The purpose of this presentation is to present the major industry and consumer trends affecting the hotel industry, specifically with respect to the digital evolution and online booking.

1. Hotel Digital Marketing
Trends
Hamutal Schieber | October 2015

2. Introduction
• The purpose of this presentation is to present the major industry and
consumer trends affecting the hotel industry, specifically with respect
to the digital evolution and online booking.
• Main subjects that are covered on this presentation:
1. Consumer trends
2. Competitor strategies / Innovations
3. Industry Trends
4. Competitor Mapping – OTA / Booking, Hotels.

3. Competition Segments
Type of Competitor Examples
OTA (online travel agencies), Meta-Search -
leverage their search technology to aggregate
travel search results for the consumer's specific
itinerary across travel service provider (e.g.,
accommodations, rental car companies or airlines)
Expedia (inc. Hotels.com, Hotwire, Travelocity,
Venere, and others), Orbitz.com (which has
agreed to be acquired by Expedia), laterooms and
asiarooms, which are owned by Tui Travel,
Priceline etc.
TripAdvisor, Trivago (Expedia)
Direct Booking: travel service providers such as
accommodation providers, rental car companies
and airlines, many of which have their own
branded websites to which they drive business
Travel companies, inc. Hotels / Hotel Chains,
Airline companies such as - Carlson, Best
Western, Starwood, Accor etc. including joint
efforts by travel service providers such as Room
Key, an online hotel reservation service owned by
several major hotel companies
Vacation Rentals - focuses on vacation rental
properties, including individually owned properties
Airbnb, HomeAway
Online / e-commerce Google, Apple, Facebook, Alibaba, Amazon and
Groupon

4. Trend Mapping

5. What’s New in Digital Travel?
• The biggest trend in the hotel, accommodation and travel industry
for 2015 - 2016 is Consumer Centricity
• Competitors in are increasingly focusing on putting the consumer in
the center of their offering
• While new technology is enabling these changes, the main driver is
change in attitude:
Brand
Centricity
Consumer
Centricity

6. Consumer Centricity: Traveler’s Journey
According to the Think
with Google Path to
Purchase tool, consumers
use different tools, and
are affected by different
triggers, not only
according to their stage in
the Traveler Journey – but
also according to the size
of Hotel and the traveler’s
country.
Understanding the Path to Purchase and the triggers affecting each stage
Image: Schieber Research

7. Enabling Technologies
• Mobile is key in responding to consumers’ needs
throughout the entire travel journey.
• However, consumers’ mobile behavior differs from
online behavior - For example, accommodation
reservations made on a mobile device typically are for
shorter lengths of stay and are not made as far in
advance.

8. What are the Main Consumer Trends?
• To offer value to consumers, travel industry competitors must
understand what is driving consumers:
Personal Social
Value For
Money
Convenient
The travel consumers
are increasingly
searching for a
tailored, personal
experience
they rely on their
social network and
friends – as a result,
we are witnessing a
booming “sharing
economy”
they are looking for
the most convenient,
instant experience,
straight from their
mobile, seamlessly
moving between
channels
they are looking
for the best offer
that would
maximize the value
they are getting for
their money.

9. What are the Main Competitor Strategies?
• Competitors are increasingly responding to consumer needs via the
following strategies:
Personal Social
Value For
Money
Convenient
• Using big data for
personalization –
“Just for You”
• Social Log-in
• Special offers per
segment – including
content, commerce,
experience
• Competitors seek a
share of the Sharing
Economy with new
models
• Emphasizing
reviews to support
the consumer
decision process
• Focus on mobile
strategy: pre-stay,
on-stay, post-stay
apps and concierge
services
• Focus on location
based & connected
offers
• Competitors respond
with loyalty
programs
• cross-services that
enhance the
customer experience

10. Trend Map - Roundup
• Loyalty
• Entertainment
• Luxury
• New Price
Paradigms
• Mobile + omni-channel
• Instant
• Concierge
• Cross-services
• Self Service
• IoT & Wearables
• Reviews
• Sharing Economy
• Referrals
• Segmentation
• Customization
• Personalization
• Big Data
• Content
Personal Social
Value For
Money
Convenient
Circle: Main consumer trends, Rectangles: respective strategies

