The Metasearch Disparities dashboard monitors every impression your direct price receives on metasearch and records each time you appear as undercut by OTAs. This is a convenient way to keep track of price undercutting on this channel. However, you may notice that when you cross-check OTA rates logged on the dashboard with the rates on OTA booking sites, this doesn’t always match up. Why is this?

The main reason comes down to the nature of metasearch as a marketing channel rather than a booking channel. The prices customers see on meta are displayed rates, not live booking rates. It’s important to remember that the prices OTAs display on meta are not always the same as the rates you see when you head directly to the OTA site and make the same search.

OTAs are aware that metasearch is a price sensitive channel, and as such they’re constantly adjusting prices based on who is searching for the hotel, using targeted bidding levers like searcher location, check-in dates, lead time and stay length. For example, OTAs often tend to be more aggressive on price for customers located in major travel markets. By contrast, head to the OTA website directly and often you’ll see something substantially different.

The Metasearch Disparities dashboard shows you a breakdown of what the customer has seen in the metasearch results, not what is available on the OTA booking site. So it’s often the case that you won’t be able to replicate the disparity. That said, there’s still value in understanding what prices OTAs are showing to customers and how this is impacting their booking behavior.

Metasearch Disparities provides a granular view of each time your direct price appears to a customer as undercut on metasearch. For a bigger picture of your metasearch rate parity, head to the Metasearch Parity Insights dashboard, which you’ll also find located in the Parity Manager. Metasearch Parity Insights provides a detailed breakdown of how often you’re being undercut by OTAs on meta and shows how parity is affecting your click-through rate and booking volumes for each of your hotel properties. The dashboard provides actionable insights to help you tackle OTA price undercuts and drive more direct revenue from this channel.

The Triptease Metasearch Parity Insights dashboard provides a detailed breakdown of your metasearch parity, comparing this with your click-through rate and direct booking volumes.