{"id":4954,"date":"2025-05-14T19:52:03","date_gmt":"2025-05-14T17:52:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.wubook.net\/blog\/?p=4954"},"modified":"2025-05-14T19:52:05","modified_gmt":"2025-05-14T17:52:05","slug":"https-wubook-net-blog-how-metasearchers-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/en.wubook.net\/blog\/https-wubook-net-blog-how-metasearchers-work","title":{"rendered":"What metasearch engines are and how they work: everything you need to know"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear WuBookers, when we talk about technological processes related to the hotel industry, we often mention the term \u201cmetasearch engines\u201d or \u201cmetasearchers\u201d. If you don’t know what they are yet, this is the right article to learn more about them, understand how they work<\/strong>, and how you can use them for your business strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What are metasearchers: a definition<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Metasearchers (or alternatively, metasearch engines) are information aggregators related to the tourism sector. These are search platforms<\/strong> that scan other online sites to collect all offers and availability of rooms (or flights, for example) in one place. In the case of hospitality properties, metasearch engines are price comparison systems for the various solutions offered<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is possible because metasearchers are able to simultaneously check both the OTA portals and the sites of the hotel establishments, returning the results in a way that offers a comprehensive and easy-to-access list.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The main metasearchers to know about<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Metasearch engines are numerous and surely you have heard of them or even used them in your research. To understand even better what they are and how they work, let’s take a few practical examples<\/strong>, dwelling on the main ones.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Google Travel<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Google Travel<\/a> is Google’s metasearch and in recent years has gained considerable visibility<\/strong>, catching up with the most historic metasearchers. Organized into several tabs, it returns information about flights, hotels, and vacation rentals for the desired destination.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For tourist facilities it also reports the list of services offered and the score<\/strong> obtained<\/strong> from guest reviews<\/strong>. A convenient and immediate tool for those who want to have a complete overview.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Trivago<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Trivago<\/a> is undoubtedly one of the best known and most reliable Metasearchers. It works in much the same way as Google, but Trivago specialises in accommodations<\/strong>. Like other Metasearch engines, it works with actual booking sites to obtain information on availability and prices and respond to user searches by displaying the most convenient options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tripadvisor<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Known primarily as a collector of opinions on restaurants and venues, Tripadvisor<\/a> also boasts an impressive database of hotels and vacation rentals<\/strong>, which it offers with the same logic as the other metasearchers. Again, guest reviews are shown along with the property’s services, features, and images.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Difference between metasearch and OTA<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

As you may have guessed from reading so far, OTA and metasearch are not the same thing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are essentially 3 differences<\/strong>, which concern the creation of the databases, the features, and the sources of income.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1. Data collection.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

In order to create a searchable database of results for users, metasearchers aggregate available information by taking it from both hotel sites and OTAs<\/strong>, and propose a single list where room availability and rates are shown.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

OTAs, on the other hand, show within their platform availability, rates and prices only of the establishments that have decided to sell<\/strong> the accommodations in that portal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thus, on a meta-site you will be able to find solutions from an OTA, while the opposite does not happen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2. Features.<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

You may have noticed that, when talking about meta engines, we have never referred to reservations. This is because, unlike OTAs, portals such as Google, Trivago, and Tripadvisor do not allow users to complete an order<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Upon clicking on an offer, the user is redirected to the site<\/strong> that presented that offer (be it an agency or the hotel site) to proceed with the purchase.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On OTAs, on the other hand, the entire process takes place within the platform. As a result, the revenue models underlying the two are also different.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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3. Sources of revenue<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

For OTAs<\/strong>, it’s very simple: portals such as Expedia, Booking.com, and Airbnb (to name just the most popular ones) take a percentage of reservations<\/strong> made through their site, the infamous commission fees.
Meta engines also incur costs: creating your profile and publishing your content is often free, but to be visible and get incoming users to your site (and potentially direct reservations), metasearchers offer several options<\/strong>:<\/p>\n\n\n\n