11. Integration along the Path to Purchase
• The Consumer-Centric approach drove many
competitors to offer “end-to-end experiences”, realizing
that the consumers don’t want “a hotel”, “a flight” or
“tickets”: they want a great experience.
• The most prominent instruments we have noticed for
creating such experience are:
– Content - ideas, inspiration, reviews which pertain to
the entire trip (including dining, tickets and even
social acquaintances)
– Mobile – self service, concierge apps, digital wallet
etc.

12. Integration along the Path to Purchase
We believe that offering consumers an outstanding
online experience is essential for our future
success.
To accomplish this, we focus on providing
consumers with a variety of intuitive, easy-to-use
online travel and restaurant reservation and
search services, a continually increasing number,
location and variety of accommodations available
through our services, informative and useful
content, such as pictures, accommodation details
and reviews, and excellent customer service.
Priceline / Booking.com, 2014 Company Report

13. Integration along the Path to Purchase
Source: 2014 Accor Hotel Group company report
Accor Hotel Group
focuses on
tailoring a solution
per each stage
throughout the
travel journey.

14. Trends & Innovations

15. Trend #1: Personalization
• Personalization = better
conversion. The more
relevant the content / offer to
the consumer, the more
he/she are likely to make a
purchase.
• Today, Personalization is
enabled by mobile, but it also
stems from the rise in “big
data” and the ability to
analyze the data, reaching
“micro segments”.
• Industry competitors are also
targeting consumer
segments, and this is
increasingly based on data
analysis.
Example: Holiday Inn, the hotel
chain, conducted a TNS study of
10,000 frequent travelers. Holiday Inn
identified 2,000 consumers who were
the most likely to spend more with
the company in the future. A
specialist data firm was able to
extrapolate information about these
shoppers outwards and identify
some 15 million potential
"lookalikes". Targeted media buying
then helped Holiday Inn engage
these consumers with minimal
wastage, driving up key brand
metrics.

16. Personalization | Marketing
• Most consumers consider the
web to be important for travel
research and planning – but the
web is also a fundamental
source of inspiration for new
travel.
• Our research shows that the main
tools used to inspire consumers
by booking competitors and hotel
brands, are Social Media and
email marketing.
TripWatch – Offers customized e-mail alerts on the
specific hotels, attractions and destinations requested
by the traveler, in the first personalized, time-sensitive
e-mail newsletter for trip planners.

17. Personalization | Special Offers
• Enabling Technology: Big data
• TripAdvisor’s Just For You personalization feature gives users personalized
recommendations based on friends’ reviews and ratings as well as
information collected about user preferences in selecting hotels.

18. Personalization | Content
• TripAdvisor uses content to drive traffic to its site.
• Since personalization is one of the key success factors in content strategy
(see the Carmelon & Schieber Research report on the subject), the
company manages and operates 24 other travel media brands, connected
by the common goal of providing users the most comprehensive planning
and booking resources in the travel industry.

19. Personalization | Content
http://cruisecritic.com - A TripAdvisor community of avid and first-time cruisers
who enjoy the fun of planning, researching and sharing their passion for cruising.
http://everytrail.com - Mobile application and website for collecting and sharing
geo-tagged user-generated travel content, such as walking tours, road trips,
sight-seeing tours.

20. Personalization | Content
http://familyvacationcritic.com - Reviews of family-friendly hotels, resorts,
destinations and attractions, written by experienced family travel experts. Leads
to TripAdvisor reviews and ordering.

