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The idea of a ‘connected trip’ has long been mentioned by Booking Holdings’ CEO, Glen Fogel, with the idea to create a frictionless experience for customers when using the company. COVID-19 presented the opportunity for the company to take this exploration further and this idea may act as a tool to help heal Booking Holdings in its lengthy recovery process.

Q3 2020 results for the global booking agent continued to demonstrate the impact of COVID-19, as gross travel bookings declined 47% YOY to US$13.3bn. Since Q2 however, there has been significant improvement created by domestic tourism recovery as the company posted an adjusted EBITDA of US$1billion in Q3, compared to a US$376million loss in Q2. With national lockdowns and increased restrictions being reinforced across Europe, the company expects this to change to an adjusted EBITDA loss for the last quarter of 2020.

Glen Fogel declared COVID-19 recovery will take years – not months – and is therefore prepared for a long recovery. Expedia Group – Booking Holdings’ primary rival within the OTA space has made similar statements regarding COVID-19 recovery. Operating globally and with a multitude of brands, Bookings’ ‘connected trip’ idea may help to create efficiency within the booking process, giving it the ‘upper-hand’ to said rivals.

‘Connected trip’ will facilitate one platform for all bookings

GlobalData’s latest consumer survey (7th – 11th October 2020) found that 56% of 5,500 respondents from 11 markets worldwide said that they are ‘always’ and ‘often’ influenced by how a product aligns with time and money constraints. Personalization has also been a long-standing trend circulating the travel sector and how a product/service is tailored to an individual’s personality, is also highly sought after (53% – identified within the same survey).

Saving time, money and offering that ultimate ‘personalized’ service, individual needs will be adhered to on one central platform through the ‘connected trip’.

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Flights, hotels, transport, bookings for restaurants, attractions, etc. will all be offered through one primary platform, working towards the ‘seamless’ travel experience that many travelers desire. These would be offered through the combination of its six primary consumer facing brands including Kayak (travel metasearch engine), Priceline (discount OTA in America), Agoda (OTA and metasearch in Asian market), Rentalcars.com (online car rental), OpenTable (online restaurant reservations) and its flagship brand – Booking.com.

Expedia Group remains Bookings’ primary competitor within the OTA space. If the ‘connected trip’ concept is successful in line with travel recovery, this may be set to impact Expedia’s position as Booking may take a larger share of the market.