This year has illustrated that major online players now appear to want the traveler to get everything they need in a single point of sale.
The evolution of the Airbnb brand, Priceline's acquisition of OpenTable and TripAdvisor splashing out $200 million to get its hands on Viator are three obvious cases.
NB: This is a viewpoint from Valentin Dombrovsky, vice president of innovation at Excursiopedia.
So, I tried to analyze the ways of building online travel ecosystems that are used by Airbnb, Priceline and Tripadvisor - so here, in no particular order
Airbnb and the "sharing economy"
US-based Airbnb is the youngest online travel service to build its own eco-system.
The flagship of the so-called sharing economy changes the way people think about travel itself by trying to turn their attention away from hotels - and, by all accounts, it’s become rather successful at doing so.
Some argue that Airbnb hosts might become a new type of travel agent; others see big potential in the way Airbnb tackles the tours and activities sector; and some even push the idea that Airbnb could become a major player in corporate travel (news about the Airbnb-Concur partnership proves that perspective might be some way there).
The direction in which Airbnb is moving might be recognized from Fastcompany article: Airbnb plans for 2014.
In general it talks about plans for the company to become a "global hospitality brand" and to take care of everything that is needed by traveler after he arrives at an airport to restaurant booking to help in exploring a neighborhood, as well as helping hosts to give the best experience for guests (providing cleaning services, for example).
What is interesting in Airbnb's approach to its manufactured ecosystem is that it is built mostly on the company’s own resources - organically, as many say.
The company hasn't been particularly active in M&A (although it might start doing so having plans in so many spheres and resources after more funding) with only six acquisitions throughout its entire existence.
In addition, unlike Priceline or Tripadvisor, it is not tackling traditional lodging (hotels) and transportation. Airbnb uses its own inventory and its community of loyal users to grow and unique services, a strategy it has stuck with from the very beginning.
Priceline’s online travel empire
Priceline, as we have seen with almost all of its M&A activity, expands into new markets via acquisitions.
Starting as a travel discounter, it managed to turn itself into the most influential player on online travel with acquisitions of Booking.com, Kayak and, more recentlly, Opentable.
The deals which got fewer headlines, but also illustrate the direction in which company is moving, were the acquisitions of Hotel Ninjas and Buuteeq – both services at the heart of hotel marketing and distribution.
A large body of opinion suggests such moves are ensuring Priceline does not fade away into mediocrity, unlike other OTAs who have tended to become rather "useless intermediaries".
I wouldn’t agree with the words about the usefulness or otherwise of its OTA rivals, but we see consistently how Priceline makes its business more sustainable using acquisitions.
The OpenTable acquisition is certainly a move towards covering the full trip experience (it was also its biggest deal to date at$2.6 billion, but perhaps also a sign of Priceline searching for opportunities in other travel related verticals.
It’s notable that some people claim Priceline Group CEO Darren Huston is more aggressive than his predeccesor. It could also just be that right deals have come along at the right time.
Still, it bucked the trend earlier this year when it didn't get its wallet out and, instead, opted to launch its dedicated take on the vacation rental sector with Villas.com.
Tripadvisor moving beyond inspiration
First of all, I started writing this article before the news about Tripadvisor's acquisition of Viator was made public (you can read more about what this deal means for the tours and actvities sector in a piece by Tnooz Node, Alex Kremer).
What this means for Tripadvisor is evident – the words about Tripadvisor starting to focus on the whole trip appeared after it acquired restaurant booking service LaFourchette.
If we look at TripAdvisor acquisitions prior to 2014, we might easily notice a focus on sites covering the (user generated) reviews space.
But the two big acquisitions made so far in 2014 (LaFourchette for $140 million, Viator a mere $200 million) show that this year we might see how it finally takes some serious steps in new directions.
We now see Tripadvisor;s acquisition policy has become more aggressive, and clearly the goal is getting beyond inspiration and planning.
Tripadvisor, obviously, is not going to forget about hotels, with the launch of the metasearch service and more recently the mobile booking tool (some people say that it is "now eating Booking.com's lunch").
But what we really see is how Tripadvisor combines acquisitions with new own projects in order to transform user reviews site into something that might be used for an entire trip, starting with the inspiration element and following the user journey with tools for other services a traveler might need.
(Yes, it still has a flight search engine, too).
Conclusions
These three distinct strategies illustrate that the "all-in-one experience" at a brand level will emerge mostly from big players who finally recognize the value of travel as a 360-degree concept, rather than siloed into specific areas.
In other words, online travel finally goes beyond accommodation and transportation, moving instead towards providing a full service experience.
I suspect will see further integrated online travel services in months ahead.
NB: This is a viewpoint from Valentin Dombrovsky, vice president of innovation at Excursiopedia.
NB2:Map suitcase travel image via Shutterstock.