21. Personalization | Segmentation
• “Luxury” Airbnb – “One Fine Stay” (UK): adaptation of the Airbnb
model, targeting a specific client segment.
http://www.onefinestay.com

22. Personalization | Segmentation
• Many competitors are
now offering different
tools for private /
business travelers,
recognizing the different
parameters affecting the
purchase decision.
• Booking.com for Business:
Selection of properties for
business travelers
• Airbnb business

23. Trend #2: Convenience
• The need for extra convenience is a mega-trend concerning any
industry
• This stems from lack of time on the one hand – and the consumers’
growing reliance on technology to make their life easier
• Common strategies include:
– Omni-Channel – creating a transparent channel switch via single
log-in (such as social identity log-in), “all in one place”
– Mobile – creating a multitude of service offers and actions which
can be performed easily and instantly via mobile, “wherever /
whenever”
– Cross-services – offering a complete leisure experience, “one stop
shop”
– Instant offers – concierge apps and services, immediate & location-
based offers (sometimes based on Internet of Things/ beacons)
Anxiety relief: research show that consumers’ pre-travel
experience is stressful, and companies try to make this
experience easier and more fun

24. Convenience | Cross-Services
• Enabling
Technology:
Online + Mobile
• Many competitors
have expanded into
online restaurant
reservation services:
Priceline’s
OpenTable,
TripAdvisor's
LaFourchette and
Yelp's SeatMe.

25. Convenience | Cross-Services
• TripAdvisor acquired Viator – a global leader in online tours and
attractions bookings. Viator has listings in more than 1,500
destinations and in 10 different languages, and this acquisition
allows users to find and book more things to do on their trip.

26. Convenience | Cross-Services
TripAdvisor Flights with Fees Estimator – Offers travelers the largest inventory
of flights with the best deals available and a first-of-its-kind fees estimator that helps
travelers understand the true cost of a flight in a single display.

27. Convenience | Instant
In 2014 TripAdvisor introduced “Instant Booking,” a new feature that enables
users to book directly on TripAdvisor. Users can move seamlessly from room
selection, to credit card entry, to booking confirmation, all without leaving the
TripAdvisor experience.

28. Convenience | Instant
• Booking Now is a last minute app from Booking.com.
• The app shows the best nearby properties with immediate availability in a
single page, personalized experience.
• Available for mobile and Apple watch.

29. Convenience | Instant
Pay with
Google
Wallet
Priceline.com and other OTAs now enable mobile wallet payment

30. Convenience | Service Innovation
• Enabling Technology: Mobile
• Mobile room keys are allowing guests to use their smartphones to
open room doors and pay via an app and this is increasingly
expanding to Apple Watch
Source: PwC
Since August 2014, ‘Botlers’
are already used by
Starwood at their Aloft Hotel
in Cupertino to fetch and
carry for guests.

31. Convenience | Service Innovation
Enabling Technology: Mobile
• Through the Hilton HHonors app, guests can plan their trip, reserve and choose
their room, order in-room items and check out.
• Digital Key enables frequent guests the option to bypass the hotel check-in
counter and access their rooms, as well as any other area of the hotel that
requires a key, directly via the Hilton HHonors app. Hilton Digital Key is currently
available at 17 property hotels.
“A new era of digital-driven
hospitality where the
smartphone becomes the
"remote control" for
consumers' entire travel
experience.”
the HHonors App has already
been downloaded more than
584,000 times, according to
the company (Oct. 2015)

32. Convenience | Service Innovation
IHG Mobile Room Key
Technology:
gives guests the
opportunity to bypass the
front desk when checking
into their room.
IHG Guest Request:
A service which allows guests to
make a request instantly through
the IHG® App.
iBeacon technology: Beacons placed in the lobbies and restaurants of our
hotels recognize IHG Rewards Club members using the IHG App in close
proximity. They then send information to the guest’s smartphone, including
personalized notifications and offers relevant to their stay. The pilot is being
implemented in a selection of hotels in China.
IHG Mobile Solutions – Examples:

33. Convenience | Service Innovation
The Intercontinental (IHG) mobile app caters to the travelers’ different
needs across their journey

34. Convenience | Self Service
• According to
Hospitality Industry
Self Service Tech
Trends study,
check-in / check-
out & room
selection
applications lead
the way for hotel
self-service kiosks.

