#travelpayments #hospitality #travelagency #onlinetravel | Paul van Alfen

This article was written by a Hotel Marketing Flipboard. Click here to read the original article

𝗧𝗵𝗲 𝗨𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗲𝗻 𝗣𝗿𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝗧𝗿𝗮𝘃𝗲𝗹: 𝗗𝗶𝘀𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗯𝘂𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗼𝘀𝘁𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗛𝗶𝗱𝗱𝗲𝗻 𝗣𝗮𝘆𝗺𝗲𝗻𝘁𝘀

❝ Booking travel often involves intermediaries rather than directly interacting with the service provider. Each entity within this network, from the initial search to the final payment settlement, extracts a portion of the transaction value. While these middlemen offer market access and convenience, they introduce substantial cost layers that are rarely transparent to both the supplier and reseller, let alone the end customer.

Uncovering these hidden or at least not completely transparent costs is helpful for many reasons. First, no one likes to buy a pig in a poke. Second, if you know exactly where the revenue leak is, you can optimize the booking and payment process to reduce losses. Third, if you carefully evaluate all the services intermediaries provide, the higher price may seem fair, being part of a “value exchange”.

This article by AltexSoft aims to trace this complex financial journey systematically. ❞

🔹 Who pays for what in a distribution chain?
🔹 Hidden costs in payment processing
🔹 What else to consider: general strategies for transparency and cost optimization

With contributions from Ira Vouk, MBA, Tony Vardiman, Ann Cederhall, Mark Anthony Spiteri, Michael Duffy and Paul van Alfen.