Amadeus announced the findings of its second Asia Pacific hotel distribution survey that highlights how cross-selling add-on services are key to ensuring travel agents attract and retain customers who are pre-booking hotel rooms. The survey found that airport transfers and sightseeing tours represent the biggest cross-selling opportunities, with travel agents increasingly offering to help travelers rent cars, purchase concert tickets, make dinner reservations and even buy metro passes.
The purpose of the survey was to examine travel agents’ and travelers’ perspectives on the hotel selection and booking process.
The key finding was that travel agents consider ease of booking and commission guarantees as the most important criteria when selecting a channel to book hotels. This represents a shift in priorities from a 2010 Amadeus hotel survey where the amount of commission was considered top priority for travel agents.
Post-sales support on booking modifications is also a key factor, ranking as the third most important criteria when selecting a hotel booking channel. This is in line with travel agents’ needs when selecting hotels to offer travelers, with guarantee of commissions and post-sales support ranking as the most critical factors.
These findings clearly demonstrate a deeper understanding and maturity across travel agencies driving hotel booking volumes.
Another finding was that hotel reviews by travelers overtake brand power. A significant change is evident in the factors influencing the traveler. In comparison to 2010, these findings show a marked decrease in pure brand influence which has been overtaken by user reviews. 70 percent of travelers check hotel reviews prior to choosing a hotel. This is acknowledged by travel agents who listed additional content like hotel reviews as being a top five must-have feature in a perfect hotel booking solution.
Courtesy: http://www.tnooz.com
Author: Pradeep M.S
Pradeep works as Technical Lead in Teknokraaft and works with our OTA team.