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OTAs move to close gap between hotels, customers.
Friday, 10th March 2017
Source : Patrick Costello - Exclusive from ITB 2017

Online travel agencies (OTAs) are developing new technologies that enable hotels to connect with their customers in structured ways throughout the duration of the customer journey, said Ait Voncke, a vice president in market management at Expedia.

The impact these technologies have had on hoteliers' relations with their customers was unthinkable even only two years ago, said Voncke at the ITB Conference in Berlin. 

"In the last 18 months there has been a real paradigm shift in these relations thanks to these changes," said Voncke. 

Expedia for example has developed feedback technology that allow hotels to accompany their customers and receive feedback in real-time throughout the customer journey, he said.

"This gives hotels an opportunity to jump in when something is going wrong for the customers," said Voncke. "That could prevent a bad review on a hotel from being written."

Customers simply reply to questions like "Were you happy with the check-in?" by sending off a smiley or frowning face, and hotels receive their responses in real time.

Other new innovations developed by OTAs can help hotels achieve their goal of retaining new customers, he added.

Customers that book rooms in Redline hotels, a US-based chain, on Expedia are channeled into Redline's own customer loyalty program and its member rates, something that has never been done before, he said.

"Two years ago it was impossible for an OTA to steer its own customers into another company's loyalty program," said Voncke. "But rolling out new ideas and improvements faster than ever before to roll â€" it can be done even within minutes."

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