TWO SIDES OF THE SAME INDUSTRY: AN ANALYSIS OF THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN HOTELS AND ONLINE TRAVEL AGENCIES. Maxime Bollette Dissertation submitted as partial requirement for the conferral of Master in International Management Supervisor: António Vieira da Silva, Invited Associate Professor, ISCTE Business School October 2018 . L AGENCIES ELS AND TRAVE ELS ONLINE Maxime Bollette TIONSHIP BETWEEN TIONSHIP HOT ANALYSIS OF THE RELA THE OF ANALYSIS 2 Abstract Nowadays most people know brands like Booking.com, Expedia and Airbnb. When someone wants to book an accommodation, they usually book through an intermediary, known as Online Travel Agency or OTA. However, it is not well-understood what is the true influence that OTAs have on hotels, the core strength of their business, nor is it known what the impacts are on consumers. This dissertation tries to define the scope of influence that they have over hotels’ booking channels and the impact on consumers. Since OTAs’ ramifications span the entire world, this paper only defines their influence in Belgium, so as to reduce the scope of this research. This academic paper starts with an analysis of the background of OTAs. Then gives an explanation of OTA business models, pros and cons and what can be expected in the future. The analysis of different types of OTA or related businesses offers an understanding as to how they impact consumers. Next, an overview of the hospitality industry in Belgium is provided with data from 2007 to 2017. Changes in legislation throughout the European Union which are relevant to the subject are explained and the impacts on hotels and OTAs are analysed. After that, a quantitative survey about Belgian consumers is presented, from the way they book accommodations to what services they expect. Lastly, qualitative interviews with hotel managers complete the study. They provide an understanding as to how OTAs influence hotels and how hotel managers cope with this relationship. Keywords: - Hotel industry - Travel Agencies - Technological Change - Belgium JEL classification system: L830 - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism Z310 - Tourism: Industry Studies 2 Resumo Hoje em dia, marcas como Booking.com, Expedia e Airbnb são conhecidas por grande parte da população. Quando alguém pretende fazer uma reserva de acomodação, a tendência é optar por reservar através de um intermediário, sendo mais conhecido no léxico do turismo como Online Travel Agency ou OTA. No entanto, não é verdadeiramente percetível a influência que as OTAs exercem sobre os hotéis- que são a sua principal força, nem é conhecido os impactos nos consumidores. Esta tese académica pretende, assim, definir o âmbito de influência que as OTAs têm sobre os canais de reserva da indústria hoteleira e o seu impacto nos consumidores. Ainda que, os ramos das OTAs abrangem todo o mundo, de forma a reduzir o âmbito da pesquisa, o foco desta dissertação apenas se debruçará sobre a sua influência no mercado belga. Esta tese académica começa por analisar o contexto das OTAs, apresentando os modelos de negócios das OTAs, os seus prós e contras, e o que é expectável no futuro acerca desta matéria. Será ainda analisado os diferentes tipos de OTAs e negócios relacionados, propondo ainda uma explicção de como impactam o consumidor. Em seguida, é apresentada uma visão geral da indústria da hotelaria na Bélgica, entre 2007 a 2017. Incluindo ainda, uma análise sobre as mudanças na legislação na União Europeia, assim como o seu impacto nos hotéis e OTAs. Seguidamente, é apresentada uma pesquisa quantitativa sobre os consumidores belgas, desde a forma como reservam acomodações e serviços relacionados e as suas expectativas. Por fim, é apresentado entrevistas qualitativas com gerentes de hotéis de modo a completar o estudo, explicando como os OTAs influenciam os hotéis e como os gerentes de hotéis lidam com esse relacionamento. Keywords: - Hotel industry - Travel Agencies - Technological Change - Belgium JEL classification system: L830 - Sports; Gambling; Restaurants; Recreation; Tourism Z310 - Tourism: Industry Studies 3 Acknowledgments I would like to thank my supervisor, Professor António Vieira Da Silva, for his support throughout the process of writing this academic paper. Moreover, I want to express my thanks to all my interviewees, from the quantitative and qualitative surveys, for taking the time to answer all my questions. I also want to thank my family and friends for the support throughout these months, working on this paper. A special note of thanks to Natascha Huls and Antoine Trotta for proofreading this work and offering alternative ideas. I also want to thank Elodie Leduc for offering her opinion and new angles to take on this work. Lastly, thank you to ISCTE Business School for allowing me to take this Master’s program in International Management and all the knowledge that was imparted throughout. To all, I am deeply thankful. 4 Table of contents 1. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................. 8 1.1. RESEARCH MOTIVATION ................................................................................................ 9 1.2. METHODS .................................................................................................................... 10 2. LITERATURE REVIEW ............................................................................................... 11 2.1. HISTORICAL DEVELOPMENT ........................................................................................ 11 2.1.1. Economic context ................................................................................................ 11 2.1.2. Technological context ......................................................................................... 13 2.1.3. Sociological context ............................................................................................ 14 2.1.4. Recent developments ........................................................................................... 15 2.2. ONLINE TRAVEL AGENCY BUSINESS MODEL ................................................................ 18 2.2.1. Booking.com ........................................................................................................ 18 2.2.2. Expedia ............................................................................................................... 21 2.3. ALTERNATIVE MODEL ................................................................................................. 24 2.3.1. Airbnb ................................................................................................................. 24 2.4. META SEARCH ENGINES .............................................................................................. 27 2.4.1. Trivago ................................................................................................................ 27 2.4.2. Google Hotel Ads ................................................................................................ 29 2.5. REVIEW PAGE PLATFORM ............................................................................................ 35 2.5.1. TripAdvisor ......................................................................................................... 35 2.6. LITERATURE REVIEW SUMMARY .................................................................................. 38 3. METHODOLOGY .......................................................................................................... 39 4. CRITICAL ANALYSIS .................................................................................................. 43 4.1. HOSPITALITY INDUSTRY IN BELGIUM .......................................................................... 43 4.2. EUROPEAN UNION LEGISLATION ................................................................................. 51 4.3. INTERVIEWS ................................................................................................................ 54 4.3.1. Customer survey .................................................................................................. 54 4.3.2. Hotel interviews .................................................................................................. 66 4.4. CRITICAL ANALYSIS SUMMARY ................................................................................... 70 5. CONCLUSION ................................................................................................................ 71 6. BIBLIOGRAPHY ............................................................................................................ 74 7. APPENDICES .................................................................................................................. 80 Index of figures FIGURE 1: WEB TRAFFIC VOLUME PER DEVICES IN BELGIUM ..................................................... 17 FIGURE 2: PERCENTAGE OF ARRIVAL IN BELGIUM PER LODGING TYPE IN 2017 .......................... 43 FIGURE 3: NUMBER OF HOTELS IN BELGIUM FROM 2011 TO 2017 .............................................. 44 FIGURE 4: NUMBER OF ARRIVAL IN BELGIUM DURING 2007-2017 FOR ALL LODGING TYPES ..... 45 FIGURE 5: BELGIAN ARRIVALS IN BELGIUM DURING 2007-2017 FOR ALL LODGING TYPES ........ 46 FIGURE 6: FOREIGNER ARRIVALS IN BELGIUM DURING 2007-2017 FOR ALL LODGING TYPES .... 46 FIGURE 7: ARRIVALS BETWEEN BELGIANS, EUROPEAN UNION CITIZENS AND OTHERS .............. 47 FIGURE 8: NUMBER OF OVERNIGHT STAYS IN BELGIUM PER REGION IN 2017 ............................