Expedia, the operator of the travel booking website, has announced plans to further penetrate the Thai market with the launch of a new booking solution that promises to help travellers save money on hotel rooms.
Simon Fiquet, general manager for Southeast Asia and India at Brand Expedia, said the new service, called Expedia Add-on Advantage, was launched yesterday in Thailand.
The service will guarantee travellers a discount from participating hotels in Thailand and other countries if they book flights or packages (flight plus hotel) from Expedia.co.th.
"Travellers who have booked airline tickets from Expedia will be assured of getting a discount from 10% and up to 51% from our listed hotels," Mr Fiquet said.
In Thailand, 2,000-3,000 hotels are joining the new campaign. Participating airlines, however, will not give any discounts for travellers. All major airlines in Thailand are listed on Expedia.
Research conducted by Expedia earlier this year found that Thai travellers ranked No.1 in the region as the most frequent flyers, with an average of 10.1 flights taken a year.
Even so, just 36% of Thai people bundle their flight and hotel; 37% of them book flights first, before making hotel arrangements, so they may miss out on savings by not bundling them together.
Throughout Asia, travellers are closely divided between booking a flight first and then a hotel (43%) versus buying a travel package with a flight and hotel (38%), while relatively few would book a hotel first (9%).
Singaporean (64%), Malaysian (64%) and South Korean (63%) travellers are the likeliest to book a flight first.
The study found that tourists choosing to stay at big chain hotels seemed to dominate in most markets as a first or second choice (69% globally, 52% in Thailand), followed by boutique hotels (51% globally, 44% in Thailand). Other types of accommodation made up the rest.
"Our new service was created to give travellers more convenience and easier booking with more benefits," Mr Fiquet said. "We offer travellers a way to bundle and save, which will attract savvy travellers requiring more time and flexibility to book their trip."
After launching the service, Expedia believes it will help boost online booking, which has been growing in Thailand in recent years. Moreover, the service should encourage foreign tourists to travel to the country and strengthen tourism business in popular destinations for Thai people such as Japan and Taiwan.
According to Mr Fiquet, many millennial tourists are using social media for booking hotels and airfare, signalling continued growth for the online booking business in the future.
Online booking in the Asia and Pacific region increased by 10-15% last year, higher than the global rate of 4-5%.