The online travel industry is one of the most competitive, dynamic, and fast-moving industries. There are a lot of activities of the big players to increase their market shares and strengthen their brands. Competition is fierce in this industry and scale matters. Let’s have a look at the key players.
TravalaFounded in 2017, Travala.com has grown from a small start-up to the world’s leading cryptocurrency-friendly hotel and accommodation booking service trusted by thousands of customers worldwide as their preferred online travel agency.
Operation:The Travala.com platform currently offers 2,000,000+ properties covering 90,124 destinations in 230 countries and territories, with prices up to 40% cheaper than the mainstream travel booking platforms.
Niche:Travala has one of the world’s largest selection of incredible places to stay, including everything from hotels, apartments, villas, and hostels to 5-star luxury resorts.
Fee:Travala charges commission fees which is currently an average of 10% of the booking value.
AirbnbFounded in 2008, Airbnb offers a marketplace for people to rent out their homes to temporary residents.
Operation:190 countries, with 2 million listings serving 60 million guests.
Niche:Primary homes (individual homeowners and apartment renters), urban apartments(an entire place, a single room, or shared room), and accommodation in original spaces(castles, tree houses, igloos, wagons, boats)
Fee:Airbnb charges guests a booking fee from 6% to 12% and charges hosts a 3% commission.
HomeAway / VRBOFounded in 2005, HomeAway provides a marketplace for vacation rentals including home rentals, condos, villas, beach rentals, cabins, cottages, etc.
Operations:190 countries with 1.2 million paid listings.
Niche:Vacation rentals – second homes (managed by vacation rentals property managers), whole houses.
Fee:Currently, there is no booking fee for guests and a 10% commission for vacation rental owners. Also, as the subscription service had a barrier for those who wanted to try it, HomeAway has moved from a subscription service to launching a commission-based product.
TripAdvisor Vacation RentalTripAdvisor bought FlipKey in 2008 and in recent months, TripAdvisor has transitioned its FlipKey units vacation rentals onto a single technology platform called TripAdvisor Vacation Rentals.
Operations :720,000 vacation rental home listings.
Niche:FlipKey offers original accommodations with beach, apartment, home, boathouse, and villa listings, except that they do not have shared room listings, only private rooms, and entire property rentals.
Fee:TAVR charges a 7% commission fee for vacation rentals managed listings and a 3% commission for individual homeowners with guests booking fee ranging from 5% to 15%.
Booking.comBooking.com started as a hotel company, founded in 1996 and acquired by the Priceline Group in 2005. Since then the company has expanded into alternative accommodations, and now vacation rentals.
Operations:Currently, Booking.com is the world’s largest lodging seller in terms of number of hotels, vacation rentals, and apartments.
Niche:One-stop-shop for hotels, vacation rentals, and apartments.
Fee:No booking fee for guests, the unpublicized commission fee for vacation rental owners and hosts(Expedia predicted the commission fee would be around 15%). |