Study Shows Niche Travel Sites Offer Less Options than the Big 4

Filed in archive Travel News on June 14, 2008

© digiart2001



A last minute survey on accommodation availability for Dublin's festivities on St. Patrick's Day revealed the discrepancies between the rooms available using European specialist travel sites and the options from the "Big Four" travel sites.

Oddly enough, the Top Four travel sites yielded better results for local accommodations.

The following sites were compared:

Booking.com vs Expedia.com (NASDAQ:EXPE)
Lastminute.com vs Orbitz.com (NYSE:OWW)
Laterooms.com vs Travelocity.com
Opodo.co.uk vs priceline.com (NASDAQ:PCLN)

Survey results can be viewed at http://www.hotelscombined.com/AboutUs/Press/StPatricks.aspx

The winner was clearly Orbitz.com. The other sites, Expedia, Travelocity and Priceline were used very frequently to book rooms. Laterooms.com performed as well as some of the major brands, but this was an exception.

It seems odd that regional sites with good connections and room availability would actually offer LESS options for customers than the bigger travel sites, but given the global popularity of the Big 4 sites, this is not that surprising.