Previously，188bet online sports betting, which strives to promote instant booking, has always wanted users to complete bookings on its website，Change your business model of diverting traffic to third-party websites，But the strategic transformation in the past two years has caused 188bet online sports betting to suffer a lot - performance dropped、The stock price has almost halved。

Now I have learned from the painful experience，188bet online sports betting begins to change its thinking，No more forced instant booking，As long as it can bring benefits，It doesn’t matter whether the guest completes the transaction through instant booking or jumping to a third-party website。

"White cat black cat，It’s a good cat if it catches mice”，Now it seems，188bet online sports betting wants to leave this decision to users。After months of testing，188bet online sports betting is gradually making some progress in personalizing hotel search results，Search results are displayed based on the user’s search behavior，For example，Hotel price selected by guest、Hotel Type，Have you booked a hotel on the 188bet online sports betting website before, or clicked a link to jump to an OTA or hotel website for booking, etc.。

InterContinental Join Instant Booking，Eight major international hotel giants gather on 188bet online sports betting website

Meanwhile，InterContinental Hotels Group (IHG) also announced on April 27 that it would join 188bet online sports betting’s instant booking program。InterContinental has nearly 5,200 hotels，Including intercontinental、Boutique hotel brand Kimpton、Intercontinental brands including Crowne Plaza will participate in this plan。

188bet online sports betting launches instant booking program in the US in August 2015，Since then, we have been promoting this plan to the world，But before April 27, InterContinental Hotels was the only global hotel chain that had not joined this plan。During this period，Marriott, a world hotel chain、Starwood、Hilton、Accor、Best Western、Wyndham、Hotels such as Hyatt and La Quinta Hotel have already joined the program。

In the past, InterContinental Hotels paid more attention to the direct booking strategy，So I have been resisting 188bet online sports betting’s instant booking plan，But was eventually persuaded to join the plan。

188bet online sports betting custom dilemma: booking site or search site？

Now 188bet online sports betting seems to be changing its hotel search algorithm，From the previous focus on allowing customers to make instant bookings on their own website to the prominent use of metasearch to attract traffic、How users jump to the partner website for booking。

188bet online sports betting spokesman Brian Hoyt said: "If there are two options of instant booking and metasearch traffic，We will determine the display results that users see first (View Deal) based on our understanding of the user。We will change the hotel price previously selected by the user、Taking into account hotel type and other factors，We will also research users’ preferred booking channels。”

188bet online sports betting usually displays hotel prices in two boxes。As shown in the picture above，188bet online sports betting displays prices from specific suppliers with a yellow ViewDeal label below the first box，The prices of the other three suppliers are displayed in smaller fonts in the box on the right。

Recent，I conducted a search on 188bet online sports betting for hotels in New York City on April 30th，The search results show a total of 30 hotels，The highlighted search results (View Deal) of the 30 hotels are all booking prices driven by metasearch，Rather than booking directly on the 188bet online sports betting website。

Among these 30 hotels shown on 188bet online sports betting，22 of them (73%).3%) There is an instant booking option in the box on the right，The remaining 8 hotels do not have instant booking options。

188bet online sports betting recommends to me to book on its partner websites，Instead of booking on 188bet online sports betting，Although not particularly prominent in the right box I have 73.3% chance to choose Instant Booking。This may be related to my search history with 188bet online sports betting: since late 2014，I used 188bet online sports betting to book hotels twice，I often do some hotel searches for research。

The hotel booking results shown on 188bet online sports betting are constantly changing based on partner bidding and other factors。But the following two screenshots of the Distrikt Hotel Times Square hotel displayed in the search results can explain in more detail that 188bet online sports betting can recommend different booking methods according to different users-instant booking or metasearch redirection。

The above first screenshot taken on April 26 shows，Among the results of my 188bet online sports betting search for Distrikt Hotel，Jump to Expedia Hotels.com’s metasearch traffic booking method occupies a more prominent position at a price of US5。If I want to use the booking method by jumping to a third-party website，I can click the View Deal option in Hotels.com。

We can also see，There is a 188bet online sports betting instant booking link in a smaller font in the right box，Price and Hotels.com same。Analysis of my search preferences and behavior based on search algorithms，188bet online sports betting is actually encouraging me to select the View Deal box to jump to Hotels by downplaying its instant booking link.com’s meta-search traffic booking method。

The more interesting thing is，Although 188bet online sports betting provides users with two booking methods，But this is often not the case。If I select the 188bet online sports betting Instant Booking link in the box on the right，Then Hotels.com is actually a booking partner of 188bet online sports betting。The result of doing this is，I can choose to jump to Hotels.com reservation，Or choose the 188bet online sports betting link to book directly on their website，Hotels.com will process this order，And provide customer service in the background。

But，Jump to Hotels based on my preference recommendations from 188bet online sports betting above.Com website booking is different，The screenshot below taken on April 25th puts the 188bet online sports betting instant booking results in a more prominent position，Distrikt Hotel is its partner。

This screenshot was sent to me by a 188bet online sports betting employee of his own search history for Distrikt Hotel。Search for the same hotel on the same website，Why did 188bet online sports betting push the instant booking method to this employee，Ask him to book Distrikt Hotel on 188bet online sports betting，But what was pushed to me was to divert traffic to Hotels through meta-search.com reservation method？

