OTAs – Are they getting it right?

Just a ‘click’ and you can book yourself on a desired airline or buy a holiday package. The wired world has indeed ‘shrunk the world’. With more and more travel companies jumping on to the online bandwagon, traditional travel agents fear the consequences on their businesses in future. According to Eyefortravel Research 2007, about 41.2 per cent of the travellers preferred going online for their first point of research. But about 69.6 per cent of travellers preferred to book offline. The question asked many a times is, do these travel websites really cater to the needs of the travellers and offer required and desired products?

The online travel industry started with an objective to make the travel booking experience more convenient and hassle free. Today travellers go online with the sole objective of finding the perfect travel solution at a reasonable price. Online Travel Agents (OTAs) offer end to end travel services to ensure customer satisfaction and loyalty. As a matter of fact, most customers prefer comparing products, prices and special offers of various OTAs before booking online.