Imagine a traveler searching for a hotel in your city. They’re flooded with options on online travel agencies (OTAs), but your hotel is nowhere to be seen. This is where metasearch comes in to save the day. Now, you would think what exactly is a metasearch and how is it different from an online travel agency. Let’s break this down for you.
Simply put, a hotel metasearch like trivago is a higher-level search platform that aggregates hotel prices from OTAs and other sources to display a wide variety of deals for travelers.
Unlike OTAs, which usually advertise hotel rooms for a high commission, metasearch engines don’t handle bookings directly. Instead, they display multiple price options, including a hotel’s own website rates, giving hoteliers greater flexibility in their pricing strategy, as it enables them to monitor their competitors' pricing and adjust their own pricing accordingly. A metasearch is also significantly beneficial for travelers as they can search for hotels on just one consolidated platform and compare deals.
For independent hotels, metasearch is a game-changer. It offers more control over visibility and costs, allowing them to compete with OTAs, attract direct bookings, and avoid hefty commission fees on every reservation.
Here’s how metasearch works:
A traveler searches for a hotel on a metasearch engine.
The platform displays rates from the hotel’s own website, as well as OTA rates.
The traveler clicks on the cheapest deal and is redirected to the respective site to book.
One of the most important differentiators is that, unlike OTAs, a metasearch doesn’t handle the booking (i.e., a traveler can’t book a hotel room on it). They are re-directed to either a hotel’s website or a booking site that’s advertising the deal.
Here’s why its essential for independent hotels to level the playing field against OTAs:
Boost Direct Bookings
Instead of losing traffic to OTAs, you can promote your own website rates and drive more direct bookings, increasing your profitability and reducing your reliance on OTAs.
Shift the Balance in Your Favor
OTAs dominate search results, but metasearch gives your hotel the right visibility it needs.
Optimize Cost-Effectiveness
A flexible pay-per-stay model offered by a metasearch, for example trivago’s Rate Connect means hotels pay a commission on a direct booking only once a guest checks out of the hotel.
Build Brand Awareness
Unlike OTAs, which control the guest experience since a booking is directly made on their website, metasearch drives traffic directly to your website based on your hotel’s ad listing, boosting your brand presence.
Now that you have an understanding of metasearch, how it's different from OTAs and more beneficial to your hotel business, why don’t you give it a try? Here’s how simple it is to get started with metasearch:
Choose a platform: Partner with an OTA that works with trivago.*
Optimize your website rates: Ensure competitive pricing to attract direct bookings.
Monitor & adjust: Use analytics to refine your strategy and improve results. For instance, Rate Insights, which is a premium feature with trivago’s Business Studio+, enables you to monitor and compare your top 5 competitors' rates on up to 8 OTAs.
*To appear on trivago, independent hotels must partner with an OTA. The listing on metasearch helps to expand a hotelier’s portfolio and overall reach. With a Rate Connect campaign, hotel website rates can also be advertised.
In short, metasearch is a game-changer for hoteliers, helping you compete with OTAs, drive more direct bookings, and strengthen your brand presence. By leveraging the right metasearch strategy, you can boost your hotel’s visibility, reduce reliance on third-party platforms, and take full control of your guest relationships and experiences.