There may be multiple reasons why 188bet online sports betting displays different search results for different users。First，188bet online sports betting recommends booking methods based on the booking records of two people。This 188bet online sports betting employee may have used instant booking before，When I used 188bet online sports betting to book, I mostly used the booking method of jumping to third-party websites。Secondly，When 188bet online sports betting employees obtained the above search results on April 25，Instant booking price for DistriktHotels on 188bet online sports betting website is 4，Metasearch traffic jumps to Booking.com and Expedia.com website is 9。Under the same conditions，If one of the prices is lower，Whether booking instantly or jumping to a metasearch partner website to book，Hotels with lower prices may seize a more prominent display position (View Deal)。After all, for price-sensitive users who use 188bet online sports betting website，Low price is the main factor that attracts them。

188bet online sports betting currently displays various hotel search results，According to user type、Their search history and other factors recommend them to make instant bookings on the 188bet online sports betting website or redirect metasearch traffic to third-party website bookings。

Actually，As early as the beginning of this year，The impression given by 188bet online sports betting is that consumers are still more inclined to make instant bookings on the 188bet online sports betting website，Downplay the booking method of redirecting traffic to third-party websites through metasearch。

Investment company Cowen and Co.Analysts Kevin Kopelman and Emily Dinovo think，The current actual situation shows， 188bet online sports betting will no longer heavily promote its instant booking，This can increase the company’s revenue by 50 million to 100 million US dollars every year，Because 188bet online sports betting’s metasearch traffic has a higher conversion rate than instant booking。

The two analysts also found，The promotion of instant booking on 188bet online sports betting mobile version is lower than that on PC。

Cowen and Co.said: “188bet online sports betting may no longer be so committed to instant booking，Instead, turn to traditional metasearch price comparison advertising，Drain hotel booking customers to other partner websites (mainly Priceline and Expedia，Similar to Trivago’s business model)。”

"We expected，This transformation could increase 188bet online sports betting’s revenue by US million to US0 million per year，5% of its total revenue。”

From an investor’s perspective，188bet online sports betting regardless of strategic changes and revenue growth，Company may soon announce advertising to achieve profit growth in the short term。

In the process of finding a new way out，188bet online sports betting management does not want the company to become a hotel booking website，Now 188bet online sports betting will once again focus on metasearch。

If the consumer wants to book on 188bet online sports betting website，Then 188bet online sports betting will be based on past consumption behavior and records，Put the option of instant booking in a more conspicuous place for them to choose。If they want to jump to a third-party website for booking，188bet online sports betting will also provide corresponding choices for this group of consumers。

Kayak hopes 188bet online sports betting succeeds，Block Google and Trivago

At the Skift Europe Forum in London in early April，Competitor Kayak CEO Steve Hafner said when asked about the progress of 188bet online sports betting instant booking promotion: "I think，Read 188bet online sports betting financial report、Anyone who pays attention to their stock price understands the current situation of this company，It can be said，The development is not smooth。But，They have made some changes。If you look at the current development status of 188bet online sports betting，You will find that they have no preconceptions about their booking path (instant booking)，Promoted for more than two years，Instant bookings have a great impact on a company’s financial status。”

Metasearch can improve conversion rate，188bet online sports betting can take advantage of this during its transformation，If the consumer is interested in instant booking，Then 188bet online sports betting can increase profits。

Hafner said: "I think，Steve (TripAdvisorCEO) is turning around 188bet online sports betting’s current unfavorable situation。Next Quarters，188bet online sports betting may deliver satisfactory performance。”

However，It’s worth noting，Hafner’s public remarks also have some specific background，He hopes 188bet online sports betting will succeed，After success, 188bet online sports betting can block Kayak’s rising competitors in the hotel booking field, Google and Trivago。

It’s worth noting，Except Hafner，Some people think 188bet online sports betting will develop in a better direction in the future，Although 188bet online sports betting will have a better explanation of this issue after the first quarter earnings report is released on May 9。

Dan Wasiolek, senior securities analyst at Morningstar, an independent investment research institution, pointed out in a research note to investors，Statistics based on traffic comparison analysis platform SimilarWeb，188bet online sports betting website has reached 1 in March.500 million visits，17% increase from last month，Higher than competitors Trivago’s 20 million visits (up 12%) and Kayak’s 33 million visits (up 5%)。

Wasiolek also pointed out，188bet online sports betting re-increases investment in Google search rankings to compete with Trivago and Kayak，The future development prospects are relatively optimistic。

The analyst writes: “We expect competition among metasearch engines in the hotel space to remain intense。But，We think，Although the online market is constantly eroding 188bet online sports betting’s strong network advantage，But the recent increase in website traffic has strengthened the industry barriers built by the company。”

Inspiration for Skyscanner

Obviously，188bet online sports betting has revised its previous strategy，No longer push for instant booking to force consumers to complete transactions on 188bet online sports betting，But keep an open mind on which booking method users choose。Although 188bet online sports betting is gradually recommending personalized booking options to users based on their search history，But as long as you can finally complete the transaction，Ensuring 188bet online sports betting gets the revenue，It doesn’t care whether you choose to jump to a partner website or book on 188bet online sports betting。

188bet online sports betting’s “blood and tears experience” may provide some thoughts for China’s OTA Ctrip。Mobile online booking is becoming more and more popular，At the same time, users’ behavioral habits have become more complex，When enterprises carry out strategic transformation, they need to consider how both users and enterprises will benefit，Unilateral push may be more risky。After Ctrip acquired Skyscanner，Intends to build it from a metasearch website into a travel booking platform，Although Ctrip has not announced a specific implementation plan，But think about these lessons learned from 188bet online sports betting，Maybe it’s helpful。

*This article is written by Zhihui analyst_Li Haiqiang (WeChat: lhq434849653)，Editor: Qiu Wei

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