Expedia rewards "Early Birds"

The article "Expedia rewards Early Birds" tackles Expedia's new product. The firm has decided to offer special discounts (up to 20%) for all those who book their 2007 holidays early. Reservations, which also include Expedia's most popular offers, can be made during November for all kind of vacations from January the 1st till August the 31st 2007. The article also underlines how closely Expedia works with its partners in order to produce the "best possible deals" in terms of prices. The offer is also supported by an advertising campaign runned in the national press.

So let's sum it up from the customers' point of view. They have now been used to book their holidays on the Internet for several years. Until recently, they have been educated in the sense that they will get cheaper rates if they bought last minute. For example, with the "Eleventh hour", they got used to just schedule their holiday time and buy a cheap ticket to go somewhere, even if the destination was very random. However, it was a bargain. They have therefore been used to not plan at all.

On the other hand, with this type of offer, customers will be encouraged to plan in advance, and sometimes even do long term planning, if they want enjoy budget flights and hotels. To re-use the words of the article, planning becomes "rewarding".

For the hotels and all other Expedia's partners there are many advantages. Indeed, they will be able to know in advance their level of occupancy and therefore forecast their costs in terms of food, staff and inventory. They will also be able to level their demand with other offers if they see that their occupancy rate is not high enough for a particular period. Finally, they will propably welcome more customers than usually during off peaks periods.

The strategy is therefore clear: bargains increase demand and allows hotels and airlines companies to fill their inventory whole using a larger price structure panel. However, aren't the 3rd party travel sites asking too much of their clients by making them change their purchase behaviors so often? Don't the customers feel lost among all those offers?