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on the evolving side, many (most?) OTA sites use the exact same set of APIs from Expedia. Having all the same data means they all follow the same set of steps,

on the evolving side, many (most?) OTA sites use the exact same set of APIs from Expedia. Having all the same data means they all follow the same set of steps, present the same filters, and so look and feel very much 'the same' because they are.

ankit219 8y ago
Most of the bigger companies dont take any APIs from Expedia. In fact, they get their own deals from the airline and negotiate better commissions wherever possible. For hotels, its their own sales/BD team which gets the hotels (along with inbound) and they use many third party aggregators too. (Expedia does this too). The filters and steps are more a part of A/B testing and Conversion Rate Optimisation, which you expect any online website to do. That does not even use any of the user data for doing that. The filters are standard - more like if others are giving it, we should too, and they get all the possible flight information about a flight from the airline/GDS. Also, when I said evolve, I meant all of them look the same as they did in 2013 - with minor differences here and there. No one even looks to buck the trend, maybe by offering personalized suggestions first. Had Facebook/Linkedin been doing flight bookings, could have been really different. The use of data comes in use cases like: if I am looking for a flight, show me something optimized for variables I usually prioritize (esp if I am a repeat user), not a generic way of eliminating bad results, or just one sort option. Similarly, for hotels, show me the kind of rooms I have booked before, or the ones others like me have booked (item - item recommendation) which does not happen right now. With destination suggestion, a feature quite a few OTAs are trying to incorporate, tell the places I should go to. That does not even happens with experience/activity searches either, even when those are made on the same website.

ankit219 8y ago

Most of the bigger companies dont take any APIs from Expedia. In fact, they get their own deals from the airline and negotiate better commissions wherever possible. For hotels, its their own sales/BD team which gets the hotels (along with inbound) and they use many third party aggregators too. (Expedia does this too). The filters and steps are more a part of A/B testing and Conversion Rate Optimisation, which you expect any online website to do. That does not even use any of the user data for doing that. The filters are standard - more like if others are giving it, we should too, and they get all the possible flight information about a flight from the airline/GDS. Also, when I said evolve, I meant all of them look the same as they did in 2013 - with minor differences here and there. No one even looks to buck the trend, maybe by offering personalized suggestions first. Had Facebook/Linkedin been doing flight bookings, could have been really different. The use of data comes in use cases like: if I am looking for a flight, show me something optimized for variables I usually prioritize (esp if I am a repeat user), not a generic way of eliminating bad results, or just one sort option. Similarly, for hotels, show me the kind of rooms I have booked before, or the ones others like me have booked (item - item recommendation) which does not happen right now. With destination suggestion, a feature quite a few OTAs are trying to incorporate, tell the places I should go to. That does not even happens with experience/activity searches either, even when those are made on the same website.