Online Travel Agents - Main Players

 

There are hundreds of Online Travel Agencies (OTA’s) and Travel Aggregators (TA’s) operating today, but most reservations come through a handful that are 100% owned by American companies. Do you know which ones? I do, because I’ve tried so many over the last seven years it would make your head spin, but I won’t name them all here for expediency.

 

Suffice it to say that half a dozen companies and their associate brands are responsible for the majority of property reservations in Europe, North America, South America, Africa, Australia, and Asia. I don’t discuss China in this report which is dominated by one Chinese operator, Ctrip now known as Trip, because it is outside of my experience and expertise to date. But FYI, Booking.com has invested heavily during the last couple of rounds of financing for Trip. 

 

Primary Online Travel Agents and Aggregators

 

1. Booking  -  https://www.booking.com

2. Airbnb  -  https://www.airbnb.com

3. Expedia  -  https://www.expedia.com

4. Tripadvisor  -  https://www.tripadvisor.com 

5. Google Business  -  https://www.google.com/intl/en/business/

6. Hostelworld  -  https://www.hostelworld.com

7. Proprietary Websites eg.  -  https://www.escapetothetropics.com

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Each one of these OTA’s and/or Aggregators has different strengths and weaknesses, so it makes sense to have a presence on all or at least the majority of them to diversify revenue streams. However, which ones you ultimately use will depend on your type of property, operations, and business objectives.

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