The global online travel industry is dominated by the big three OTAs (Online Travel Agency) below. They each manage multiple brands spanning the entire travel ecosystem and caters to various budgets.
| Category | Expedia Group | Booking Holdings | Trip.com Group |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flagship OTAs | Expedia, Hotels.com | Booking.com, Priceline, Agoda | Trip.com, Ctrip |
| Metasearch | Trivago | Kayak, Momondo, Cheapflights, HotelsCombined | Skyscanner |
| Vacation rentals | Vrbo | Booking.com (integrated) | Ctrip (integrated) |
| Flights/Trains | Travelocity, Orbitz, CheapTickets, ebookers | Rocketmiles | Qunar, Travix, TrainPal |
| Car rentals | Rentalcars.com | CarRentals.com | As OTA |
| Dining | OpenTable | Expedia Local Expert | Ctrip Gourmet List |
In my experience, I think Trip.com offers the best end-user usability, pricing, and loyalty program.
See my loyalty program reviews to learn more:
My short guidance is to use OTAs for:
- travel research
- booking LCC (low-cost carrier) flights
- hotels if you do not have status with a major hotel group
For major hotel groups, it will be cheaper to book direct than via an OTA. For large airlines, the majority of the time it will be cheaper to book direct than via an OTA. OTAs will sometimes offer better pricing based on some combination of seat reservation, flexible change/cancellation and included baggage that the airline does not offer.
The best OTA deals are when you book flight + hotel together. With Trip.com you also have the option to bundle insurance for an even simpler purchasing experience, flexible coverage and better pricing.
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