Google are actually very careful of treading on toes. If Google crossed into too many other industries they could possibly be split up due to anti-competitive behaviour. It's being talked about in the US and Canada. For this reason I don't think any Google site will actually retail to the public or allow a direct booking, they won't venture into classifieds even though they could be bigger than eBay. As much as it seems logical and easy money for them, they have a much better business model.
I am sure most people know how Adwords works, but doing the math shows how successful Google is. Google make upwards of $2 for every ad click in the travel sector. And the sites themselves make say $20-$40 per sale but might only convert at 1 in 10 or 1 in 20. This means that somewhere between 50% and 100% their margin from Adwords traffic is going to Google. The sites only get a good margin from email campaigns and repeat visits.
Look at Google's hotels search engine and you will see that it still redirects you to other sites. If you do a few searches you will see that Wotif still has a good presence here. The main pain comes from external competition and the fact that Google aggregates prices from these multiple sources. The only minor problem is that Google again has paid ads on this platform, exactly the same as Adwords. But you can see this is inline with their chosen business model.
Someone might say if anyone can build a website and get it indexed in Google Hotels then things are going to get tougher. However, very few smaller hotels have websites that are up to scratch. So, you still have barriers to entry at the hotel side of things. People are slow to change their systems if they work. Whoever issues the software/website for hotels to manage the bookings, modify prices, set vacancies, etc. - they still have a competitive advantage.
I don't know if WTF is going up or down, but I have bought in... I particularly like the growth potential in flight bookings and looking around the market the value seems really good.
PS. HSP it is clear you have an agenda, either post something meaningful or just let it play out. We don't need to know everyday that you are still holding shorts.
WTF Price at posting:
$2.73 Sentiment: LT Buy Disclosure: Held
