THE skies have not been friendly to online travel agencies (OTAs) in recent years, but OTAs are countering online market share lost to airlines with a strategic move of their own. OTAs have aggressively pursued the higher-margin hotel segment, and those efforts are paying dividends.
According to an upcoming report from travel industry research authority Phocuswright, OTA hotel bookings are projected to grow 15 per cent in 2014, outpacing hotel website gains for the third consecutive year. OTAs’ share of the online hotel market will increase to 48 per cent, up from 46 per cent in 2012.“OTAs have leveraged the return of deal-hungry, mid-market hotel shoppers to reverse the recent shift in favour of suppliers and replace revenue lost to airline-direct bookings,” says Phocuswright research analyst Maggie Rauch. “A strong hotel market, paired with improving air sales and an early advantage in capturing mobile travel bookings, is boosting the outlook for intermediaries.” Hotel and lodging will comprise a growing share of OTA revenues, increasing from 44 per cent of US domestic OTA gross bookings in 2012 to 51 per cent in 2016. OTA hotel bookings via the mobile channel – a key driver of overall mobile bookings growth – will contribute to those gains. In 2014, mobile will account for nearly one quarter of OTA hotel bookings, compared to 11 per cent of hotel website bookings. Link to the OTA figures in 2014: