Online Travel Agency

PhocusWire's in-depth coverage of online travel agencies, featuring news, analysis, interviews, research and more on the brands and their strategies, executives and positions in the market.

Opinion / Online

Four online travel agency myths to stop believing now

By Peter O’Connor - Essec Business School | August 8, 2019

OTAs suffer from some image problems amongst many hoteliers, often due to misconceptions or misinformation about how they work. So, let's bust some myths. Read More

News / Online

Booking Holdings integrates brands, develops payment capabilities in quest for “connected trip”

By Mitra Sorrells | August 7, 2019

Booking Holdings reports positive financial results as it works toward what CEO Glenn Fogel called the "connected trip." Read More

News / Distribution

Culture Trip finally unveils its online travel agency, promises to cover the full funnel

By Linda Fox | August 6, 2019

The company claims it has spent a lot of time understanding customer needs and is not just “replicating a bog standard OTA.” Read More

Opinion / Distribution

OTAs, margins and supply - lessons for tours and activities from battles elsewhere

By Olan O’Sullivan - TrekkSoft | August 6, 2019

Are the investments by Booking Holdings and TripAdvisor about supporting their consumer offerings rather than offering compelling solutions for operators to run their businesses? Read More

Opinion / Online

To self-book or not to self-book - that is the business travel question

By Mike Baker - Lola | August 5, 2019

A study reveals that frequent business travelers feel they’re wasting time booking their own travel AND wasting time having someone else book it for them. Read More

Opinion / Distribution

Threatless: Why the OTA-tech alignments in activities aren’t a big deal

By Douglas Quinby - Arival | August 5, 2019

These developments may only pertain to a few thousand operator customers across these systems that also use these OTAs. And really only a smaller few that closely follow the industry politics across the... Read More

News / Online

Two-decade-old hotel website LateRooms faces financial collapse

By Linda Fox | August 2, 2019

The LateRooms brand, which is part of the Malvern Group and is currently facing financial difficulties, has somewhat of a checkered back story. Read More

News / Online

What owning the end-to-end traveler experience means for Airbnb for Work

By Jill Menze | August 2, 2019

As Airbnb endeavors to own the end-to-end experience for corporate travelers, is transforming into a full-fledged travel management company in the cards? Read More

Opinion / Distribution

Suppliers, beware: A threat lurks in tours and activities distribution

By Tao Tao - GetYourGuide | August 1, 2019

There is a growing threat to the future of tours and activities: the loss of independence in reservation systems, thanks to acquisitions by TripAdvisor and Booking Holdings. At GetYourGuide, we don’t... Read More

Opinion / Distribution

NDC Check, part 2: Next-gen airline distribution could be ready to fly

By Philippe Der Arslanian - Answair | July 31, 2019

Transformation, Proven ROI and Push-and-pull are the three drivers that are fully interrelated and need to be addressed simultaneously by airlines. Read More

News / Online

Research Spotlight: What’s the significance of Amazon’s flight launch in India?

By Jill Menze | July 31, 2019

In May, Amazon made its much-anticipated move back into travel by launching a flight booking service in India. But why India? And what are its OTA ambitions? Read More