Listing on Online Travel Agencies such as GetYourGuide, Winedering and TripAdvisor gives wineries access to audiences out of individual reach, but it demands discipline. Prices must match those on the winery’s own website, and texts and photographs must stand out among nearby competitors. Aligning these channels builds an authoritative identity before the in-person tasting.
Looking beyond the main channels of wine tourism businesses, such as the website and social media, I often guide managers through the complex territory of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) such as GetYourGuide, Winedering or TripAdvisor. Using these aggregators is strategic for reaching user bases that are unreachable for an individual business, though it requires great discipline and attention.
The most serious strategic mistake I come across is price disparity. Offering an experience at a lower price on your own website than the one published on the OTAs destroys business credibility and confuses the end consumer.Today customers constantly compare platforms: noticing pricing inconsistencies generates deep distrust. Giving up a commission percentage to an intermediary must be done intelligently, keeping the public price list identical everywhere.
OTAs also require specific care with texts. What you write on your website, where you are the only protagonists, appears weak on a portal where the user sees ten wineries near you on the same page. On intermediary platforms, photographs and descriptions must be precise and distinctive, immediately highlighting the unique element of your offer. If competitors offer “three glasses and a platter”, you must find a way to tell the story of your platter and your glasses so that they become the only logical choice for the reader.
Aligning external channels is one of the fundamental checks we carry out together with the wineries we work with.This step allows us to realign contact processes, building an authoritative and solid identity well before the in-person tasting.
Key points
- Keep prices identical on your website and every OTA to protect credibility and avoid confusing customers.
- Manage commissions wisely to reach audiences beyond the winery’s own channels.
- Write distinctive descriptions that make your platter and glasses the only logical choice among ten nearby wineries.
- Use precise photographs that immediately highlight the unique element of your offer.
- Align external channels to build an authoritative identity before the in-person tasting.
