Metasearch is the biggest battleground in the online travel agency versus travel brands fight for consumer eyeballs and loyalties, and a tool for hotels to compete against other brands at the property level. What’s in store during its next phase? Purchase the full report here: http://skift.com/travel-trends/travel-metasearch-whats-coming-next/

1. Travel
Metasearch:
What’s
Coming
Next
SKIFT REPORT #8
2014
Metasearch is the biggest battleground
in the online travel agency versus travel
brands fight for consumer eyeballs and
loyalties, and a tool for hotels to compete
against other brands at the property level.
What’s in store during its next phase?
By Dennis Schaal
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3. Travel Metasearch: What’s Coming Next
SKIFT
REPORT
Executive summary
Metasearch is the hottest thing in travel. Travel metasearch is a leadgeneration platform that allows consumers to compare rates from
multiple online travel agencies and suppliers, usually in a single grid.
The sector has attracted several billion dollars in investment in the last
couple of years from Priceline, Expedia, Google and Sequoia Capital,
to name a few, and metasearch, in the U.S. at least, is the fastestgrowing channel for travel shopping.
Source: Trivago
Tracing its routes to the very late 1990s and startups such as Sidestep,
Qixo and FareChase, travel metasearch features companies displaying
pricing and, ever-more-frequently, offering bookings for hotels, flights
and car rentals. It has evolved from a channel that online travel agencies and suppliers tested and dabbled in, to a vehicle that large players
most often consider an essential part of their digital marketing mix.
Online travel agencies, hotels, airlines, and car rental companies
generally view travel metasearch as a relatively efficient way to drive
traffic to their own websites, often getting a higher return on investment than they do through Google AdWords because metasearch’s
consumer leads are more qualified. Metasearch is also a key battle-
3
#8
2014

4. Travel Metasearch: What’s Coming Next
SKIFT
ground in the online travel agency versus supplier fight for consumer
eyeballs and loyalties, and is a tool for hotels to compete against other
brands at the property level, for example.
This trends report will examine why travel metasearch is attracting
so much attention and investment. It will take an inside look at the
economics of travel metasearch for the metasearch companies
themselves, and participating online travel agencies and suppliers. This trends report will present interviews with Kayak CEO Steve
Hafner and Trivago managing director Malte Siewert about their
respective companies’ strategies and practices inside global online travel agencies, and it will provide insights from key executives
throughout the sector. This trends report will also detail emerging
trends in travel metasearch, including mobile, as well as offer advice
on best practices.
4
REPORT
#8
2014

5. Travel Metasearch: What’s Coming Next
SKIFT
REPORT
#8
2014
Table of contents
Executive Summary 3
About Skift
Travel Metasearch: A Look Inside 6
Behind the Trend 6
Why Metasearch? 7
Rate Parity and Disparity 7
Money Is Pouring In 8
The Math of Metasearch 9
Metasearch Economics 9
Bidding Platforms Or Not 10
Interview: Kayak CEO Steve Hafner 11
Metasearch Goes Mainstream 13
Online Travel Agencies and Their Metasearch Pets 13
Suppliers and Booking Advertisers 14
Starwood 14
Wyndham 14
Online Travel Agencies 15
Airlines 16
Interview: Trivago Co-Founder Malte Siewert 18
What’s Happening Next 20
Branded Booking 20
Mobile 21
Refining and Personalizing Search 22
Simple User Interfaces Vs. Comprehensiveness 22
International Expansion 23
Insights & Strategies 24
Further Reading 25
About Skift 26
5
Skift is a travel intelligence company that
offers news, data, and
services to professionals
in travel and professional
travelers, to help them
make smart decisions
about travel.
Skift is the business of
travel.
Visit skift.com for more.