
Ask HN: How to Disrupt Booking.com / Expedia? - valueprop
Hi HN,<p>We are 2 engineers working full-time on a hotel booking solution with no commission, instead of 18% practiced by sites such as Booking.com &#x2F; Expedia. Hotels hate this commission, but they keep paying since Booking &#x2F; Expedia bring customers.<p>Tourists know about these brands and go there to book hotels, even though there are hundreds of other booking &amp; meta-search solutions. Note that they won&#x27;t find better prices, since hotels aren&#x27;t allowed by Booking&#x2F;Expedia to post better prices online. So a site with a smaller commission can&#x27;t post cheaper prices. Booking&#x2F;Expedia also &#x27;price match&#x27;, just in case a tourist manages to find a better price. There&#x27;s an exception with https:&#x2F;&#x2F;bidroom.com&#x2F; , which shows better prices after registration, so not &#x27;publicly&#x27;.<p>Tourists also prefer Booking &#x2F; Expedia since their booking is guaranteed and payment is safe with these known brands.<p>Would you have any out-of-the-box ideas on how one could disrupt these booking sites? Obviously, if there would be any straightforward steps, you&#x27;d do it yourself. However, if you don&#x27;t have the time to work on it, but have interesting suggestions, would you please share for others to consider?<p>Thanks!
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teyo
Heya :) I work in this exact area it's tough but not impossible (based on over
20 years industry experience). You are right that hotels hate the commission,
actually even more they hate the way they are treated by the big agencies and
they are held basically hostage by the massive advertising spends of the big
players.

It's an uphill battle, and a slow one, but chances are now things might
actually take a turn for the better because the OTAs have suffered under the
crisis too. There's a lot of similar projects out there as yours, but it's
also a huge market. It takes a lot of work on the consulting side, because
hotels are an industry that's ages behind other digitally-capable businesses.
So you should look more to changing their mind than looking at the guest side,
trust me on this.

I'd be happy to talk and share what I know, we need every hand we can get to
turn the situation around. I also work directly with Google Hotel Ads and can
share some insights there. Ping me on the email that's in my profile, there's
a lot to explain and it would take a book haha.

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billme
Might be helpful to state:

\- what your current business model is;

\- business models you attempted, but abandoned;

\- reasoning of why the current model is broken besides an existing company
having a monopoly;

\- what you’re break even profit needs are

\- what jurisdiction you’re in and plan to target;

\- prior experience in the hospitality industry.

——

Lastly, (1) do you have any proof of “hotels hate this commission” other than
your assumption that no one likes spending more money on a transaction than
needed? Ask because unless you have researched this, the reasoning for why
hotels use booking services might be that it’s cheaper than marketing their
inventory themselves. (2) My understanding is the largest player in this space
is now Google, how do you intent to deal with Google?

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valueprop
Thanks! We are exploring business models. If there's traction with low
operating&marketing costs, we can afford not to charge a commission, but
instead charge later for optional premium services/functionality. bidroom.com
charges tourists instead.

Prior experience in the hospitality industry: none. Just started a few months
ago.

(1) That's a good point. Didn't consider the marketing costs for the hotel
direct bookings.

(2) Do you refer to
[https://www.google.com/travel/](https://www.google.com/travel/) and
[https://ads.google.com/hotels/](https://ads.google.com/hotels/) ?

We looked at these. Since hotels aren't allowed to post best prices for direct
bookings, a tourist will see in the booking list:

Expedia $100; Booking $100; Direct (or hotel name) $100

Without a better price, they'll choose one of the known brands.

Any suggestions on how to tackle Google Hotel Ads?

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billme
Honestly, unless you’re able to find a way to exploit the downturn related to
the global pandemic, in a way that you’re able to maintain growth post
pandemic, my advice would be to pick a new industry, since this is one of the
industries that is in my opinion well know for killing countless startups.

If I had to give a singular piece of advice, I would suggest contacting large
enterprises that still book hotel rooms, find the person who has the most
control over bookings, and ask them, as it relates to the pandemic, if there’s
service they feel is missing. B2B business has a much longer time to revenue,
but the revenue is much more predictable. This would also solve the issue of
Google, since they’re focusing to my knowledge on consumer market.

Lastly, this is a very regulated industries, I would suggest getting off the
record advice from attorneys on potential legal issues based on any model you
do find a product market fit for.

~~~
valueprop
Appreciate your insight! Will seriously consider that.

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phillipseamore
I've seen this a million times. No one accounts for the marketing spend, and
they all fail.

