Online travel
agencies popularly known as OTA’s are a collection of businesses designed to
work both independently and collectively with hotels and travel related bodies to
ensure the improvement of the hotel and travel industry, as well as provide
amazing and affordable options for many travelers from all walks of life; with
different tastes and preferences. In the past, the marketing and sale of hotel
rooms used to be solely by the hotels themselves. Ocassionally, hotel marketing
was done via media platforms and offline.
However, in the wake
of ecommerce and online marketing, OTA’s have emerged as a major driving force
in the hospitality industry and are recognized as the way forward. Jovago examines ways that
OTA’s are beneficial to both hotels and travelers below.
-First of all, OTAs have all of the inventory under
one roof. This makes them the number one go-to place for any traveler.
OTA’s give options. With companies such as Jovago having an inventory of over
25,000 hotels in Africa, travelers now have the world of hotels literally
in their palms. With a wide array of options to choose from, you cannot
get it wrong with the choice of hotel when travelling. Price and facility
comparison is also something that OTA’s give you with just a few clicks.
-OTA’s also make search and reservation easier.
When booking directly from a hotel website, guests or travelers do not have
recommendations to book other hotels if the hotel they desire is fully booked
or rooms are
unavailable for particular days. However, with OTA’s, even if your preferred
hotel is unavailable, you are given many similar options to choose from. So
without having to stress over what to do next, you can just find a new hotel
and book right away.
-Massive deals and discount promos regularly.
Although many hotels give discounts off their room rates or come up with
packages sometimes, the weight of these discounts
cannot be compared with those of OTA’s. Many of the Travel Agencies give very
good discounts and offer amazing deals on special occasions, festivals and
events. Also, since there are several hotels listed on these OTA’s, it provides
for competition between these hotels in terms of who gives the least discount
and who gives the most. This is beneficial to the guest as a room that may be
more expensive on the hotel website may be far cheaper on the OTA.
-Search Engine Optimisation. Many OTA’s now pay
for SEO. Google ads and other SEM tools are now used to make them very visible
on webpages. Most of them want to be the topmost hotels on
any search which makes them go extra miles to spend huge sums on SEO and SEM.
Trackable links also give social media users and news readers direct access to
so many options.
-Customer Reviews. On hotel websites, we find reviews by customers that have utilized the
facility and services in the past. Before they book a room at a hotel, many
guests usually want to find out the experiences of others who have used the
hotel. On OTA’s, you find a regular update of hotel reviews from many different
hotels and this will inform you on the best choice to make based on other
people’s experiences.
-Increased sales and Productivity.
For relatively no cost, hotels who get listed on OTA’s get extra brand
awareness and marketing. They are assured of reaching new guests that the hotel
may not acquire on their own. OTA’s drive traffic to hotels and bring them
extra guests which increases profitability and productivity.
As a matter of fact, OTA’s have
inventories of more than 250,000 hotels around the world, which brings both
travelers and hotels to one place. If you haven’t used an OTA before, the time
is now. Do not stress yourself while you can simply contact an OTA and get things done.
Credit : Jovago
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