Online travel agencies and hotels are all in the business of marketing the same hotel rooms, but OTAs don't have to do everything that hotels do, including cleaning rooms.
Hotels have a much bigger job to do, but the fact that OTAs are experts focused primarily on specific parts of the customer journey means hotels can learn a lot from them. Because your entire business model depends on doing a few things really well. .
After all, there's a reason why OTAs claimed a larger share of bookings last year. They've figured out exactly what “online hospitality” looks like, and it starts before guests even check in.
OTAs like Booking.com don't just list random or meaningless properties, they curate experiences and guide potential guests from the moment they discover them to the time they follow up after their stay. They don't just sell accommodations, they've built an ecosystem that sells entire trips and suggests activities, meals, and recommendations.
The tone of voice may change depending on the guest. Accommodation and room types vary depending on how you book. A coffee shop you recommend to one guest will be replaced by a sushi restaurant for another guest. They know exactly where their customers are in their booking journey and when to guide, nudge and remind them to book. We also know how to communicate with guests before, during, and after their stay after they have made a reservation.
This is good news for guests, but terrible news for hotels, which are becoming a mere part of their trip. When OTAs tell people where to eat, where to explore, and when to book an Uber, hotels become just beds for the night. And OTAs don't want to send customers back to the same hotel. This is because doing so will establish loyalty between the customer and the hotel, ultimately reducing the need for the OTA itself.
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Therefore, the hotel industry is at a crossroads where it will lose guests if it does not change its strategy. It's not about mimicking OTAs, it's about learning an approach that builds direct, meaningful relationships with customers. This goes beyond the traditional “digital brochure” model and leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to provide an interactive, personalized platform. Brochure websites are relics. It cannot compete with the dynamic data and AI-driven experiences people are exposed to in other industries and areas of life.
Consider Amazon, for example. When shopping, Amazon customers see only relevant and recommended products. When a customer makes a purchase, Amazon already knows what the customer wants next based on their shopping habits and what other users have purchased. Their shopping homepage is designed specifically for them, turning passive navigation within their extensive marketplace into an interactive, personalized journey.
So, let’s take a look at Netflix’s recommendation system. Each user can view a diverse library of content on their homepage, uniquely tailored to their preferences. Streaming platforms leverage customer data and behavior combined with AI algorithms to deliver personalized viewing experiences. Image tiles and teaser videos also change based on viewers to show which videos they are most likely to watch.
The commonality is clear. For customers, there is no longer a one-size-fits-all approach. As every other industry focuses on personalization and creating tailored experiences, why are hotels so far behind? Why are hotel websites presenting potential guests with the same static, impersonal digital brochures that still fail to capture their attention?
Simply getting someone to visit your website is not enough. AI algorithms have to work hard behind the scenes to anticipate what specific guests want to see before they even know it. The power of OTA lies in its understanding of this journey. A family of four will see a website that has completely different content, images, room offers, package options, recommendations, and more than the website they are searching for as a couple.
Many hoteliers don’t realize that the key to achieving this level of hyper-personalization is the ability to intelligently leverage guest data. Without knowing who is viewing your website, where they are in the booking process, what pages they visited and what packages they are interested in, it's impossible to create a truly personalized experience that resonates.
It is not enough to collect data; it must be analyzed and applied, and machine learning technology is very important here. By understanding customer behavior, preferences, and engagement patterns, hotels have new opportunities to build their own ecosystems, own their customer profiles, and ultimately regain primary relationships with their most loyal and valuable guests during their travels. lifetime.
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