Whitey - 11:39 am on Sep 14, 2011 (gmt 0)

Can't see OTA's in the game in 5 years time in the US/Canadian domestic scene. Google has way more resources to out muscle any OTA. Also many points in Europe and around the globe, but not all places. Some servcing is too complex and some areas are dominated by brands that can reject Google

But ....

First you get the display > direct to airline
>> bye bye OTA flight search competitive advantage
Then Google put's widgets through it's publishing network
>> bye bye OTA's and their affiliates

Then Google integrates a booking funnel
>> introduce hotel search
>> integrate car rental
>> bye bye substantial slice of the OTA's hotel sales

Next comes improved hotel search
>> bye bye hotel control of channels , you have to sign up your site and hotel profiles ( give it time )
>> bye bye independent inventory tools, Google just bought the No1 hotel switch like ITA
>> hello hotel funnel , do you want flight / auto rental options ?

Next comes auto rental , cruises, restaurants , my mother in law

Then
>> bye bye any competing organic searches - i mean why would you need them if Google has all the info

I'm not sure how their monetization model or how the Fed intends to implement it's anti trust controls , but it's not pretty for the established OTA /Airline /Hotel markets in my view. Google has the position.

Gobble gobble Google goes the goose / US/Canadian travel industry

I wonder if China will control it's search engines this tightly in time.

[edited by: Whitey at 11:42 am (utc) on Sep 14, 2011]