SERKO RAMPS UP HOTEL NETWORK

SERKO CEO Darrin Grafton is one step closer to achieving his vision of providing a “one stop shop” for Travel Management Companies (TMCS) after last month partnering with Expedia Affiliate Network (EAN) to expand the company’s position in the hotel space. Marking a landmark deal for the company, Serko rubber stamped a deal with EAN to tap into the booming low-cost hotel market. Going one step further than Serko’s existing agreements with hotel aggregators AOT and the Lido Group, the tie up adds more than 120,000 properties to Serko’s inventory. But more importantly, it dramatically expands Serko Online’s low-cost hotel inventory and allows TMCS to integrate cheaper properties into corporate bookings. Speaking with Grafton explained that Online Booking Tools (OBTS) such as Serko Online experienced around 36% of “leakage” – a term used to describe bookings which are secured outside of OBTS because clients prefer to book low-cost products that are not available in the inventory. Often, he explained, TMCS book flights and rental cars via OBTS, but secure hotel deals via sites such as Expedia to secure better prices for their clients. But with Expedia now on Serko’s books, Grafton said leakage to hotel aggregators was likely to decrease as more content outside of the GDS was integrated to the company’s online booking platform. “We were seeing a substantial amount of leakage to Expedia and other hotel providers, so we saw a need to provide a program and a framework that enables us to connect to that content,” he said. Grafton said expanding the hotel network was a “logical step” after the company built low-cost airlines into its program several years ago, adding that Expedia was the first company to “put its hand up” and move the plan forward. But Expedia is only the beginning, he said, adding that similar deals with Wotif and Booking.com are currently in the pipeline, while Flight Centre’s Quickbeds is likely to join the ranks in the coming months. “The next step for us is to open the platform up to all hotel providers. We’ve got the connection but now we want to build on the framework and we hope to have all hotel providers within the Asia Pacific region connected to our platform in the next 6-12 months,” he said. Moving forward, Grafton also pointed to further growth plans with the goal of providing a single platform for all travel channels with seamless booking functionality. “I don’t believe anyone wants to book via six sources on direct sites and then manage changes, and our ideal scenario is to provide one application that manages all of it,” he said. He flagged taxi bookings and car transfers as ideal opportunities for Serko Online, noting that both components were currently lost to leakage. Leisure products such as dinner reservations and event tickets were other likely additions, particularly as more corporations open leisure spend on their corporate programs. Grafton also reiterated the importance of travel agents in the booking process, and said boosting the capabilities of OBTS will ultimately support consultants and help to combat the effects of direct bookings. “Supporting travel agents and keeping content in the OBT enables them to focus on providing their service to customers. We are focused on enabling travel agents to use it so they can add their benefits and provide a holistic view of the travel industry,” Grafton concluded.