35. Convenience | Multi-Channel
• While digital channels aim to offer extra convenience, consumer centricity
suggests looking at additional, brick and mortar channels.
• Airbnb has partnered with STA Travel to make its rooms available to book
through STA both online and through an in-store referral program in the UK.

36. Convenience | Omni-Channel
Accor “Mobile First” initiative features a single mobile app
incorporating all of Accor's services before, during and after the
stay, and will act as the customer's primary point of contact with
both the property and the chain.
The "Seamless Journey" initiative takes this idea a step
further by enhancing customer convenience, for example with
electronic payment, one-click booking, and online check-in.
Lastly our "Customer Centric" initiative focuses on leveraging
customer data to ensure highly personalized service and
follow-up, as well as centralizing feedback into a single platform
called "Voice of the Guests".
Vivek Badrinath, Accor’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer in
charge of marketing, digital solutions, distribution, and
information systems (Hospitality Net, Dec. 2014)
Enabling Technology: Mobile

37. Convenience | Omni-Channel
• Creating a single log-in for a transparent experience

38. Convenience | Omni-Channel
• According to Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, “a user who’s doing a flight
search will be doing over 40 flight searches before booking a flight and we
are seeing users shop across multiple devices.”
Enabling Technology: Social
To facilitate this process, Expedia
developed ScratchPad to track a
logged-in user’s searches regardless
of device, so users can continue
their search activity seamlessly even
if they switch devices partway
through the process. Once the user
indicates a destination preference,
Expedia pushes relevant content
including daily price changes and
relevant offers.
Source: e3 Whitepaper, 2015, Expedia

39. Convenience | Omni-Channel
• Enabling Technology: Virtual
Reality
• Marriott has used Virtual Reality
campaign via Oculus Rift in
booths.

40. Convenience | Omni-Channel
• Airbnb offers tools on mobile & Apple Watch for travelers – as well as for hosts.
Similarly, HomeAway offers innovative tools for hosts, recognizing that
apartment sharing success depends on the quality and variety of rentals.

41. Trend #3: Social
• The rise in social networks has created a new sharing economy,
where people are interested in, and in buying from, other people
whom they don’t necessarily know.
• Consumer also trust other consumers’ opinions, more than they trust
brands.
• Finally, using social media is an effective way to drive word of mouth
and referrals.
• Therefore, competitors increasingly turn to incorporate social media
in their tactics, whether by managing platforms or by incorporating
the reviews into the site (so that the consumer will not look
elsewhere).

42. Social | Reviews
• Hotel reviews are tremendously important when it comes to choosing
a hotel.
• According to TrustYou (“The Effect of Reviews on Hotel Conversion
Rates and Pricing”), Travelers are 3.9 times more likely to choose
a hotel with higher review scores when the prices are the same
• When hotel prices are increased for hotels with better review scores,
travelers are more likely to book the hotel with the higher score even
when it costs more
• 76% of travelers were willing to pay more for a hotel with higher
review scores, when asked explicitly.
• A 2013 PhoCusWright poll, conducted on behalf of TripAdvisor, found
that more than half of consumers do not make a booking decision
without reading reviews from others (source: Skyft, 2015)

43. Social | Reviews
Online reputation management
provider TrustYou published a new
research in conjunction with the school
of hospitality management
at Pennsylvania State University,
revealing the attributes at the heart of
decision making by leisure and
business travelers.
Cleanliness is apparently the most
important factor when choosing a hotel
for leisure.

44. Social | Meta-Reviews
• Innovative tools offer companies to monitor
reviews from all over the web, while
providing meta-data which analyzes
authentic reviews, for the end-user.
• According to TrustYou, “Meta-Reviews are a
trusted summary of relevant reviews
worldwide, showing the most talked about
and most relevant attributes of a particular
hotel, along with some special, important-to-
know ‘nuggets’ of information that are
unique to the particular hotel.”
TrustYou offers a structured review
data API that allows travelers to make
“the best possible informed decisions
based on a summary of all verified
reviews across the web”.

