Interesting Search in Google Trends - Travel

Having a sudden thought to check couple of things on travel brands

1. General Trend
2. Travel brands popularity in various location
3. Travel brands popularity vs time
4. Seasonality 

First things first, what tool I pick. Measuring is never easy, one may consider revenue, website traffic, search volume, etc. I try to see it from the search volume perspective first and instead of general search like "hong kong hotel", I am more aware of user that pinpoint the brand they want to include, e.g. "hong kong hotel agoda". In a simple put, search with brand name included. To keep thing simple, i pick google trends for a fast results. 

But there is some interesting hiccups to note. When you roll over time, China has a lot of sudden on and off, which may due to the power of Golden Wall in China (i.e. Google is not that usable at particular time). Therefore, Chinese brands, including Ctrip and elong are excluded. 

We will focus on

1. Expedia
2. Tripadvisor
3. Agoda
4. Priceline
5. Orbitz

General Trend

• Expedia get the largest share, followed by Priceline and Orbitz. Agoda come last.
• The big three (Expedia, Priceline, Orbitz) get a declining trend while Agoda get a rising trend. Interesting~
• Seasonality: Jan, Apr are traditional peaks, Dec is the valley. Seems all the holidays plan and nailed down on Dec and no travel intense during this period.
• Tripadvisor, though not a OTA, got a strong pick up. But surprisingly, these are not from US. Let's see more details in the breakdown

Expedia

• Expedia is stronger in N America and Europe and some share in Australia

Priceline

• Priceline presence overlap Expedia. In comparison, it is weaker in Europe.

Orbitz

• Orbitz is more in US market

Agoda

• Though the trend is picking up, Agoda main presence is in S.E. Asia.

Tripadvisor

• Even Tripadvisor pick and usage is getting very strong, the presence in Europe and Aisa Pacific is strong than that of US.

Interesting Market - US

• User in US are not very into Tripadvisor
  
  

Interesting Market - Japan

• Agoda is doing OK in Japan but still headed by Expedia. We will include some local OTA in further study next round