Articles tagged “ostrovok”

Some analysts believe the online booking giants of Europe, the U.S., and China will sweep the world. Call it "travel giant triumphalism." But Russia may prove a treacherous market for foreign brands, opening a gap for local players.

In the short term, we'll probably see a divide between the booking (Ostrovok.ru) and metasearch sites (Hipmunk) that will partner with Airbnb, and the more conservative ones that won't. The holdouts will eventually come around.

Russians are traveling and coming online, although the economic crisis and Ukraine volatility is relegating much of their wanderings to domestic trips.

Online travel agencies, hotel booking sites and metasearch players in Russia will survive the turmoil in Ukraine and Crimea, but the ruble crisis will take its toll.

The global travel industry is going through a lot of disruption, and the biggest sectors include the sharing economy and ground transportation, as well as one large potential winner in the hotel booking sector.

Don't write off Ostrovok yet, but clearly the Russia hotel site faces some huge challenges from Booking.com and the nature of the Russian market.

With only about 8% of hotel bookings in Russia taking place online, Ostrovok and its peers have epic room for growth.

Booking.com has built its success on the pay-at-the-hotel model, and if more online travel agencies such as Ostrovok and Expedia transition to hybrid models, it will be interesting to see if that forces Booking.com to make changes of its own.