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Meta-search role for specialist agents and operators
Specialist agents and smaller operators will have a role in the future as the internet develops from being price to product driven.
Talking about the future of meta-search, Internet Business Group chief executive Maz Darvish, who counts Henoo.com and cheapaccommodation.com among his portfolio, said those combining impartial advice with a forum for consumers to speak their minds would do well.
“Niche and small operators are going to do extremely well. In the first wave they were squeezed out because they did not have a voice and the bigger guys were in there selling on price but now they are going to be back in the forefront and do well.”
Darvish also predicted a come-back for the telephone as people seek a more personal experience.
“People want to speak to a human being who has actually been to Thailand. I’m not convinced that it is going to be 100% online. Consumers actually want the telephone we took telephone numbers off our sites and people were screaming to put them back on.”
Darvish also said the trend towards direct sell would continue and that no single meta-search player would dominate.
“It is very difficult to predict who the winners will be. Consumers are the ones to decide and it could be any of the guys that evolve from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0.”
Darvish was supported by a senior figure from market intelligence organisation PhocusWright.
Advisory service vice president John Bray said: “Web 2.0 or Travel 2.0 is going to be extremely disruptive because it is a buyer-centric society. Travel 1.0 was about price.”
Bray said that the past 10 years of the internet had bred any customer loyalty or trust in consumers.
“What we have now is online travel bazaars that consumers walk around unsure what they are going to find. For Travel 2.0 consumers will take charge. They will go from searching for the lowest fare to finding the perfect trip.”
Report by Linda Fox
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