45. Social | Embracing Reviews
• Hotels today embrace customer reviews, recognizing
their importance to the customers, and thus enabling the
customer to complete its journey without leaving the site.
• Marriott displays “Marriott
Verified Reviews”, ratings
and reviews from
confirmed “stayed and
paid” guests for a hotel as
long as there are a
minimum of five reviews.

46. Social | Sharing Economy
• Airbnb had changed the
accommodation industry, and is a
symbol of the “sharing economy”
– peer to peer accommodation.
• The company reports 353X
growth in summer travel, in 5
years.
• The company’s main marketing
assets are: content (including
photos, videos and stories) on its
website and social media, and a
referral program.
• Business-wise, the company has
expanded its reach beyond
accommodation providing end-
to-end experiences for travelers
(source).

47. Social | Sharing Economy
• According to a report by car-sharing service Zipcar, 47%
of UK consumers rent or share goods / services.
LobbyFriend, an app
that for the length of a
hotel stay will enable
users to to get
information on events
near and at the property,
as well as send
messages to other
guests.

48. Social | Sharing Economy
• Booking.com
increasingly
provides reservation
services for
accommodations
other than hotels.
• TripAdvisor ended
the year with more
than 650,000
vacation rental
listings, driven by its
free-to-list business.

49. Social | Site Integration
• More and more websites offer a personalized
experience to users who are logged-in
through their Facebook or other Social media
profile.
• Tripadvisor had spent a fair amount with Facebook
to promote the “Cities I’ve Visited” application and
get Facebook-connected users because that fuels
its personalization effort and the “Wisdom of
Friends” initiative, so that if you’re signed in through
Facebook, you get a lot better experience on
TripAdvisor “and that proved its worth in terms of
better engagement, better monetization, and just a
better, more sticky experience for that Facebook
connected user.”

50. Social | Video Content
• YouTube data shows that travelers are spending more time watching online
videos than ever before, with views of travel-related content up 118% year
over year (YoY). According to the data, travelers are increasingly using
mobile devices to consume travel-related videos anytime and anywhere; in
2013, mobile devices accounted for roughly 30% of all travel video views,
with mobile viewing up 97% on smartphones and 205% on tablets, YoY.
• Youtube searches are dominated by destination name search – unlike travel
brands on Google. That might suggest, in our opinion, that video content
provides more of an inspiration to consumers; or, it is triggered earlier in the
path to purchase.
Top 1,000 Travel Queries
Source: Google Data, March 2013–
€“March 2014, Search Query
Volume, United States.

51. Trend #4: Better Value for Money
• “Loyalty” is not a consumer centric term. It is the company’s interest
to achieve loyalty.
• In order to achieve loyalty, the company must go back to the
parameters that drive consumer decisions – and offer an added
value for at least some of them:
– Better value for money – additional night for free, free upgrades
etc.
– Personal, outstanding service – self service, concierge,
personalized perks, customized offers etc.
– Convenience throughout the travel lifecycle – order, check-in via
app, ordering via mobile, etc.

52. VFM | New Price Paradigm
• HotelTonight, an app
launched in 2011, today
has 11 million users in
almost 30 countries. The
app helps cover for
hotel vacancies – while
saving consumers
money.
• same-day bookings – this activity equates to roughly 15% of all hotel
reservations, and was originally the app's sole focus, with fresh deals unveiled
every day and running until 2am;
• "rate-drop" reservations – announced in early 2015, this feature lets hotels
reduce prices for same-day stays from 3pm onwards;
• "bonus rates" – introduced recently, this tool means rooms can now be
secured up to seven days in advance, when an estimated 50% of industry-
wide reservations are made.

