The document discusses the hotel shopping dilemma from consumer, agency, and distribution perspectives. It summarizes research showing that consumers get initial travel ideas from family and friends or traditional media. They then turn to the internet for advice and reviews before comparing prices on OTAs and supplier websites. The document outlines pain points for consumers like an overwhelming number of choices and lack of transparency in fees. It also discusses challenges for travel agencies and TMCs in negotiating rates and challenges for the hotel industry around fragmentation in distribution. Finally, it proposes that GDSs can help solve these issues by providing a one-stop shop for comparison, shopping, booking and commissions across supplier sources.

1. Tackling the hotel shopping
dilemma
Consumer, agency and distribution perspectives
November 29, 2011

2. Kevin May,
Tnooz editor / moderator

3. Poll no. 1

4. Nina Willdorf
Editor-at-Large, Budget Travel

5. Consumer Booking Behavior: An Overview
Stage 1: Ideas and Inspiration
Where does the original
idea come from? Categories of Traditional Media
49%
48%
48% 52%
46%
Family & Friends
Traditional Media
43%
SOURCE: Ypartnership/Harrison Group’s 2011 Portrait of the American Traveler

6. Consumer Booking Behavior: An Overview
Stage 2: Advice and Insight
Once the seed is planted, where do
consumers turn next?
54%
44%
38% 38% 37%
SOURCE: Ypartnership/Harrison Group’s 2011 Portrait of the American Traveler

7. Consumer Booking Behavior: An Overview
Stage 3: Pricing and Comparing
Now that it’s time to compare
pricing, where to?
56%
51%
OTAs Supplier Websites
SOURCE: Ypartnership/Harrison Group’s 2011 Portrait of the American Traveler

8. Consumer Booking Behavior: An Overview
Stage 4: Purchasing
Who gets those coveted booking
dollars?
41% 38%
18% 17%
OTAs Supplier Multi-brand Destination
Websites Websites Websites
SOURCE: Ypartnership/Harrison Group’s 2011 Portrait of the American Traveler

9. CONSUMER PAIN POINT #1
“There are far too many choices when it
comes time to look for information.”
• The Rise of the Smart Shopper
• Over 77% attribute a new sense of travel savvy to the current
economic situation. But still, the number of choices overwhelms.
SOURCE: Ypartnership/Harrison Group’s 2011 Portrait of the American Traveler

10. CONSUMER PAIN POINT #2
“I don’t always trust the information I
find online.”
 Reduced Shopping Time
 Increased Online Complexity
 2008: 23% agreed with statement “if I could find a good offline
travel agent to work with I would.
 2010: 28% agreed with statement.
SOURCE: Forrester Research: Technographics Travel Online Study

11. CONSUMER PAIN POINT #3
“It takes hours to find good information and
recommendations.”
• Time Spend Is Ballooning—thanks to more content
No. of Published Reviews and Opinions on TripAdvisor, the #1
source for user-generated reviews
50,000,000
25,000,000
1,000,000 10,000,000
June '05 June '07 July '09 July '11
SOURCE: Hotelmarketing.com, July 2011

12. CONSUMER PAIN POINT #4
“I can’t effectively comparison shop because
there’s no transparency when it comes to
fees/pricing structure.”
• Explosion of Fees. Hotels are likely to pocket a record US$1.8 billion—
up 80% from 2001.
• Increased Need for Comparison Shopping.
SOURCES: Bjorn Hansen, divisional dean of the Preston Robert Tisch Center for Hospitality, Tourism and Sports Management
at New York University; Ypartnership/Harrison Group’s 2011 Portrait of the American Traveler

13. HAPPY HOTEL HUNTING
Hopes and Dreams
What can companies/agents do to help consumers?
Follow the following two steps:
#1: Facilitate Easy Comparison Shopping: Create the ability to compare
hotels on a number of levels from a single site
#2: Add Lifestyle Issues Into Search: Create the ability to search by
budget, best times to travel, purpose of travel

14. Poll no. 2

15. Challenges Facing Travel Agency
and TMC
Don Buynack
President, OptionsTravel

16. Challenges Facing Travel Agency
and TMC
Rate Loading Process …
1) Analyzing client needs
2) Negotiating corporate rates with specific hotels
3) Hotels load agreed upon corporate rate
4) Travel Agency validates the rate is loaded and
correct
5) Rate is then loaded in GDS BAR, online booking
tools and master hotel database
6) Rate is now available to travelers

