Exploring FareHarbor’s 200+ OTA Integrations: A Conversation with VP of Distribution, Bianca Mussi
From leveraging OTAs to growing direct bookings, explore how the right channel mix can set your business up for success.
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When it comes to running a successful tour and activity business, understanding your channel mix is key. This term refers to the combination of pathways — or channels — that customers use to discover and book your offerings. From direct online traffic and affiliate partnerships to OTAs (online travel agencies) and in-person sales, these channels play a crucial role in driving bookings and, ultimately, your total revenue.
To dive deeper into this critical topic, we spoke with Bianca Mussi, FareHarbor’s VP of Commercial Distribution. With extensive experience in connectivity, distribution, and partnerships, Bianca offers an insider’s perspective on how FareHarbor empowers operators to manage their channel mix effectively — helping them “put butts in seats” and maximize profitability.
In this Q&A, Bianca shares insights on FareHarbor’s 200+ OTA integrations, the FareHarbor Distribution Network (FHDN), and practical tips for operators looking to take their channel mix to the next level.
1. How can understanding your Channel Mix help you maximize direct bookings while effectively leveraging OTAs for incremental growth?
There is not one path when booking travel. The customer journey can start in various places: Google, a travel blog site, their loyalty program credit card, or an OTA. It is important to understand how the upper funnel works so you can be well positioned to capture that demand in the most optimized way as the customer moves through the booking process.
For example, if a customer starts their journey on Google, operators are ideally well positioned on organic search by incorporating strong SEO, an optimized Google Things to do (GTTD), and paid ads using relevant keywords. This all helps to capture that direct demand.
On the other hand, using OTA traffic to complement your existing demand — such as promoting less popular booking windows or certain seasons — can really help with getting to a higher capacity and higher profitability.
We believe there is a lot of room for growth as only about 25% of our active clients are connected to OTAs. We are here to help operators to find out what channel mix is a good fit for their business!
2. What role does FareHarbor’s connectivity to 200+ OTAs play in ensuring that all your bookings—direct, affiliate, or OTA—are seamlessly managed in one place?
We work really hard to focus on taking out the friction for operators. It is definitely not ideal having to manage bookings that come in direct separate from bookings generated in other channels — that is a manual process, prone to error and eats time that operators can use better.
By having it all flow under one roof, the processes are simpler and become the one source of truth for all reservations, availability, pricing and content — so that operators don’t have to manage different systems.
3. What is a misconception or something clients are surprised to learn about FHDN?
There are two misconceptions that I find interesting. The first one is that the FHDN is a costly channel. In fact, operators pay lower commissions on the FareHarbor Distribution network (FHDN) than the average OTA commission.
The second misconception is that FHDN is the same as OTA traffic. This program has a very healthy partner mix — ranging from travel bloggers, city guides, and loyalty programs as well as some OTAs — mainly with non-traditional demand such as Asian travellers.
4. How does the FareHarbor Distribution Network (FHDN) simplify the process of expanding your reach through regional and global OTAs without adding extra administrative burdens?
The FHDN makes it simpler for operators to get their tours distributed to an array of players activating in diverse geos and verticals. By making your tours available through the FHDN you don’t need to establish multiple contracts, go through different terms and conditions, or manage commission payments in different ways. That is all taken care of.
We do work with a variety of distribution partners, from smaller regional/local bloggers to global OTAs that will bring in incremental demand that operators wouldn’t easily have access to.
5. If someone was fearful of the commissions that come with OTAs, what would you say to them?
I would say look at the trade off of having empty seats and your overall cost of acquisition. For your business, does it make more sense to go with 50% capacity or with 100% capacity? If your boat is leaving anyways, why not use OTA bookings to complement your demand and increase your revenue?
Additionally, OTAs invest a lot in marketing, both above and below the line. That investment is also benefiting tour operators as OTAs bring demand from different geos and demographics depending on their customer base.
6. What about the Online Direct channel? If operators want to invest more here, how can FareHarbor help?
We have a lot of experience in the TAA industry, knowing how to position operators in the most optimal way. Over the years we have built and managed over 3,000 websites and have consistently seen them converting better than other solutions.
So the first step, after having your brand positioning, is to build your unique online presence. A high-converting website with great content (photos, videos, testimonials, reviews) can be optimized on organic search through great SEO. We are also starting to help clients with paid ads, so they can elevate their presence and capture more demand. Finally, we also help with our operators’ positioning on Google Things to do by ensuring all connections are in place.
7. How has FareHarbor’s distribution team grown and evolved, and what makes the team’s work so impactful to the success of our partners?
The team has evolved quite a lot in the past year. We have an overall objective of ensuring our clients capture all market demand in the most profitable and effective way. That makes the team really work with the same goal in mind, even though we have three different pillars that work quite standalone:
- FareHarbor Sites: Focuses on tools to make our operators’ Online Direct channels stronger while delivering the highest converting websites in the TAA industry.
- Connectivity: Takes away friction for our operators when working with OTAs and turns FareHarbor into the one source of truth for pricing, availability, and content.
- Strategic Partnerships and Affiliates: Opens up new demand channels making it easy for clients and affiliates to work together — directly or through our network.
The work of these teams ensure our clients have the best tools in the market to capture all demand that is out there and get those butts on seats!
Want to learn more about our OTA connections, the FareHarbor Distribution Network or channel mix? Reach out to our support team or request a free demo today.