What is an OTA?

An online travel agency (OTA) is an online marketplace that allows guests to compare and book hotels and other travel services all in one place. OTAs provide guests with a wider range of options and ease of search, payments, and customer support.

For a property; an OTA provides access to potential guests from all around the world that would be difficult for an individual property to access through their own marketing efforts. OTA’s also provide market insights and tools to target potential guests based on the ever-changing online customer behavior. Listing with an OTA can dramatically increase your online visibility.

There is no up-front cost to list with an OTA and they work on a performance-based model in which a commission is charged only for rooms that are booked.

How OTAs Elevate Customer Experience?

Many believe that an OTA is just a website that displays/relays information from the property to customers who search for the property – almost like a static website that compiles information.

However, displaying information is only one part of what an OTA does. An OTA mostly focuses on identifying customer trends, getting feedback from customers, and ensuring it is a smooth journey from start to finish. An OTA also invests a lot of time and effort into marketing – where the right property is shown to the right customer based on their needs. To ensure the above is carried out an OTA also runs multiple experiments using both manpower and AI.

Use of Technology in the OTA World

• Role of Data in Design
• Product Managers at Agoda
• Automating Versioning and Releases Using Semantic Release
• Modular redesign of the Agoda website