HOT TALKS HOTEL INTEL WITH TRAVELIKO
Hotel Intel: Apart from 10 % commission and giving back to society, what other incentives are there for hotels that want to work with you?
Traveliko: The 10 % commission rate is by far the main reason hotels want to work with us. But, we also believe in creating a synergistic relationship with our hotel customers. We do not spend our marketing budget on Google Ad words, for example, to bid against our customers on their own keywords.
We believe that to be predatory. Instead, we use analytics and metrics to understand their customers better, and we have worked closely with large hotel chains in Southeast Asia to find out what they actually want from a new OTA in terms of features and services. The two most requested features that came up were 1. better insights into customers and their behavior and 2. different ways to sell their inventory and supplementary products such as packages, Spa, F & B and Activities.
We have listened, and we think the hotels are going to be very excited when they get to play with our new tools. That’ s all we can say about this for now.
Hotel Intel: For end customers, why would they book with Traveliko?
Traveliko: Firstly, we offer a more personal and empowering experience. Surprisingly few customers are aware that the hotels they see on the first page of a search, when using one of the big OTAs, are not necessarily the hotels that would fit them best. They are simply hotels that are commercially more interesting and likely more profitable to the OTA. Traveliko breaks that paradigm by providing a non-partial map display with all the hotels equally visible but with the right kind of customized filters.
Traveliko is all about showing you what fits you best. We focus on how travelers like to travel and we suggest them hotels that fit their existing lifestyles. This gives travelers the best choice and they will be overall happier with the hotel they stay with. We have also created a loyalty program that encourage traveler to engage with us and hotels more.
The main point is that we feel strongly about the charitable aspects that Traveliko represents and we have pledged to donate 20 % of the net commission we earn for each booking to charitable organizations. In practice, the users will be allocating our donation to the cause of their choice – Animal, People or Planet – at the end of the booking process. Everyone in Traveliko has worked hands-on with some form of charity, whether helping build a house, painting an orphanage, or making a playground for underprivileged kids.
The feeling of helping others is priceless, and we want to recreate that feeling for travellers. To that end, Traveliko partners with local grassroots organizations and NGOs in those places where we operate to offer projects we can commit to and report back on to our customers.
What Traveliko is not: We are not affiliated to any existing OTA We are not a niche OTA focusing on any specific market or inventory type
Hotelintel: What ' s your marketing plan to this to kick this all off? We cannot and do not want to compete against our giant online competitors who have very large budgets to spend on Google Ads and other search engines on a yearly basis. Traveliko aims to disrupt the online booking industry by becoming a bespoke online travel agent through offering better services using our new technology platform, our rewards and referral program, by word-of-mouth, through social media, and through genuine PR activities. Our brand pillars carry our marketing message and we intend to change the travel industry in a similar way.
Organic farming and product awareness are already changing the food industry. People eat better. We want to create an opportunity for people to travel and stay better. Ms. Natalie Glebova, a former Miss Universe, is Traveliko’ s Brand Ambassador and she is already helping us share those key messages with travellers, hotels and the media.
From small but genuine beginnings we are working hard to become a respected and viable alternative. Once customers try Traveliko for the first time, they will know what we mean and there will be no reason for them to book with other OTAs.
HOTELIER INDONESIA | 30th | Vol 14 | 2017 | www. hotelier-indonesia. com 59