How to improve customer loyalty in European Online Travel Agencies in the leisure segment

Abstract

Many online travel agencies (OTAs) in Europe are struggling to stay profitable, and one of the key challenges has been how to make loyal customers. At the moment travelers are just browsing for the cheapest price, and as the profit margins of many OTAs are already low, there is a need to find ways to make the buyer to book from an OTA even though they do not necessarily offer the lowest price. This research paper studies what creates customer loyalty and how can the OTAs create it. Discussed topics include how the travel market has survived the global financial crisis and how it also altered European travelling trends. It not only focuses on how customer loyalty programs can increase OTAs value proposition, but also opposes a high risk as they require a lot of planning and finance in the long term.

Other topics include the importance of branding, how to analyze it and increase it. Also which channels should the OTAs focus their marketing efforts on, how and why to increase the use of social media? Finally the report also discusses the practical ways to make sure that the service quality of the OTAs is up to modern day standards.

In the last chapter this report gives European OTAs practical and actionable recommendations on how to go about towards each of these issues in order to resolve them and as an end result, gain more loyal customers.