Can travel portals match the might of Google?

The next big technological disruption in the travel industry is round the corner, thanks to internet giant, Google.

The American multinational’s new service called Google Flights will make it difficult for online travel agents (OTAs) such as makemytrip.com  and  yatra.com  to exist in their current form. Just as travel agents were marginalised after OTAs appeared on the scene, Google Flights might force the travel portals to change their business models.

“Now, you can search directly for flights within Google or access  google.co.in/flights  to quickly find, compare and book flights from your mobile device, tablet or desktop,” Google said in an official blog post.

“Going by Google's innovative legacy, the entry in the online travel sector is likely to be one more technological disruption that will redefine the market with its new flight booking tool,” says Sandeep Ladda, India technology leader, PwC India.

The flight search tool has its origins in Google’s acquisition of ITA Software in 2010 for $700 million. ITA was a flight information software company.

Google Flights allows customers to use the Calendar feature  to scroll through months and see the lowest fare highlighted for each day. In case the customer wants to dig deeper, he can use the lowest fares graph beneath the Calendar to check how the prices may fluctuate based on the season or holidays.

The customer can also set preferences (such as direct flights only) and the Calendar will show the specific information. Not just that, it also tips you on cheaper flights.

The tool also works as your travel agent. If you want to go to a beach destination, but aren’t particularly bothered about the place, Google Flights gives air fares across continents along with filters for your flight preferences. And if you still don’t get your choice, try the “I’m Feeling Lucky” button on the map and the tool will give options based on popular destinations and the customer’s past search history.

However, the OTAs don’t entirely agree that Google Flights can disrupt their business.  

“We think this will have limited success in the India, as the consumer pricing in the market is fairly homogenous across airlines & OTAs,” says a spokesperson of travel portal Cleartrip. “Also, most of the trusted OTA service brands are not present in the Google Fight search product and hence the service outcomes for consumers might be different from what they have experienced so far. Having said this, we wish them all the best,” the spokesperson added. Goibibo.com is the first travel portal in India to partner Google Flights.

Google did not respond to queries. Makemytrip, one of the biggest OTAs in the country, declined to participate in the story.

Cleartrip’s spokesperson claimed that the search tool has several missing links. In India consumers usually prefer, say an Indigo flight for one leg of the journey and a Spicejet flight for the return. “In this product, the consumer is forced to pick the same airline on both the legs. So it might have repercussions on pricing,” he said.

But Cleartrip and other OTAs don’t seem to have taken into consideration that the favourite search engine on internet is Google.

Everytime a customer uses Google to search flights, the data will be used by the multinational for its own flight search tool. “Google could achieve presence across the entire fulfilment chain, starting from flight search to booking. The online travel aggregators who find their place in the value-chain in question, are likely to get affected by the loss of transaction fee revenues,” says Ladda of PwC. 

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