifies that for you and frees up your time, where you would be spent marketing, or dealing with people on the phone and that sort of thing and just allows that booking process to be seamless for you. Additionally the data that’s provided, about your customers, allows you to be a lot more targeted in what you do and therefore increase your productivity and efficiency. So it I guess prioritises, what is important for your business?
Allows you to focus on that and then you know you can, you can act on that in a swift way, rather than having to spend a lot of time looking for the information, that is delivered for you automatically through Expedia. So you got really keen market trends and that sort of information, that otherwise you would spend hours looking for. So it really, really saves a lot of time for people.
Even though you make more profit per transaction from direct bookings rather than third-party distributors, collaborating with online travel agencies (OTAs) can be beneficial for small businesses. Through their extensive online presence and audience reach they can drive your sales volume.
OTAs can provide you with massive exposure at relatively low cost, allow for comparison and use good reviews to promote your product or service further.
In this video you will hear from Expedia on how they as an external agency can support your business through the data they feed back to you on their platforms. Their customisable tools and insights on the market, your competitors but also things such as your traffic flow and booking windows can provide you with opportunities on how to better promote and grow your business.
This article is from the online course:
Understanding Data in the Tourism Industry
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