Online Travel Agency Price Presentation: Examining the Influence of Price Dispersion on Travelers’ Hotel Preference

This research investigates the impact of different degrees of price dispersion on travelers’ hotel choice. More specifically, within an online travel agency (OTA) context, we examine the effect of wide (vs. narrow) price dispersion on hotel preference. In addition, we suggest two boundary conditions for this effect: salience of external regular price and perception of destination uncertainty. Across multiple studies, our results show that travelers prefer a hotel option featuring wide price dominance dispersion. Additionally, both the presence of an external regular price and the level of uncertainty associated with the hotel destination act as moderating influences. This work represents an emerging direction in the online price dispersion literature, namely, exploring the consequences of online price dispersion. In practice, by understanding the influence of price dispersion on consumer choice, OTAs can develop more effective pricing strategies in partnership with their hotel room suppliers.

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The impact of positioning on click-through-rates in hotel metasearch engines

Journal Of Vacation Marketing ◽

10.1177/13567667211042640 ◽

2021 ◽

pp. 135676672110426

Author(s):

Oriol Anguera-Torrell ◽

Claudia Langer

Keyword(s):

Distribution Channel ◽

Order Effect ◽

Travel Agency ◽

Playing Field ◽

Travel Agencies ◽

Click Through Rate ◽

Online Travel ◽

Online Travel Agency ◽

The Impact ◽

Online Travel Agencies

The recent arrival of the metasearch as a distribution channel within the hotel industry has the potential to provide hotels less dependency on online travel agencies. Metasearch engines display different reservation options for the same hotel in the same interface, which might include online travel agencies and the official hotel website, establishing an apparent level playing field. In this context, it remains unclear if there will be a presentation-order effect of the different options when price and cancellation policy are the same due to two reasons. First, hotels compete against popular and trustworthy online travel agencies. Second, the minimalist and functional design of metasearch platforms might help consumers differentiate among the options, possibly impacting the decision-making process. Accordingly, the present study aims at investigating the relationship between a hotel's site position and a higher click-through rate in a metasearch whilst competing directly and on the same page with a well-known online travel agency. To this end, an experiment was conducted in which participants had to finish the booking process for a given hotel on a major metasearch engine, where they could choose between the hotel's official site and a leading online travel agency. The main finding implies that occupying the top position increases the click-through rate for unknown hotels, whilst hotels associated with well-known chains are not subject to this effect.

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