Travelers are discovering better deals when they book direct

Here is a great example of how the general public is catching onto the idea of getting the best deals when they book directly with accommodation providers.

Best hotel deal search gets tougher

…for this trip, booking.com missed out on the best deals on three of my stays:
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In all three cases, I had to go to the hotel or hotel-chain website to find these deals. This experience is an example of the struggle that's going on between the big online travel agencies (OTAs) and hotels for control of the online marketplace. It illustrates how the days of the easy, quick, one-stop hotel search are rapidly drawing to a close -- and how you have to change your search habits to make sure you get the best deals.
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Hotels are fighting back with incentives for you to book through their own channels, including limiting "free" Wi-Fi to travelers who book through their own sites, discounted packages and other promotions. They're also offering special deals to members of their loyalty programs. And neither metasearch sites nor OTAs pick up on these deals at all.

OTAs and metasearch sites won't show you the best deals. So what advice does he give to savvy travelers around the world?

…finding the best deal will be a multi-step process:

-- Start out with a metasearch website that specializes in hotels, such as Google's Hotelfinder, Kayak, TripAdvisor or Trivago. …This first search can give you a pretty good idea of what's available.

-- For any hotel that looks interesting, check with the hotel's own website. You will often see promotions and deals that the metasearch sites don't show...

-- When prices are equal, metasearch websites owned by OTAs seem to favor links to OTAs over hotel sites. But you are still more likely to find promotional packages on the hotel's website than through any search system.

-- Depending on where you plan to go, consider checking with a "flash sale" agency such as Jetsetter or Vacationist or a coupon agency such as Groupon for an even better deal.

-- If you're willing to gamble, check with Hotwire or Priceline for a possible opaque deal. But if you have special needs such as free Wi-Fi or onsite parking, the opaque OTAs can't guarantee anything that specific.

… In any event, once you've decided, book through whichever portal got you the best price.

I love it.

Articles like this are enormously helpful for educating the general public and changing booking behaviors. Mr. Perkins didn’t specifically say, “Book Direct and Save” but by spreading the idea that travelers can find better deals outside of the OTAs he has definitely supported our cause.

Of course, the advice in this article only works if the guest can get a better deal on your website than they can on an OTA. That should be an obvious policy for any accommodation provider who wants to be in control of his own business. But unfortunately it is still not standard practice for 100% of the industry.

Yet.

As more and more hostels adopt the practices of a) including OTA commissions, b) offering direct-only deals, c) packaging extra value add-ons into the direct booking price, or d) offering other incentives through their own channel, travelers will be increasingly rewarded for checking all of our direct websites before making any booking. This shift in behavior will help us all to regain control over our hostels.

The huge push for direct bookings is not limited to the hostel industry by any means. Hotels and airlines are also fighting against the OTAs for control of their pricing and distribution. It’s up to ALL of us in the travel industry to keep educating our guests on the best way to book.

Slowly but surely, it is working!