Booking.com pursues domestic growth, downplays "connected trip" strategy

Booking.com’s mission has been to “make it easier for everyone to experience the world” – but at least for the foreseeable future, that may need to be edited to “make it easier for everyone to experience their corner of the world.”

With the COVID-19 pandemic still a threat in numerous countries, and many cross-border travel restrictions still in place, the global online travel agency is adjusting its priorities and its product to meet the needs of customers that are primarily traveling close to home.

And that also means a reduced focus on its "connected trip" strategy. 

According to Booking.com vice president and managing director for Asia Pacific, Angel Llull Mancas, speaking during WebInTravel's virtual event Travel Zero.O: Back To The Future, while the “connected trip” – the brand’s term for a personalized experience that comprises accommodations, transportation, experiences, payments, etc. - is still part of the long-term strategy, it’s less of a priority right now.

“It’s true that in times of pressure in the market, we have to double down on what is our core. Let’s face it, our core is accommodations. So therefore our main priority for the next quarters is going to be making sure our accommodations business is well taken care of.”

And specifically he is referring to Booking.com’s domestic accommodations business.

Of the newly booked rooms nights in both the second quarter of this year and the month of July, an average of 70% were made in the traveler’s home country - and that number is as high as 100% in some markets. That’s compared to an average of 45% domestic bookings in 2019.

“We had to reinvent ourselves in many ways - in the ways we generate demand, in how our product looks like, how our rates and policies looks like,” Mancas says, speaking with WebinTravel founder and editor Yeoh Siew Hoon.

“That is what we have been focusing in the last month. Volumes are low, but work has actually increased.”

Mancas says Booking.com has also had to adjust its supply to meet the needs of people traveling within their own countries. 

“In Japan we had to build as much more ryokans [traditional Japanese inns] as we can because that is a type of property that a Japan domestic traveler is very interested in,” he says.

Payment processing 

Booking.com has also expanded its payment capabilities to serve local travelers, for example enabling customers to use alternative payment options in places like South Korea and Indonesia.

In this way, Mancas says, the pandemic has been an effective accelerant for innovation and enabled Booking.com to reinvent itself as a stronger competitor for domestic travel business.

“Booking always grew from the credit card method of payment, and we escalated that globally,” he says.

“But when you come in particular to Asia, there’s hundreds of alternative payment methods that, if you want to be relevant locally, you have to adapt yourself. If not, you are losing a big chunk of the domestic - but also the intra-Asia - travelers.” 

Regarding marketing strategies for domestic travelers, Mancas says the company is “seeing big, big wins” through its partnerships with companies such as Grab and Line.jp, which have deep insights into their local markets and can help drive demand for travel.

* Check out this interview with David Adamczyk, Booking.com's director of strategy for the transport division at the time, recorded at the World Aviation Festival, where he outlined the brand's thinking around the "connected trip."