Payment choice bumps up bookings

EXPEDIA'S new traveller preference programme is showing early signs of boosting revenue for hotels through increased bookings.
The largest online travel company in the world, Expedia has been testing its Expedia Traveller Preference (ETP) programme with more than 1,400 hotels in Spain, Italy and Germany and says it is a "win-win" for travellers and hoteliers.
The system offers travellers a choice of paying at the time of booking (Expedia Collect) or on check out (Hotel Collect). And hotels testing the system say they are receiving more bookings when a traveller is offered a choice of how they would like to pay.
They also said ETP was improving value of bookings by increasing average length of stay by around five per cent. Hotels were moving up in online search results because travellers favoured the choice offered. Expedia now has more than 13,000 hotels signed up for the ETP programme.

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