Small businesses who book online could be missing out on substantial savings if they’re not using meta-search capabilities, says the American Small Business Travel Alliance (ASBTA).
Said Chet Gray, ASMTA vice president of sales and marketing:
“Traditional online travel agents — such as Expedia, Travelocity and Orbitz — are great, but new Web-based technologies called meta-search engines are rally changing the nature of booking travel online.”
He said meta-searchers can help travelers create additional savings by searching a number of online outlets to find the best fares and schedules for flight plans and hotel stays.
Like traditional travel search engines, meta-search engines provide small business travelers with a single location to search for the lowest prices on various travel services.
Unlike traditional search engines, however, meta-searching scours the entire internet for the best deals, rather than just the major vendors.
This means that meta-searches have the potential to uncover deals that might not be found on traditional search engines, according to Mr Gray.
A growing number of meta-search sites such as SideStep are cropping up on the internet.
“Many travel experts are touting meta-searches as the next best thing for the travel industry and project that this year will see a dramatic increase in the number of players in this segment,” said Mr Gray.
Report by David Wilkening
