What are metasearch? How can metamotors be used to increase direct bookings? What are the sales strategies to be applied?
In this blog-post we will talk about metamotors, trying to analyze the advantages and disadvantages of these tools, evaluating if it is worth investing time and especially money.
How do metasearch works?
The metasearch has the task of querying the content of multiple sales portals (including the website of the structure) and aggregating the results into a single list, where room availability and room rates are shown; consequently it happens that a hotel is competing at a tariff level for the same room offered for sale on different portals.
Metasearch engines such as Trivago and Tripadvisor differ from OTA channels because their earnings are through clicks or visits received, while OTA portals such as Booking or Expedia have commissions on reservations.
The presence in metamotors offers the advantage of showcasing its structure to increase its visibility, thus diversifying sales strategies.
Metasearch between current trends and opportunities
In recent years, the rise of metasearch has influenced the way users book their stays; in fact, metasearch offers in a single platform not only descriptions of the structure, reviews, offers in real time and availability of accommodation, but they also advise what the lowest price is.
The metasearch can be a useful tool to help hotels make cheaper direct bookings, however in order to obtain feedback it is necessary to have an adequate offer strategy and long-term investments, which are not always sustainable and really advantageous for small structures.
To optimize the sale it is important to have software tools such as the channel manager and the booking engine.
The channel manager because it allows you to easily manage and send rates, prices and availability to the different OTA portals, the booking engine because it allows you to show the rates that apply on the site of your structure in the metasearch engine.
Attention to the booking engine
If you decide to invest in metasearch it is important to use a booking engine that is performing, easy to use for the potential guest and that offers a statistics system that allows you to monitor traffic and track any conversions, so as to have complete monitoring on different processes.
And you? Do you use metasearch engines to sell your rooms? Do you believe they are convenient?
Let us know by writing your point of view on our Facebook page.