53. VFM | New Price Paradigm
• Low-cost airline transavia.com teamed up with eBay France to create
Byebye: the first object-flight converter.
• A tool hosted for two weeks on Ebay's homepage that allowed people to
select a departing city and destination. Get a suggestion of what they could
sell to get there. Sell and transform their old objects into tickets to go on
holiday, using Paypal.
• Reportedly, the converter generated an unprecedented attention:
– Media impressions: 330 million (only 76 million paid)
– Clicks: 217 652
– Google request: +54%
– Visit/converter: 126 593
– Visit/website (vs week before) : +45%
– Booking (vs 2013) : +45%

54. VFM | “Opaque” Pricing
• In the “opaque" model, certain elements of the service, including the
identity of the travel service provider, are not disclosed to the
consumer prior to making a reservation.
• Priceline.com is a leader in the "opaque" travel reservation
business through its pioneering Name Your Own Price and Express
Deals hotel, rental car and airline reservation services.
• "Name Your Own Price," which collects consumer demand (in the
form of individual customer offers guaranteed by a credit card) for a
particular product or service at a price set by the customer.

55. VFM | “Opaque” Pricing
• Expedia makes opaque accommodation room reservations available on its
principal website under the name "Expedia Unpublished Rates"

56. VFM | New Loyalty Programs
To drive direct booking, hoteliers are
upping their loyalty game. Recently,
Marriott announced a new Fab Four
program with 4 elements:
1. Points Advance will allow Marriott
and Ritz-Carlton Rewards members
to book stays before they have
enough points to fully cover them.
2. Points Sharing will allow sharing up
to 50,000 points a year with friends
and family members.
3. Redemption Stay Credits will grant
customers Elite night credit for nights
they pay for with points.
4. Cash + Points will give Rewards
members the flexibility to use a mix
of cash and points to cover single or
multi-night redemption stays.

57. VFM | New Loyalty Programs
• Enabling Technology: Mobile
• Starwood has integrated
Apple's Passbook – a system
for storing boarding passes,
flights tickets, loyalty cards and
similar offerings – on the
iPhone, and has reported to
have a million users already.
The tool dynamically adapts
when users are booked into
the firm's hotels, depending on
their exact need at the time:
• Pre-stay: photos, hotel address, confirmation number
• Upon arrival: notification upon check-in with the room number
• Upon departure: survey.

58. VFM | Loyalty Perks
• Members of the Marriott Rewards loyalty program are now able to
request a range of services or amenities from their smartphones via
“Mobile Request”.
Matthew Carroll, vice president of Marriott Hotels
“Some 75% of people travel with one or
more mobile devices and the
percentage is higher for younger
travelers. We know today’s travellers
want a mobile experience built around
their changing needs and desire to
communicate on their terms. Mobile
Request is the brand’s next evolution
since our introduction of mobile check-
in, checkout and room ready alerts
worldwide.”

59. VFM | Useful Content
IHG Translator
• Over 50 phrases in 12
languages, including slang
(2,000 phrases available
on paid version)
• A voice-to-voice translator
with access to 10
translations
• A 10,000 word offline
dictionary
• Live Translator for 180
languages (for a fee)
• IHG Rewards Club
discounts
• 50% discount for premium
content to Club and Gold
Elite
• Complimentary access to
all Platinum, Spire and
Ambassador members

60. VFM | Useful Content
• Enabling technology: Mobile
• Guests booking with IHG in one of more than 50 key destinations across the
globe will be able to use Stay.com to research and plan their travel, and
create personalised travel guides to share with friends. The guides can be
downloaded to Stay.com's mobile App, for use both on and offline. They
include access to tips, insights and recommendations from hundreds of
local influencers around the world.

61. VFM | Crowdsourcing
• Marriott Hotels created a co-
creation platform, under the
name “Travel Brilliantly”, in
collaboration with content
platforms such as Fast
Company, Mashable and
Wired.
• The company invested in
high-quality content by
professional writers, without
emphasizing the brand.
• http://travel-
brilliantly.marriott.com/

62. VFM | Best Price Guarantee
• Best Price
Guarantees are
common on OTA and
Meta-Search engines;
but they are now also
penetrating the direct
sales channel (by
hotels).
• Agoda’s Best Price
Guarantee - If you
have reserved a hotel
room through Agoda
and show that you
could book the same
room for the same
dates at a lower rate,
Agoda will either
match that rate or
beat it.

