The place is booked: Russia's online hotel booking market leader has been replaced

In 2024, the leader in the online hotel reservation (OTA) market in Russia has changed. According to the TravelLine reservation management system, the Yandex Travel service took the first place in terms of share (29.2%). One of the country's oldest resources "Ostrovok" fell to the second line (21.5%), according to "Rossiyskaya Gazeta". Highlighting several major players and a trail of dozens of medium and small contributes to the development of domestic tourism and plays into the hands of buyers, experts believe. More details - in the material "Izvestia".

Competition and stability

After the departure of a large foreign service Booking from the Russian market, many domestic companies rushed into the vacated niche. Some immediately got an advantage - for example, "Ostrovok", which has managed for 15 years of its existence to accumulate powerful experience and a high level of knowledge among guests and hoteliers. Others started from scratch and hoped for rapid growth, but not all of them succeeded, and some even closed down.

Over the three years of import substitution, Yandex Travel showed the most noticeable growth dynamics. Back in January 2022, the service's market share was no more than 1%. Now it is 29.2%. "Yandex" and "Ostrovok", whose share this year has slightly decreased to 21.5%, are now the two largest players between which the main competition takes place.

Experts note that this situation provides the market with stability and buyers with attractive offers. Today the volume of reservations through Russian online self booking services has already reached 58%, while direct sales through hotel websites, on the contrary, are decreasing - from 44% to 42% for the year.

According to Evgeny Abramzon, head of Yandex Travel, the leadership was ensured by the rapid technological development of the resource, growth in the number of accommodation options and the launch of new features.

"We have invested a lot of effort in the development of the mobile application, and its audience has already become one of the largest in the domestic travel market. It has also added tens of thousands of apartments across the country. In addition, last year we launched the Extranet platform for hoteliers and apartment owners," he said.

Daria Kochetkova, managing director of Ostrovka, adds that hoteliers cannot guarantee themselves 100 percent utilization of the room stock solely through their own channels. "Expenses for marketing, promotion, acquiring, staff and other are incommensurable," she comments on the success of domestic platforms.

Where else hotels are booked

According to TravelLine, Bronevik.com, which is part of MTS Travel (9.4%), took the third place by market share. It was followed by Acase.ru (7.53%), Zabroniryi.ru (6.26%), 101Hotels.com (5.7%), Alean (2.21%), Hotelbook (2.2%), Ozon (2.17%), OneTwoTrip (2.04%) and Hotels in T-Bank (1.85%).

MTS Travel's Bronevik.com service is firmly in third place in industry rankings, but this position may be tenuous. In December, the media reported that MTS Group recognized investments in MTC Travel (which includes Bronevik) as insufficiently effective. However, in the press service of the platform said not about the closure, but about the reorientation of the resource. "In 2025, we intend to focus on the development of Bronevik.com business, that is, to strengthen our position as an online supplier of hotel base for Russian and foreign OTAs, business travel agencies," the company said.

Among the newcomers in the top ten most popular hotel booking services in 2024 is T-Bank. The credit institution has already succeeded in bringing its air ticket purchase service to the market leaders thanks to its large audience and the benefits of the loyalty program. Now the bank is striving for the same result with Hotels, said Ilya Artemenko, head of Travel from T-Bank. In 2025, the platform will be one of the priorities of his division.

It is clear from the statements of the major players that the competitive struggle continues. Smaller services are still trying to gain a firmer foothold in the market and take a bigger share by offering bonuses to travelers.

As Marina Goncharenko, executive director of Bronevik.com, noted earlier, the growth margin for OTAs is far from exhausted.

"For users, aggregators are pro-choice: a wide range of accommodation facilities, geographical coverage, detailed descriptions, guest reviews, photos, additional services and thematic content. The benefit factor also plays a significant role," she told us.

However, it is not excluded that sooner or later small players will merge with bigger companies or disappear, experts believe.

"In the perspective of the next two or three years, different scenarios are possible, including new mergers, or the completion of projects in those large and complex ecosystems where they did not meet expectations," says Daria Kochetkova, managing director of Ostrovka.

Growth of tourist flow

The year 2024 has become one of the most active in tourism, experts note. In January, the office of Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Chernyshenko reported that in the first 11 months of last year, the tourist flow in Russia increased by almost 11% compared to the same period of 2023 and amounted to 79.2 million trips. And if we add December, it will reach about 92 million and become a record for the entire history of statistical observations.

"Such growth brings us closer to the fulfillment of the goal set by Russian President Vladimir Putin: to reach 5% of the share of tourism in the country's GDP and 140 million tourist trips by 2030," Chernyshenko noted.

Russian companies have quite adapted in tourism niches after the departure of foreign players. Domestic online hotel booking services offer a wide range of accommodation facilities - hotels, mini-hotels, guest houses, glamping and apartments. In the end, everyone is on the plus side: the resources themselves, the room owners, and - most importantly - tourists, who in a competitive market have a lot of opportunities to enjoy additional bonuses, privileges and loyalty programs.