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His complaint seems to be that users are shown links for aggregators rather than links for individual hotels. I don't know about you, but when I google "Las Ve

by Kalium 12y ago

His complaint seems to be that users are shown links for aggregators rather than links for individual hotels. I don't know about you, but when I google "Las Vegas hotels", I don't want to be shown Rio, Palms, Bally's, or Mandalay Bay at the top. I want an aggregator so I can compare and make my own decision. The same applies to flights - there's a reason I use Hipmunk and Orbitz instead of united.com. Aggregators can offer more value to a shopping consumer than a hotel's site does. That's why Google is giving users what they generally want - a shopping user wants the ability to make comparisons.

pessimizer 12y ago
>I don't know about you, but when I google "Las Vegas hotels", I don't want to be shown Rio, Palms, Bally's, or Mandalay Bay at the top. I want an aggregator so I can compare and make my own decision. I don't. I'm not sure why you assume your opinion is universal. I want a bunch of hotels and their marketing pitches, then I want to go to my favorite aggregator to price compare. All having the aggregators come up does is create an aggregation tax that every vendor has to pay - and each aggregator gives me a limited view of the market while giving the impression that it is the entire thing e.g. the lowest price on Orbitz is the lowest price amongst the people who pay Orbitz, not the lowest price, and since Orbitz takes a fee, businesses that pay Orbitz are going to be marginally higher cost than businesses who don't. Those aggregators are just more gatekeepers. I prefer aggregators that perform a function for me, and are beholden to me only.
- Kalium 12y ago
  I think that way because it's the common shopping experience that consumer life is based around. It's familiar to most people. When you shop, do you only do business with companies that sell only their own products? Or do you buy your groceries form a store that carries multiple brands of milk?
spanishlady 12y ago
I think the writer is referring to the vacation rental industry not to hotels, which is a different ballgame altogether and where customers DO want to make comparisons and often to make decisions which are purely priced-based, for convenience. In the holiday rental business the quality of the experience for the customer should be at the top of the agenda, and this is where the aggregators have got it totally wrong, in their search for shareholder value. If you search in one of the big sites the first several pages are occupied by those properties which are going to bring the most revenue to the aggregator and which in many cases are in turn inventory provided by another site with little or no knowledge of the individual properties. You will probably never get tot he well managed properties with many 5 star reviews owned by individuals who care about your holiday experience because they are not worth as much to the aggregator so they are right at the bottom of the lists. If the aggregator cared about your holiday they would be at the top and possibly over the long term this would bring him more revenue because travellers would come to know that they could find the best properties quickly. You also cannot get to actually speak to an owner of any of the properties on the several first pages because they are all on commission rather than subscription and obviously they don't want you bypassing their system and paying the owner. Long term this is very bad for the industry and in particular for guests.

by Kalium 12y ago

pessimizer 12y ago

>I don't know about you, but when I google "Las Vegas hotels", I don't want to be shown Rio, Palms, Bally's, or Mandalay Bay at the top. I want an aggregator so I can compare and make my own decision. I don't. I'm not sure why you assume your opinion is universal. I want a bunch of hotels and their marketing pitches, then I want to go to my favorite aggregator to price compare. All having the aggregators come up does is create an aggregation tax that every vendor has to pay - and each aggregator gives me a limited view of the market while giving the impression that it is the entire thing e.g. the lowest price on Orbitz is the lowest price amongst the people who pay Orbitz, not the lowest price, and since Orbitz takes a fee, businesses that pay Orbitz are going to be marginally higher cost than businesses who don't. Those aggregators are just more gatekeepers. I prefer aggregators that perform a function for me, and are beholden to me only.

Kalium 12y ago
I think that way because it's the common shopping experience that consumer life is based around. It's familiar to most people. When you shop, do you only do business with companies that sell only their own products? Or do you buy your groceries form a store that carries multiple brands of milk?

spanishlady 12y ago

I think the writer is referring to the vacation rental industry not to hotels, which is a different ballgame altogether and where customers DO want to make comparisons and often to make decisions which are purely priced-based, for convenience. In the holiday rental business the quality of the experience for the customer should be at the top of the agenda, and this is where the aggregators have got it totally wrong, in their search for shareholder value. If you search in one of the big sites the first several pages are occupied by those properties which are going to bring the most revenue to the aggregator and which in many cases are in turn inventory provided by another site with little or no knowledge of the individual properties. You will probably never get tot he well managed properties with many 5 star reviews owned by individuals who care about your holiday experience because they are not worth as much to the aggregator so they are right at the bottom of the lists. If the aggregator cared about your holiday they would be at the top and possibly over the long term this would bring him more revenue because travellers would come to know that they could find the best properties quickly. You also cannot get to actually speak to an owner of any of the properties on the several first pages because they are all on commission rather than subscription and obviously they don't want you bypassing their system and paying the owner. Long term this is very bad for the industry and in particular for guests.