Inside Information on Aggregators?

What is an Aggregator?

An online aggregator is a third-party website that accumulates and displays specific information (brands, services, prices) from multiple online sources. There are currently over forty aggregators in the parking industry.

To the consumer, aggregators appear to be a great way to land a reasonable bargain; but in reality, most will cost just as much if not more than booking direct with a company. Furthermore, many aggregators offer strict modification policies, and institute non-refundable booking fees (aka convenience fees).

If we go back 12 years and review how it all started, the large travel aggregators (i.e. Travelocity, Expedia, Orbitz) were created to present best pricing and real-time inventory to online shoppers through a seamless integration into various vendor reservation systems (i.e. airlines, hotel, car rental). These aggregators have done a good job polling real-time information for comparing prices, products and services for travelers to select a brand of choice. The aggregator's success was based on the integration to seamlessly collect data from each of the vendor reservation systems. And, in turn, the aggregator was paid a fee by the vendor and the customer for each reservation booked. Sound familiar?

Aggregators in the parking industry provide a directory model. These third-party websites display various brands, services and prices. However, there is no real-time pricing or availability. So, the big difference is the seamless connectivity between databases to present real-time pricing and inventory. Having said that, parking companies are advised to contact each of the aggregators in the event there is rate change or a block of inventory or face showing incorrect information. This is a similar scenario to how the airlines, car rental and hotel companies processed information back in the 70's. NOTE: If you look carefully right now, in some cases, you may find incorrect pricing and services under your brand name.

Going Direct by Branding your Business!

The fact is, parking companies must focus all efforts on branding their business by driving consumers directly to their website. And although coupons are nice and colorful, parking companies must operate a real-time transaction system that is simple, fast, secure, instant, affordable and mobile-friendly.

We are in a generation wind tunnel. Baby-boomers are enamored with technology toys. Generation X'er's think they invented technology. And the Y Generation, well, their cell phone is an alarm clock, MP3 player, radio, TV, and social everything. With mobile devices (cell and pad) being a large part of our every day activity, brands must develop a proven marketing strategy to control costs, increase revenue and build loyalty.

Google or Bing Search: your city + airport + parking

If you find the first page of these two large search engines listing various aggregator's ahead of your brand, it is time you do something about it, and fast.

The Inside Parking Blog is about communicating to parking operators for the sole purpose of helping owners with trending in 2011 and beyond. Great success to all in the New Year!