We know that Expedia group is one
of the best travel technology company and
travel platform in the world. Expedia Group
is present in 200+ travel booking sites in
70+ countries, covers 45% international
revenue and has 24.000+ employees in
more than 30 countries. Can you please
tell us more about Expedia, its vision and
strategy and of course about your position
and responsibilities as a market specialist
in Armenia, Georgia, and Ukraine?
ou noted correctly that Expedia Group
is not just an OTA, it is indeed a travel-
platform, with the help of which the
traveler can completely form his/her trip:
starting from buying a ticket and booking
a hotel to renting a car and buying a cruise,
tickets to a concert or sightseeing tour. For
the corporate segment, there is a resource
Egencia that is also not limited to the offer
of new properties.
The company is focused on the customer
and aims to be locally relevant on a global
basis, therefore, in 2019, it will continue
to develop its customer products: add
new points of sale, localized for different
countries, add new suppliers (distributors)
(including
actively
engaging
new
accommodation facilities), expanding the
choice of currencies for mutual settlements
of payments with both guests and partners
and to achieve maximum competitiveness
of the supply.
In the frameworks of this strategy, Expedia
Group also actively cooperates with
local authorities to advertise new tourist
destinations on their websites. For example,
last year with the support of GNTA, an ad
campaign called “Visit Georgia” was held on
the website of Expedia, and before this, the
capital of Ukraine was actively advertised
on the initiative of the Kyiv Tourism
Department.
As a marketing specialist, I work with a
Y
portfolio of hotels in Armenia, Georgia,
and Ukraine. My main purpose is to help
partners cooperate with the Expedia Group
as efficiently as possible. Every market is
very different: each has its own specifics,
seasonality and its own advantages. So,
in my work there are no one-size-fits-all
solutions, I always act from the needs of a
particular region. This means that in one
period of time I can focus on conducting
webinars and training events for partners,
in another period I can actively engage in
finding new properties or help hoteliers
maximize their income during the high
season.
Within one region, the needs of hoteliers
are not identical as well: with someone, we
are purposefully working to increase the
share of non-refundable bookings, and
with someone, we focus on preserving
the leading positions in the rating.
How many properties (hotels,
hostels, guesthouses, and homes)
Expedia group represents in Armenia?
urrently, Expedia Group has more
than three hundred direct contracts
with various accommodation facilities in
Armenia. Most of these are classic hotels,
however, among the total number, there
are hostels, guest houses or apartment
clusters that correspond to certain
requirements. These are the exact places
that can be found on Expedia, Hotels.com,
Travelocity, Wotif and on other websites.
But, since Expedia Group includes
several brands, there is an opportunity
to differentiate our offer for a guest
and combine all alternative means of
accommodation (for example, single
apartments, cottages or villas) on our
other resources - HomeAway and VRBO
that are adapted to the search “ vacation
rentals “.
C
Anastasiya Romanova
Expedia Group - Market Associate
Georgia, Armenia, Ukraine