Not so, say the metas and OTAs in a recent EyeforTravel report, which points to the growing power of the smartphone to deliver bookings

In the world of online travel the big OTAs, like booking.com and Expedia and metasearch players like Skyscanner, Kayak, Trivago and TripAdvisor wield huge and growing power with the consumer. The OTA’s may have the biggest budgets but the metas arguably have an increasing hold over the consumer – and they too are spending more to raise their profile. The ‘stay in a Trivago hotel’ campaign is one that springs to mind. 

So it's worth noting where they are focusing their energy. In the third of EyeforTravel’s recent Mobile in Travel Report series, we hear exactly how important the mobile channel is for executives in the OTA and metasearch space. And here are a handful of standout stats:

• 80% of executives in this space see mobile as business critical; in fact only 2.8% of those surveyed believed mobile wasn’t critical to growing their business
• 56% of those executives have increased their investment over the past three months

That’s particularly interesting when you consider that approximately the same number hotel executives are less convinced.

• Only 26% of the hotel executives believe apps actually work
• 49% of hotel executives will increase investment in mobile in the next three months

Mobile in Hospitality Industry Report

One big question is this: are the days of desktop numbered? Well it seems that OTA and metasearch executives believe that while the desktop may still be top dog, the gap is narrowing.

• 50.2% of executives believe that the biggest growth in booking volumes would come from the desktop
• 46.4% arguing that growth in bookings would come from smartphones.

Mobile’s role as a whole for OTAs and metasearch is focused on two strategic aims with similar numbers of executives (close to 65%) believing that it's not only a way to drive engagement, it can also generate direct bookings. What’s clear is that executives in these two sectors see mobile as a vital tool and the channel will be a major focus for the next 12 months.

Executives argue that not investing in mobile is a big risk – even if it may still be hard to measure an accurate ROI. They also have a stark word of warning: don’t be overly simplistic and rely last-click attribution because mobile is now very much a part of the multichannel environment and being used in the research phase.

Click here to download the Mobile in the Online Travel Agent and Travel Metasearch Industry Report