E Business OTAs and Portals

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Hotel reviews, their influence and their limits

Last week, I was raising the question of the internet social media and their impact on hotels popularity. This week's article was written by Daniel Edward Craig in 2005, and similarly addresses the topic of the use of the internet by hotel customers and how it affects these establishments. Although the tone of the article is light, the topic remains an important one. Who has never had a look at hotel review websites in order to make a booking decision? Probably very few of us. Review websites such as Tripadvisor are powerful tools to support hotels' popularity but also to damage their image. D.E. Craig recounts how he found an anonymous and quite insulting review about himself - he is the general manager of a Canadian hotel, on one of those websites. The comment was very personal and gave no useful information to the future travellers, yet the review website refused to erase it. Is it common then to find such unhelpful comments? The answer is yes and the author of the article gives us his own classification of such websites' users. From the "uncle Bob" user to the "forensic examiner" we find out about numerous profiles, which I would qualify as parasite commentors. I actually agree with these profiles because anyone comes across them at some point. The question now is, what can hoteliers do to control these frequently unjustified comments?

Analysis of reverse auction websites

Here is an analysis of reverse auction websites. It describes how they were created and how they work in general. Then an example of a reverse travel auction is shown using Hotwire.
Analysis Of Reverse Auction Websites

Characteristics of an OTA

-Customer reach:
International customers (links to different websites depending on the languages, ex. Opodo)
Cheap deals
senior packages
family packages
couple's packages : honeymoons ...

-Customer communication methods:
international phone numbers
email
keep in touch with customers via reference numbers
frequently asked questions


-Types of product sold:
accommodation
car rental
all inclusive packages
transport : filghts, train,
cruises
last minute deals
sightseeing and tours on-site
insurance
reward programs
personnalised packages

-Special promotions capabilities:
last minute packages
seasonal packages (christmas, ski, easter ...)
special occasions (valentine's day, bank holiday, new year's eve ..)

-Online booking conditions and fees:
personal details at the moment of the booking
credit card details: credit card fees for certain credit cards
special request concerning the family holidays
insurance required for most OTAs
extra options : sightseeing, theatre tickets, car rental, airport transfers
have to agree with terms and conditions
file set-up fees
cancellation policy

-Affiliate programs
YES for most OTAs

-Affiliate program payment structure
possibility to join most OTA's affiliate programs
payment structure: a percentage of the sale (depending on the type of sale: flights, travel insurance ...)
conditions to be an affiliate: be a website that relays advertisment for the OTA and cannot be a hotel part of the OTA's offered packages

-Info for hoteliers
possibility for the hotel to create a partnership with the OTA
video presenting the benefits of being a partner with an OTA (expedia)

Sophia Rospars and I worked on this