Reverse travel auctions

Bernard

1. Reverse travel auctions’ history

• General definition: A reverse auction mean that the buyers and the seller roles are reversed. In fact the buyer post his wish and the sellers compete to obtain business, that make the price decrease. This type of business gained popularity in the 90’s.

• Now days: Patented by Priceline.com, reverse auctions are most commonly used to sell airplane tickets and hotel rooms.

• (source wikipedia; answer.com)

2. How it work • A buyer post on a

web site the product that he want to buy.

• Sellers make their price proposition bidding against each other

• The buyer compare and chose the lower price .

www.reverseauctions.com

3. A travel reverse auctions site

• I chose to study Priceline web site. • They have a traditional OTA way to sell travel

and they propose the Name Your Own Price® that is travel reverse auctions.

Type of hotel in Priceline.com

• Groups: Marriott, Accord…

• Independent: hotel Gabriel…

• Franchise: Best western

• All stars ranking

4. customers advice

• Wikipedia: give informations, history and process http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reverse_auction

• Reverseauctions.com: give informations, history and process, and a FAQ

• They are more website for companies advice.(cio.com).

5.Key points

• The bidder is the seller and not the buyer.• The buyer post his wish on the website proposing reverse

auctions• For an hotel on priceline.com he gives the destination, the

check in/check out, the level of stars and his price (the site give an estimation to help the client)

• The buyer give his identity • The buyer receive their different offers, bidding the lower price• The buyer choose and pay for the better seller (lower

price/best services) • The buyer receive the product our service.

6.Conclution

Reverse auctions are a good way to make business for hotel.

To be efficient, he have to be reactive on this market, it’s a real way to optimized the low period, by getting over type of clients.

It could be a way to know what are ready to propose your competitors in a giving period.

On my opinion, the hotel should give this mission to the reservation service, to a responsible person who shake every days the Reverse auctions opportunities.