Carlson survey bashes online 'myth' - TravelMole


Carlson survey bashes online ‘myth’

Saturday, 16 Mar, 2005 0

GTMC Conference Special: Booking hotels cheaper online has been exposed as a myth by a new Carlson Wagonlit study.

It revealed rooms booked through traditional agents were as cheap, if not cheaper than their online rivals in the vast majority of cases.

The survey also showed there was more availability in virtually every comparison.

Carlson Wagonlit worldwide hotel and car relations vice president David Witham said the survey – which checked all the major online players and has been independently verified – proved online was not all it is cracked up to be.

Unveiling the results at the Guild of Travel Management Companies conference in Oman, Witham said: “We had the highest availability 96% of the time and had the lowest price or joint lowest price 70% of the time.

“You can occasionally find the lowest price on online but it’s certainly not a given.”

Time spend searching online – only to find rooms were unavailable – was also prohibitive while prices were not always transparent, the survey revealed. He said some online companies displayed a message admitting the tax showed “may not bear resemblance” to the true cost.

“We have to educate the traveller to go to TMC’s,” said Witham.

“The survey showed we do extremely well on price and availability through GDS’s.

We can beat online travel agents.”

Report by Steve Jones



 


profileimage

Ginny McGrath



Most Read

Mark Jaronski of Explore Georgia on FIFA World Cup 2026

Connecting Small Businesses to Global Tourism Markets: Nate Huff of Tourism Exchange

North Carolina’s Resilience: Wit Tuttell on Recovery and Tourism

Kittipong Prapattong’s Plan for Thailand’s Tourism Growth: Taxes, Visas, and Campaigns

James Jin: Didatravel’s Journey from China to Global Reach and the Impact of AI on Travel

Darien Schaefer on Pensacola’s Evolution: From Small Town to Global Destination

Florida Tourism’s Next Frontier: Dana Young on Expanding Beyond the Classics

Patrick Harrison on Tampa Bay Tourism’s Resilience and Marketing Strategy

Bubba O’Keefe on Clarksdale’s Vibrant Music Scene

Commemorating Elvis and Embracing Tupelo’s Culture with Jennie Bradford Curlee

Craig Ray and the Expansion of the Blues Trail

Presenting Mississippi’s Cultural Trails with Katie Coats
TRAINING & COMPETITION

Our emails to you has bounced travelmole.com Or You can change your email from your profile Setting Section

Your region selection will be saved in your cookie for future visits. Please enable your cookie for TravelMole.com so this dialog box will not come up again.

Price Based Country test mode enabled for testing United States (US). You should do tests on private browsing mode. Browse in private with Firefox, Chrome and Safari