What is an online travel agency (OTA)?
An online travel agency, also known as a virtual travel agent, is a company that provides its customers with access to travel products and services. These include hotels, rental cars, airline tickets, cruises and tours. The online travel agency (OTA) business model leverages partnerships, bundling, and travel information services to provide superior service to customers beyond centralizing prices like a typical meta search engine. OTAs are not limited to selling flights or hotel rooms; they can sell anything from ski lift tickets to car rentals and even hotel rooms. Some OTAs will also offer activities such as sightseeing tours or guided tours around popular destinations. The advantage of using an OTA is that it offers more flexibility when it comes to booking flights. For example, if you want to fly on Wednesday but all other airlines have sold out their seats for that day then you may be able to find one through an OTA. The disadvantage of using an OTA is that they usually charge higher prices than direct carriers because they have additional costs associated with running their business model such as advertising costs and commissions paid out to affiliates who refer customers directly onto their website (such as Expedia).
Benefits of using an OTA
It's obvious that anyone who travels a lot would benefit from an online travel agency. It can be difficult to keep track of all of the different airlines, hotels and car rental companies, especially if you're booking at the last minute. With an online travel agency, you can get access to hundreds of different companies at once and compare prices in a matter of seconds. The best part about these sites is that they make it easy for people who have never booked a trip before to do it themselves without having to call up a travel agent or visit their local travel agency in person.
