Choosing an online travel agent

Before you start browsing the OTA market, think about what you want to offer.

Look at your past sales data and your forecast for the future – what have you struggled to sell directly? What has sold well? An OTA will take a commission on each sale – so ideally you want them to focus on the products that you may not be able to sell directly, or the products they can sell at a higher price than what you can achieve directly.

Your booking system should be able to help provide historic sales data across your different channels, which lets you forecast expected sales.

Read more about online booking systems for experiences or for accommodation.

You’ll have your price for selling directly to the customer, but you need to consider how you would factor in commission for an OTA.

You will need to work out:

The overall cost of your product or experience – if you’ve adapted the product for selling through a partner, you’ll need to recalculate the cost.

Any additional costs of selling through a partner – this could be your booking system charging a fee for connections to OTAs, or a bank transfer fee if the OTA pays you from a foreign bank account/

A price for the customer – what you would expect a customer to pay, which includes your product costs, the cost of selling through an OTA, and any potential commission.

A price for the OTA – this would be a price which covers your costs, but allows the OTA to add their commission and charge the customer a higher price.

A maximum percentage of commission - come up with a maximum percentage that you can accept that covers your costs and allows for a profit to be made. Do not accept any OTA contracts which go beyond that maximum percentage.

Example

• running your tour per customer costs you £12
• you sell the tour to a direct customer for £20
• the OTA sells the tour for £20 and pays you £16 (based on a 20% commission)

Note

Remember to include the cost of direct marketing when comparing the cost of selling directly versus selling through an OTA.

There are a few ways to create a list of potential OTAs to work with.

Online research

• you may have used one yourself to book a trip
• search online for OTAs that work in the market you want to target, or that work for your sector
• consider a mix of well-known names and sector-specific websites

Competitor research

Who do your competitors work with?

If many similar businesses from your area are on an OTA, this means there is good demand for that type of business on that platform, so you would want to add them to your shortlist.

How to identify your competitors

Location – if a customer comes to your town or area, they will be deciding where best to stay and what they want to do with their time. There can be a lot of competition across visitor attractions, activities, tours and events.

Interests or type of group – there is also competition between similar businesses as people only have a set amount of time and may have to choose between activities such as things to do for families, or customers interested in active pursuits or sustainable experiences.

Type and sector – everyone who offers the same product as you. This could be nearby or anywhere in Scotland, particularly if you offer a niche experience.

Reviews – when browsing the OTA, look out for businesses with the most reviews and the highest ratings. They may get more prominent placement from the OTA and will be seen by more customers. Look at what customers are commenting most on in the reviews. Is this something you could emulate? Remember – you can learn from other people’s negative reviews as well, and what you want to avoid.

Create a spreadsheet and document where you can list the benefits and challenges of each potential partner as you review their details.

Things to consider for each OTA:

• commission percentage
• expected bookings
• market reach
• number of competitors using that OTA

Compare the results of the OTAs and select which one you want to work with.

Check over your listings every season.

You want to check over your copy and ensure it still reflects your product. Update the images and video regularly to give a recent insight into what it’s like to visit your business.

Make sure your availability is correct with dates and times.

Review your prices regularly – check if your costs have changed, consider if the price is set at the right level, and if you can enhance the product and therefore charge more.

Reviews are very important on an OTA – they are displayed prominently and used by customers to decide whether to visit a business or not.

Check if the OTA allows you to respond to feedback directly on the platform, and make use of this feature so the original customer gets a response, and everyone can see your attention to detail.

Check out our guide on how to manage customer feedback.

Every month, look at your:

• sales week on week and year on year
• position or ranking on the OTA and how it has changed
• reviews and the content of them
• number of cancellations and how that compares to your direct bookings
• payments you have received

Through your own analytics you can also review:

• what traffic you’re getting to your website and where it is coming from

Adjust based on your findings – this might include ideas for incremental improvements to improve the overall quality of the experience, or more significant adjustments to your product, or new product ideas.

As well as the specific sales data, you may not have access to annual trends, general training or webinars, and other opportunities for support from the OTA. Make the most of what your partnership gives you access to and learn more about what your customers are looking for, and how you can meet their expectations.

Once a year, consider conducting a wider review. This might mean looking again at:

• the overall OTA market – is your current OTA still the best match for your business?
• who are your competitors working with now?
• do you have the right system to work with this OTA, or to work with new OTAs in the future?