THE wrangle between hotels
and online travel agencies
(OTAs) can only intensify as
hotels step up their drive
for direct bookings.
Understandably so,
said Velly Bosega, ceo
of Adclick Africa, as OTA
commissions are hurting
hotel revenues worldwide.
He was at the recent Direct
Booking Indaba in Cape
Town.
Velly said about 76%
of hotel bookings were
done through OTAs, which
charged anything between
15% and 25% commission
per booking.
According to Velly, the
prevailing assumption
among travellers is that
they can get the best hotel
deals if they make their
booking with an OTA.
“Research shows that
some 52% of travellers,
from their interaction
with an OTA, still visit the
website of the hotel they
are interested in. They want
to see what it looks like, if
the hotel exists, what the
facilities are, but instead
of then booking direct, they
revert to the OTA.”
“More and more hotels
are realising that there
is a major opportunity in
keeping that 52% of traffic
they are already pulling.”
He said for hotels to entice
travellers to book directly,
streamlining of websites to
offer a more user-friendly
service would be essential.
He said many of the major
hotel chains had realised
the value of direct booking
and several had been on
drives to increase direct
bookings. He said the
relationship with the guest
was probably the biggest
driver.