17. Challenges Facing Travel Agency
and TMC
Issues …
1) Corporate clients that need direct bill
2) Hotels are unfamiliar with loading rates in GDS
3) Benchmarking/Analytics for savings
4) Time dilemma
5) Lack of hotel communication
6) Renewing/Renegotiating annual hotel rates
7) Hotels wanting to deal directly with client

18. Challenges Facing Travel Agency
and TMC
Donald J. Buynack
President
Options Travel
800-544-8785
dbuynack@optionstravel.com

19. Poll no. 3

20. The Hotel Shopping Dilemma
- a “distribution” perspective
Niklas Andréen
Group Vice President Global Hospitality and
Partner Marketing
Produced by Market Strategy and Pricing, CMO

21. Hotel Distribution
Leisure Agency GDS
Switch
Mobile Corporate
Agency
Search /
OTA Aggregators PMS
Metasearch
Consumer Supplier
Social Tour Operator
Networks (Phone, Retail, Wholesalers
IBE) CRS
Revenue &
Affiliate / Channel
Brand / Repco
Review Sites Management Sales &
(Call Centre, Repco
Conference
IBE)
Hotel Direct
(IBE, Phone,
Fax)
Rich Media /
Content
21 Tnooz 29 November 2011

22. The hotel industry
Source: Euromonitor, May 2011. Refers to 52 selected countries
22 Tnooz 29 November 2011

23. Hotel booking channels - by Agent type
100% 4% 8% 9% Other
18%
19%
19% 18%
3% 12% Direct with Hotel
6% 5%
18% 5% (phone, fax, email,
web)
32%
Consumer OTA
32%
(e.g. Expedia)
52%
Hotel Wholesaler
57% (e.g. GTA)
36% 36%
GDS
13%
0%
Corporate Mixed Leisure Total
Source: Travelport Hotel Subscriber Survey
23 Tnooz 29 November 2011

24. Challenge 1 – Fragmentation
24 Tnooz 29 November 2011

25. Challenge 2 – How do customers search?
What is important?
• Speed
• Accuracy
• Availability
• Choice
• Lowest Fare
• Relevance (fuzzy search)
• Simplicity (semantic search)
• Inspiration
25 Tnooz 29 November 2011

26. Challenge 3 – What are customers really wanting to buy?
Room only?
Breakfast ?
Wifi?
Transfer?
Spa?
Printing?
Lounge?
Sightseeing?
Preferred check-in?
Gym access?
Customers want comparability
Suppliers want differentiation
Source: Travelport Industry Analysis
26 Tnooz 29 November 2011

27. Challenge 4 – How do we TRUST?
• More than just privacy and security
• “Look and feel” affects trust
• Process affects trust
• Trust is a process
• Individuals and products differ in trust
• Different parts of the booking chain defines trust differently
27 Tnooz 29 November 2011

28. The GDS role in solving the Hotel Shopping Dilemma
Brings travel agents content from
multiple sources through a
powerful, one-stop, shopping and
booking portal
• Single log-in/participation
• Multi Source content
• Comparison shopping
• One purchase process
• Guaranteed commission
28 Tnooz 29 November 2011

29. The GDS role in solving the Hotel Shopping Dilemma
29 Tnooz 29 November 2011

30. The GDS role in solving the Hotel Shopping Dilemma
Multi-channel Booking
Search/
Metaseach
Guides Suppliers keep control of the
transaction
Meta Booking
Social Customer have one trusted partner
Suppliers
Networks
No Back Office
Reviews ROI Tracking
Comparability and trust
Payments
No payment/security related issues
Reliability All transactions visible
Control
Tnooz 29 November 2011
Metabook
30

31. In summary our joint challenge
With such complexity and fragmentation of suppliers and
their rates...
To provide our respective customers with the most
appropriate prices based on their search criteria, taking into
account their preferences. And all from what they perceive
as a trustworthy source.
31 Tnooz 29 November 2011

32. Copyright
Copyright
©2011 Travelport Inc. All rights reserved. All Travelport logos and marks as well as all other Travelport proprietary
materials depicted herein are the property of Travelport Inc. and/or its affiliates.
Notes About Examples
All screen examples and other inserts associated with system output are provided for illustration purposes only. They are
provided as illustrative examples of system functionality and are not meant to represent actual screen responses, rates,
etc.
32 Tnooz 29 November 2011

34. Q&A

35. Thank You!
Webinar replay will be available on www.tnooz.com
Please send questions and comments to Kevin May,
kevin@tnooz.com