Over the past few years, the tourism market in Russia has undergone a serious transformation. Following the departure of foreign hotel booking platforms (Booking, Airbnb, etc.), domestic tourist accommodation aggregators are actively striving to gain the trust of travelers by creating discount systems and loyalty programs.
At the information and analytics agency TelecomDaily studied Offers from 11 local platforms. As an example, experts calculated the real benefits of a family of two with a child under 14 years old, who decided to book housing for the New Year holidays through an online aggregator for the first time. For the purity of the experiment, two options were considered: booking four nights in a hotel with paid breakfast in Sochi and booking thirteen nights in a hotel with breakfast in Phuket (Thailand).
Where to look for the best deal
Considering booking a four-night stay for a New Year’s holiday in Sochi, Tvil holds the record for refunds. The service is ready to return half the amount spent in the form of a refund, but it can only be used for other reservations within a year. In this case, you can pay with bonuses of up to 10% of the order.
Booking on the MTS Travel website with the same conditions will allow you to return approximately 23.5% of the order. At the same time, MTS Travel provides new users not only with a refund, but also with a ruble discount. The cashback is 15% and you can spend it on various services of the MTS ecosystem. Ozon Travel refunds 20% in the form of a cash refund. You can save 15% through Ostrovok.ru. Here, 10% of the discount will be given within the scope of the loyalty program and 5% will be given using the promotional code.
The island of Phuket, located in the south of Thailand, remains one of the most popular holiday destinations among Russians. It turns out that the best offer when booking abroad is MTS Travel – the service allows you to make a 23% discount on the final bill. The benefit consists of a 10% ruble discount and cashback for the new user. Bonuses for bookings through Ostrovok.ru and OneTwoTrip are slightly lower, but will also please travelers with a rational approach to spending family budgets.
underwater rocks
At first glance, the most attractive for the consumer seems to be a real ruble discount. However, it is important that you learn the conditions of obtaining this loan in detail and read the detailed text, as in bank loans. For example, some services give a 10% discount on the first booking, but not exceeding 1 thousand rubles.
Cash back can also be a good way to save money under favorable circumstances. Experts recommend paying attention to the deadlines when the accumulated points can be used. You can choose your preferred reservation option, taking your future holiday plans into consideration.
An attractive option is to use the opportunity of ecosystem players who, due to the large number of services, allow you to use cashback to pay for goods and services without tying them to future bookings.
The highest percentage of cashback (without ruble discounts) is offered by Ozon Travel. Yandex also offers customers ample opportunities to spend points; use them when ordering services such as Taxi, Drive, Lavka and others.
In MTS Travel, the user can purchase gadgets in MTS network stores, pay for mobile services, home Internet, TV or online cinema subscription, event tickets, etc. The points awarded for reservations made for may be deducted. You can usually take advantage of a subscription, which most ecosystems have. The first month of subscription is free for some services.
What are you thinking?
Source: Gazeta
Ben Stock is a business analyst and writer for “Social Bites”. He offers insightful articles on the latest business news and developments, providing readers with a comprehensive understanding of the business world.