At the recent Indaba trade show, right between busy DMC stands in the ICC hall, and very close to hotel groups and safari lodges, I saw a huge stand with a very familiar logo: Expedia I was stunned!
What the heck are “non-traditional electronic third party intermediaries” (aka OTAs) doing at a tourism expo? At ITB in Berlin and WTM in London these guys are confined to separate technology halls: out of sight (albeit not out of mind!) from the passionate and emotional tourism family.
Most Indaba delegates want to position their products as value-based, whilst OTAs sell bookings on the basis of the lowest possible price. DMCs as well as most Southern African hotels and lodges offer guest-centred and value added experiences, while OTAs sell accommodation.
Expedia and Hotels.com have obtained enormous power in the hotel distribution and they have learned to abuse it, charging far above industry norm commissions. And once a hotel partner isn’t 100% co-operative, eish: Expedia & Co. know how to discipline insubordinate hotel operators.
No doubt, the tourism family has to live with OTAs, but with all due respect and with apologies to the very nice young Expedia people: “You are certainly a very important part of the travel industry, but you are not part of the flesh and blood tourism family that rubs shoulders at Indaba.”
From an overseas delegate’s perspective, Expedia & Hotels.com have no “raison d'être” to be at Indaba.
What differentiates us so much?
For OTAs the term “H2H” probably stands for an encrypted host-to-host connection between two computer systems. For members of the tourism family “H2H” means human-to-human. When the OTA guys hear “Ubuntu”, they probably think of the open source software system from Linux. For us, “Ubuntu” is an admirable African spiritual ethic.
The hospitality business is and continues to be a people business, no matter how much technology will drive efficiencies and help us deliver unforgettable guest experiences.
