Richard Yancy's Blog
Tuesday, April 13, 2004
InformationWeek > E-Business > The Right Balance > April 12, 2004
InformationWeek > E-Business > The Right Balance > April 12, 2004
I read this article yesterday and it has been on my mind since then. The hotels seem like they are being short-sighted and making a "moron move". They are destroying an excellent distribution channel on the basis of price only. At the same time they want to go in the business of e-tailing.
It seems as though the hotels should be thanking the travel sites, which have given the hotels more advertising, name recognition, and marketing than the hotels could have done alone. If price is the only issue, then the hotels can certainly raise the rates given to the travel sites. This would certainly appease the greed factor.
On the other hand, the hotels are discounting the amount of work it takes to run e-business. It's not an easy effort and not a specialty of most hotels. In other words, it's not the core business of the hotels.
That's just my two cents on the matter. Time will tell how it works out.
