Comparison Shopping For Travel, Not So Easy
from the misunderstanding-search dept
It’s no secret that shopping for online travel is no great time saver. As mentioned in that original article, if you really want the best deal, you need to shop around quite a bit. Now, the NY Times reports that with the rise in travel comparison shopping sites, many of the major online travel sites are opting not to be included, saying they would prefer people shop directly at their site. The risk, of course, is that online travel shoppers will bypass them altogether. However, the sites in question say they need to do this to better handle the overall user experience in booking travel reservations, including systems to try to convince them that the cheapest result may not always be the best. That’s misleading, of course, because for some people, honestly, the cheapest deal is exactly what they’re looking for, and no amount of hoping will change that. For now, sites like Travelocity, Expedia and Orbitz can stay out of the travel search engines because none have enough traction. However, if they start to catch on, these online travel booking sites are likely to change their minds pretty quickly. The goal should be to be where the customer is looking — and if they’re not, then they’re in the wrong spot. In some ways, it’s the same as sites that somehow want to stay out of search engines to avoid “deep linking.” It almost never makes sense. The idea is to stay out to force people to go through your entire user experience, but instead, they’ll skip the entire user experience altogether.
Comments on “Comparison Shopping For Travel, Not So Easy”
comparison shopping
As it happens I was booking a couple tickets last night, and I started with the home pages of United, American, and ATA (figuring the last would at least offer a budget option). The best price I found on any of these sites was around $450 for the itinerary in question. I then went to Expedia and Travelocity — same result, $450. Then Orbitz: $280.
Whaaa…?
The difference-maker was Orbitz has a feature I’d never tried before, which allows you to search for flights a day before and after your stated departure times. Turns out I could save $140 per ticket if I returned on a Saturday night, rather than the Sunday morning I’d been planning. The better website feature earned that website a sale.
So, the problem in a nutshell for anyone wanting to go it alone is they need to match the features of the best available alternative. If Travelocity doesn’t want to be listed in Kayak.com, or — worse — if United doesn’t want to be listed there, then travelocity.com and ual.com better be the best of breed when it comes to travel search, otherwise they’re kidding themselves if they think the market will stick with them.