63. VFM | Referrals & Loyalty
• Orbitz: Refer a friend -
When friends join,
they'll get a $25 promo
code for their first hotel
stay.
• You'll get $25 in
Orbucks once they
complete their first
hotel stay of $50 or
more.

64. Industry Trends

65. Metasearch / OTAs
• TOP GLOBAL ONLINE TRAVEL
AGENCIES BY VALUE SALES: 2013-2014
• A metasearch display is an interface
that shows hotel or flight availability
and pricing information from multiple
sources, without requiring the user to
visit another website.
• Travel metasearch engines and
online travel agencies (OTAs) are
becoming more popular, as travel
consumers seek out one-stop shops
to compare different brands,
products, packages and prices early
in the purchase funnel.
• To compete with the growing success
of booking sites, OTAs created or
bought back many of the currently
existing booking sites.
Source: Euromonitor, 2015

66. OTAs Vs. Hotels
• The relationship between the OTAs and hotel operators
has been the subject of wide debate in the industry.
• OTAs have aggressively focused on hotels to provide a
higher share of their revenues as the commission from
selling flights has declined, and they have tried to
attract consumers by reducing the cost of booking as
much as possible.
• However, industry regulation (including self-regulation)
has leveled the playground for hotels, and they are now
free to offer best price guarantees via their websites.
• In addition, hotels are imitating OTAs and are offering
more cross-services, such as car rentals and airline
tickets.
Source: Schieber Research, Deloitte, Google Trends

67. OTAs Vs. Hotels
Independent hotels are much more impacted by OTAs than are Chain
Hotels. While Chain Hotels have a balanced percentage of reservations
made from OTAs and their website, the reservations for Independent Hotels
through OTAs are higher than the ones made through their website.

68. OTAs Vs. Hotels
• In Sep. 2015, Google announced some changes to how it markets and
distributes hotel inventory, making it easier for hotels to list their properties
directly on its site — and to collect leads seamlessly on mobile devices —
while skipping middlemen like online travel agencies (OTAs) and other
metasearch sites.
http://www.google.com/ads/hotels/getstarted/index.html

69. Hotel Strategies
• Analysts expect to see the development of a more collaborative
approach: hospitality companies can take advantage of large OTA
investments in technology and marketing to achieve common
benefits for both.
• Roomkey.com is a direct booking
hotel search engine – an initiative of
global hotel chains in response to the
increasingly stronger role of electronic
distributers.
• Roomkey.com was founded by large
hotel companies (Choice Hotels
International, Hilton Worldwide, Hyatt
Hotels Corporation, InterContinental
Hotels Group, Marriott International,
Wyndham Hotel and Best Western
International) with the aim of cutting
down distribution costs and as a
counter to Google. On this Website,
travelers can search for, book and
compare hotel room prices of leading
hotel brands.

70. OTAs Vs. Hotels | Case Study: Accor
• The foundation of Accor's distribution is TARS (The Accor Reservation
System), which drove 59% of total sales in 2014.
• In terms of pure web distribution, over 35% of sales were made online
during 2014, and Accor plans to increase this to over 50% in the medium
term, mostly due to its investment in its own state of the art tools, in
particular the multi-brand portal Accorhotels.com.
• Currently this is already available in 32 local versions and 16 languages (18
planned by 2015), in effect localizing the experience in every market in
which it operates, resulting in an average of 45,000 reservations per day.
Accor has incorporated a new trip
planning service, “My Trip Planner”,
that enables customers to prepare
their stays in 70 destinations around
the world, enriching the preparation
step of the customer journey

71. OTAs Vs. Hotels | Case Study: Accor
• “Inspire me”: the
company aims to
deliver the same
level of valuable
information as
OTAs

72. OTAs Vs. Hotels | Case Study: Accor
• Prepare for your trip:
Destination guides, Car
rental, Booking activities,
Magazine.

73. Thank You
The research was conducted by:
Hamutal Schieber
Schieber Research | Market Research & Competitive Intelligence
www.researchci.com | hamutal@researchci.com
Executive Summary. For the full research - please contact
Carmelon Digital Marketing
http://www.carmelon-digital.com