Our weekly online travel update for the week ending January 13, 2023 is below. This week’s update features an interesting update on current loyalty programs and future OTA ambitions, as well as recent (somewhat concerning) comments from Booking.com’s CFO regarding Booking’s ambitious plans. com for its payment platform. Enjoy
- OTA loyalty ambitions continue to evolve. PhocusFil presented an interesting story last week on the changing loyalty ambitions of major distribution platforms – Expedia, Booking.com, Hopper and Airbnb (interestingly, Agoda/Priceline, Trip.com or other large platforms have not succeeded). Highlights of the article include (1) Expedia’s upcoming rollout of its new combined loyalty program, One Key, which will reward members with initial immediate discounts as well as loyalty program accumulations that can be used for future bookings (including VRBO), (2) the planned cooperation between Booking.com’s existing loyalty program (Genius), its Rewards & Wallet program and its new payment platform to offer members both initial discounts (up to 20% now and possibly more in the future) and loyalty program buildups and (3) Hooper and Airbnb’s alternative approach to building brand loyalty via gamification (Hopper) and alternative service programs (Airbnb’s Aircover) without a traditional membership program.
- The future of the Booking.com payment platform? Recent comments by Booking Holdings CFO David Goulden, which were featured last week in Dennis Schaal’s weekly Online Travel Briefing for Skift, sent minor jolts through the hospitality industry. In his comments, Goulden blamed Booking.com’s slow growth (in the years before the pandemic) on its overreliance on the agency model (i.e. the collection from hotels). Now, with Booking.com rolling out its payment platform (and new merchant role), things may change at Booking.com. According to Gould, the payment platform will allow Booking.com to better market its products and services through various newly available “levers”. Specifically, regarding hotel rates, Gould noted that “we [Booking.com] we relied entirely on what we got from our real estate partners to give us a great rate, because that’s still primarily what we do, but we couldn’t participate in those more targeted pricing promotional activities, and now we can.” What should suppliers expect for 2023? Reduced fares ? Instant credits or discounts? With recent (favorable) changes and clarifications in EU competition law, Booking.com is well placed to take advantage of any or all of these opportunities.
Have a great week everyone.
Trip.com Group sees surge in mainland China travel bookings boosted by Lunar New Year demand
January 13, 2023 via Markets Insider
SINGAPORE Jan. 13, 2023 /PRNewswire/ — Trip.com Group, the world’s largest travel services provider, has seen travel demand in mainland China continue to surge ahead of the Lunar New Year holiday season. This comes after mainland China’s decision last month to officially abolish all quarantine restrictions…
Tracking the Loyalty Strategies of Online Travel Giants
January 12, 2023 via PhocusWire
Loyalty in travel has been an industry headache since the early days of the internet. With travel being an infrequent activity combined with consumers’ high price sensitivity, further amplified by OTAs’ self-inflicted evil of focusing their communications primarily on low prices, seemed like insurmountable hurdles for…
Fliggy adds tours and activities through Globaltix partnership
January 12, 2023 via PhocusWire
Fliggy, the online travel platform owned by Alibaba, has formed a partnership with tour and activity distribution specialist GlobalTix. The deal integrates GlobalTix’s marketplace of experiences, including attractions and tours across 40 countries into Fliggy. Through this partnership, Chinese travelers will be able to search and book tours and activities…
DER Touristik in advanced talks to take over rival FTI – Handelsblatt
January 12, 2023 via Reuters
BERLIN, Jan 12 (Reuters) – German tour operator DER Touristik, a subsidiary of retail group REWE, is in advanced talks to buy Munich rival FTI, the Handelsblatt daily reported on Thursday, citing people familiar with the matter. A precondition for the deal would be a massive reduction in FTI…
Booking Holdings’ business model was slowing things down before Covid
January 11, 2023 via Skift Travel News
Skift Take Payments, flights and short-term rentals are paying for Booking so far as part of its connected travel strategy. This is true even if there are doubts about travelers who want to book their entire trip on one platform. Dennis Schaal Dennis’ Online Travel Briefing Editor’s Note: Every Wednesday, Executive…
Comments are closed.