What Need Does It Serve?
Booking Holdings is the largest online travel company in the world. In addition to its well-known namesake website Booking.com, the company operates Agoda.com, Villas.com, and Kayak.com. Customers can rent a hotel or book a vacation stay through these. In addition, the company also operates restaurant booking site OpenTable.com and car rental site RentalCars.com.
Has 3 Operating Segments-
1. Agency: These revenues consist almost entirely of travel reservation commissions, as well as certain reservation booking fees and travel insurance fees. Here, Booking Holdings acts as the “agent” for the third party that’s selling its services.
2. Merchant: This revenue comes
from transactions in which Booking Holdings, is the “merchant of record.”
Revenues are accounted for merchant services derived from transactions where travelers book accommodation reservations or rental car reservations from travel service providers.
3. Advertising: In addition to generating revenues from traditional advertising,
it also earns through sending referrals to online travel companies and travel service providers.
What Are The Alternatives?
Online Travel Companies: Expedia, Hotel Reservation Service, AutoEurope, Trip.com, MakeMyTrip, CarTrawler, Webjet
Alternate accommodations: Airbnb, HomeAway, Tujia, Xiaozhu, and individually owned properties such as homes and apartments
Technology Companies: Google, Facebook, Alibaba, Tencent, Amazon and Baidu
Traditional travel agencies
Meta-search services: Google Flights, Google Hotel Ads, TripAdvisor, Trivago, Qunar and Skyscanner
What Is The Basis of Competition?
Competition is based on cost of services provided by these major players listed above.