Why/How we interviewed him: Fung works for a hotel franchisee and previously worked for a hotel chain. We wanted to learn more about affiliate marketing, and how hotels use various platforms to sell rooms.
What hypothesis we tested: Hotel chains wouldn't be interested in using another channel to sell rooms. What we really wanted to learn: Can travel platforms (apps) get revenue from hotel bookings. What we learned from this interview: Hotels use affiliate marketing to book left over rooms. Hotels prefer not to use these avenues, as they pay the platform a portion of the booking fee. The customers who book using platforms such as Expedia, Priceline, etc. usually pay the lowest prices, but are also the most demanding of hotel resources, so individual hotels use this channel tentatively. In his experience, they sell excess capacity to one company, who would then place the available rooms on multiple platforms (he was only able to speak on the hotels he worked at). It is definitely possible to get into this space, as long as the hotels can get rid of extra rooms on your platform. What surprised us: Fung also plans an annual trip consisting of 12 people. He has been travelling with this group of friends for several years now. Tasks get distributed based on people's expertise and comfort zone. However, he still thought there might be some value in our planning application, as he's realized everyone is always worried about everyone else having fun. Having a tool that has the ability to vote on a choice of accommodations, activities, etc, could relieve some of the stress around the anxiety around making sure everyone is having fun. Other interesting outcomes: Fung thought polling should begin with destinations. With his annual group trip, deciding on a location is when the planning process began. Fung also noticed, that many planners don't trust anyone else to do anything on a group trip, because it needs to be "done exactly right."
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AuthorThe Orca team is a group of second year Haas MBAs dedicated to bringing fun back to the logistics of group travel Archives
November 2016
Link to Full Interview Notes |