I wanted to give a little heads up to those of you who love to travel. It does not matter if you stay at large chain hotels or small bed & breakfast like ours. Our industry is under attach by the big “G”. When you search for a place to stay, and you see that big Blue BOOK NOW button, do you assume you are going to that properties personal web page to book direct with them? If you do, you are with most of the public that assume that, but you are not, you are being directed to an “OTA”, or Online Travel Agent, who pays Google big bucks to get folks to them.
You ask what is so bad with that? Well, first off, you will not get the customer commitment that the personal lodging property would give you. You may not even be getting the best price, even though you are led to believe you are. Next off, that lodging property, now has to pay the OTA a percentage usually around 18% to that OTA. That really adds up in the yearly total to be a pretty big percentage. So, they give you a lower price online, but then we the lodging property have to make up the difference.
So, you ask, why do the lodging properties list with the OTA’s? Well, it a game from big “G” again. If you don’t list with them, then you don’t show up in the search engine for an option to stay at. It’s all about pay to play, and it is being shown, that the lodging properties are the only ones being targeted, no other professional industry is.
I had a call last week, lucky she called to ask a question, but I realized during that conversation, she was not on my website, but an OTA site, when I pointed that out to her, she had no idea, she assumed she was on my personal site.
I am just saying all this, so that you can be aware of what is going on in our industry and asking for your support to book direct with the property you will be staying with. Our personal commitment to giving you the best service and all the little extras are worth it.
enjoy! Deb