Page 96 - Introduction to Electronic Commerce and Social Commerce

3.3 Online Travel and Tourism (Hospitality) Services 75

travelweb.com). Publishers of travel guides such as lonely- offer, such as travel tips and reviews provided by other travel-
planet.com, fodors.com, and tripadvisor.com provide ers, fare tracking (free e-mail alerts on low fares), expert
considerable amounts of travel-related information on their opinions, detailed driving maps and directions (see airbnb.
websites, as well as selling travel services. The competition com; a website that connects travelers and lists accommoda-
is fierce, but there is also collaboration. For example, in tions around the world, chat rooms, and bulletin boards).
2012, TripAdvisor helped New Orleans hotels to attract more
guests. Example: HomeAway.com, Inc.
HomeAway, Inc. (homeaway.com) is a marketplace for the
Example: TripAdvisor vacation rental industry. This online marketplace hosts 1.26
According to comScore Media Matrix (March 2016), million paid listings offering vacation rental homes in 196
TripAdvisor (tripadvisor.com) is the world’s largest travel countries (April 2016 data). The basic idea is to offer travelers
site. The company provides trip advice generated from actual vacation homes at affordable prices. For example, you can
travelers. This is a global site with more than 350 million rent a whole vacation house at less than half price of a hotel.
visitors a month. For history, features, and more facts, see The site connects property managers and owners with travel-
tripadvisor.com/PressCenter-c4- Fact_Sheet.html. ers. Besides the USA, the company has subsidiaries in several
countries, such as the UK, France, and Spain. It has both short
Example: Qunar.com and longer stay rentals. For details, see homeaway.com.
Qunar (qunar.com) is the world’s largest Chinese-language Other special services include:
travel platform. The site provides services similar to those
provided by TripAdvisor, such as travel information, travel • Wireless services. Many airlines (e.g., Cathay Pacific,
arrangements, and in-depth search (see http://www.qunar. Delta, and Qantas) allow passengers to access the Internet
com/site/en/Qunar.in.China_1.1.shtml). during flights with mobile devices (usually for a fee).
• Advance check-in. Most airlines provide advance online
check-in. You can print your boarding pass within 24 h
Characteristics of Online Travel prior to departure. Alternatively, you can use a smart-
phone (or a tablet) to download the boarding pass to your
Online travel services generate income from commissions, cell phone and then submit your phone to security with
advertising fees, lead-generation payments, subscription your ID. The security department has electronic scanners
fees, site membership fees, etc. that read the boarding pass from your smartphone and let
With rapid growth and increasing success, the online you board the plane.
travel industry is very popular, although online travel compa- • Direct marketing. Airlines sell electronic tickets (or
nies cite revenue loss due to fraud as their biggest concern. “e-tickets”) over the Internet. When customers purchase
Consumers themselves can fall prey to online travel fraud. electronic tickets online (or by phone), all they have to do
However, competition among online travel e-tailers is intense is print the boarding pass or enter their credit card at an
and has low margins. In addition, customer loyalty and dif- electronic kiosk to get a boarding pass there.
ference in prices make it more difficult to survive. Thus, • Alliances and consortia. Airlines and other travel com-
guaranteed best rates and the provision of loyalty programs panies are creating alliances with one another (e.g., star-
are becoming a necessity. alliance.com) to increase sales or reduce purchasing
Three important trends will drive further changes in the costs for purchases made over the Internet.
online travel industry. First, online travel agents may try to dif-
ferentiate themselves by providing superior customer service. Using Mobile Devices
Second, they provide easy search capabilities (e.g., for best
prices). Third, online travel companies are likely to use social The use of these is increasing rapidly, with hundreds of apps
media tools to provide content to travelers and would- be trav- related to comparing prices, making reservations, looking at
elers (see the discussion later in this section and Chapter 7). travel reviews, and finding the best travel deals available (see
tomsguide.com/us/pictures-story/491-best-travel-apps.
Services Provided html for a list of 50 ultimate travel apps).

Online travel agencies offer almost all the same services Social Travel Networks
delivered by conventional travel agencies, from providing
general information to reserving and purchasing travel Travelers are using sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter,
accommodations and event tickets. In addition, they often Gogobot, Flickr, Foursquare, and TripAdvisor to plan their
provide services that most conventional travel agencies do not trips and share experiences (both good and bad) afterward.