3rd Party Booking: Travel Aggregators Complete Guide
Travelling is closely linked to booking nowadays. We rent cars, buy airplane tickets, search for rooms in hotels, and more. Most people do it via aggregators. But what are they, and how do they actually work?
What is OTA?
OTA is short for Online Travel Aggregator. It’s a search tool and a special selling system that works as an intermediary between companies and customers. In other words, it can be interpreted as an online marketplace of services. These systems earn a profit on the offers that are supplied by various companies. The main aim of OTA is to collect and show information on one platform about specific offers.
How do modern Travel Aggregators work?
Customers access Travel Aggregators using the Internet. There are a number of services and products that might be provided by OTA:
Car hire
Airline ticket booking
Accommodation and hotels
Train tickets booking
Taxi services
Bus tickets booking
Packages connected with vacation and travels
Travel Aggregators create lists of different offers connected with travel products and services. These sites publish information about the services, as well as the brands that provide them. It makes the search process more comfortable for customers. For example, if you want to book a van hire the car aggregator will display various offers where the titles of companies are mentioned, prices, quality, etc.
One of the most essential components of travel aggregators is matching the needs of the client. A search engine creates an opportunity for a customer to set up the specific needs that might occur during the booking process. If you want to book a cheap 7-seater car hire, you are able to choose additional parameters that suit your potential order. The aggregator will provide you with a list of the 7 seaters that do not cost too much money.
The types of OTA
Car rental aggregators
This type of aggregator is connected with renting a vehicle. It is usually an Internet site or an application that provides customers with the opportunity to hire a car online.
The operating principles are as follows:
A potential client enters the name of the city, where the car is needed. During the typing process, the search bar shows the options that might suit your needs.
After selecting the location, the customer decides upon the date of rental. There are typically two boxes: check-in and check-out, both need to be filled.
The next step is clicking on the button “Search”. As a result, a client receives information about the companies that might be suitable. There is also additional information about the suppliers, car quality, services that are included in the price, the number of seats, etc.
All this process takes only several minutes. For example, you want to search for 7-seater car hire options in London for two days. Open the Travelling Aggregator, then enter “London” in a location search bar, pick a date, and check some additions. Simple!
The advantages of car rental aggregators:
Customers can search for perfect vehicle options easily.
Opportunity to choose the best offer, according to your needs.
There is a possibility to cancel the reservation.
Great variety of car models that clients can try!
The disadvantages:
Every service supplier has its own conditions for reservation cancellation.
The majority of companies require you to pay for the car rental, using a credit card.
Aggregators for hotel reservations
These are the aggregators that help with temporary accommodation. The suppliers of such aggregators are usually large hotel chains. They create discount systems and decide upon the rates, depending on the demand of the clients. However, some hotel chains can offer to book a reservation on their Internet site, promising even a lower price.
The process of a reservation is easy:
Open the aggregator's website or application. There you can see a search bar for the location of your journey. Choose the destination by looking through the offered ones, or enter the name by yourself.
Look at the date boxes. There are usually two of them: the arrival and departure. Select suitable dates.
The third box is typically connected with the number of rooms that you would like to order. Here is also an option to indicate the number of adults and children who are going to stay in the hotel.
Look through the search results. You can add specific search additions like available Wi-Fi, parking zone, pool, breakfast, etc.
When you have chosen your hotel, the last thing you have to do is fill in the ticket forms and that’s all!
Some people prefer searching for suitable hotel options on airplane ticket aggregators. Some of these aggregators provide an opportunity to choose the accommodation depending on the airline you're going to choose. For example, you have booked a flight ticket to Washington. Straight after that several sites offer you to make an accommodation reservation in that city. Typically there is a special section for hotels and hostels that you can open and fill in the boxes to find the best option.
The advantages of booking via hotel aggregators:
Lower prices than on the websites of hotel chains.
Opportunity to divide search results into groups according to your needs
Sometimes hotel aggregators are provided together with those who offer airplane tickets. It’s convenient for people, who don’t want to spend more time searching for accommodation.
The disadvantages:
Several hotel aggregators require registration for detailed info about the offers.
People who booked on the official websites of the hotels sometimes might be treated better than the ones who booked via aggregators.
Airplane tickets aggregators
It’s hard to imagine travelling without planes. Online aggregators for booking flight tickets were the first ones to come into use. Nowadays people search for the best offers and prices on specific websites or in mobile applications.
The process of booking is quite simple:
Fill in the bars that are connected with departure and arrival locations. The search engine will show the option based on the keywords that you type into the bar.
Select a date. The search engine will show you available flights in less than a minute.
Search for ideal options! Certain aggregators divide flights into groups of cheap, fast or optimal ones.
When you choose the perfect flight, you will be transferred to the page where you fill in a special form for the ticket and then buy it!
Booking tickets for a plane is not hard if you use aggregators, because they provide information from all airlines-suppliers. For example, if you need to choose a flight from London to Washington, you choose these two cities in the fields “departure” and “arrival” respectively. The site will show you the options with the companies labeled nearby. Some of the aggregators allow you to choose a certain company that you might see in your search results.
What are the benefits of using airplane ticket aggregators?
You are provided with information about possible transfers.
Fast process of searching.
A wide range of aggregators to try.
The drawbacks:
Airplane ticket aggregators are known to offer hotels or rental cars even when you don’t need them.
Sometimes the process of transferring to the page for a ticket form might glitch.
Taxi aggregators
The first mobile taxi services began to appear at the beginning of the last decade. One of the first such applications was the American Uber, which today is a worldwide taxi aggregator. Today not only Uber, but many other similar companies around the world provide transportation services.
Taxi aggregator - it’s a company that receives and transfers orders for the transportation of passengers and luggage by a passenger vehicle. Their services are based on the agreement on the provision of information and dispatching services. Such aggregators should have a permit to carry out activities for the transportation of passengers and luggage throughout the country.
How to order a taxi through a taxi aggregator:
Open an application. You will see two boxes where you choose the landing place and destination. You can enable geolocation so the app can find your current position automatically.
Wait until the app picks the most suitable driver who can pick you up. On the majority of the applications, you are able to look at the map to monitor the driver's position.
Wait for the driver to arrive and that’s all! Call the driver if anything happens while you’re waiting.
Taxi aggregators are quite popular nowadays, but at the same time, there are both pros and cons to using these applications.
The advantages are:
Legal companies provide high quality and safety.
You can get your taxi quickly. It usually takes less than 10 minutes to wait for your driver.
Opportunity to choose from different options. It might be cars with a child seat, economy or business class, etc.
You can track the movement of the car in real-time.
There are two options to pay: by card or cash.
The disadvantages:
You must be connected to the Internet to access a taxi aggregator
Some apps require registration.
Not all the services provide cash payment.
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