What is Despegar?
Despegar is an online travel company based in Latin America. It operates a platform that allows users, primarily speakers of Spanish and Portuguese, to search, book, and manage flights, hotels, and other travel-related services. It also offers listings in English, used by Despegar USA users. Founded in 1999, Despegar has grown to become one of the largest travel agencies in the region, serving customers through its website and mobile app.
In English, the meaning of ‘despegar’ is to “take off” or “lift off” – very appropriate for an online travel agency.
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Is there a Despegar app for hotels?
Despegar offers a mobile application that encompasses a wide range of travel services, including hotel bookings and Despegar check-ins. This app allows users to search for and book hotels, alongside other travel-related services such as flights and vacation packages.
It’s designed to provide a convenient and accessible platform for travellers to manage their accommodations and other travel needs directly from their mobile devices. The app is aimed at enhancing the user experience by offering features like detailed hotel descriptions, customer reviews, and the ability to compare prices and amenities, making it easier for travellers to make informed decisions about their stay.
Currently, there isn’t an app specifically for hoteliers from Despegar, but it’s possible to manage listings on the platform via the Despegar website or through your channel manager (such as Siteminder).
Connect your hotel with Despegar through SiteMinder Manage Despegar (and hundreds of other OTAs) through SiteMinder’s industry-leading features.
Why should you use Despegar?
Hoteliers should consider using Despegar for several compelling reasons, each aimed at enhancing their visibility and boosting their business in the competitive Latin American travel market:
Boost your visibility
Think of Despegar as a prime billboard space in the digital travel landscape. Listing your hotel here puts you in front of a vast audience eager for travel experiences. It’s an effective way to enhance your hotel’s visibility and appeal to the Latin American market.
Targeted exposure
Despegar offers tools that help you showcase your hotel to the travellers most likely to book with you. Whether it’s catering to families in search of holiday destinations or professionals looking for convenient city accommodations, Despegar helps you connect with your ideal guests in Latin America.
Simplified management
The platform is designed for ease of use, allowing you to manage your hotel’s details, from availability to pricing, effortlessly. This user-friendly approach ensures you can keep your listing up-to-date with minimal hassle.
Valuable insights
Despegar provides access to insights into traveller preferences and behaviours, enabling you to tailor your offerings more effectively. These data-driven insights can be instrumental in refining your services and staying ahead in the competitive hospitality market.
Secure transactions
With Despegar, the booking and payment process is streamlined and secure, offering peace of mind to both you and your guests. This reliability enhances the overall booking experience, contributing to guest satisfaction and loyalty.
Partnering with Despegar offers a blend of visibility, targeted marketing, operational ease, and valuable market insights, making it a smart choice for hoteliers looking to expand their reach and streamline their operations in the vibrant Latin American travel market.
Despegar review: Is Despegar legit?
Despegar is a legitimate and well-established online travel agency that operates primarily in Latin America. Since its founding in 1999, Despegar has grown to become one of the leading travel platforms in the region, offering a wide range of travel services including hotel bookings, flight reservations, and vacation packages.
The company is known for its reliable service, user-friendly website and app, and a broad selection of travel options, catering to the needs of various travellers. Despegar is publicly traded and has built a strong reputation over the years for its commitment to customer satisfaction and security, making it a trusted choice for travellers and hoteliers alike.
How to use the Despegar login extranet
Despegar login step 1: Set up a Despegar hotelier account
To use the Despegar extranet, you’ll first need to set up a hotel-side account with them. Head to the Despegar website to create an account, or if you already have one set up, ensure you can login in at their extranet login portal.
Despegar login step 2: Set up your property listings
Much like other OTAs, Despegar allows you to enter detailed information about your property and its listings, including name, address, amenities, available rooms, rates, services, and photos. Notably, it’s a good idea to provide listing descriptions in Spanish, Portuguese, and English to ensure that travellers interested in your hotel are serviced in their preferred language.
Despegar login step 3: Set availability and rates
Enter your room availability calendar and rates, ensuring that these match the availability of these listings on other platforms. These should be updated regularly based on the season and demand. Again, ensure that you have rates available in South American currencies wherever possible.
Despegar login step 4: Respond to bookings and inquiries
Despegar allows hoteliers to respond to inquiries within their extranet. You will receive notifications when bookings occur.
From there, you can use the reporting tools in Despegar to optimise your listings and ensure that you are getting the best possible exposure and conversion for your hotel. Many hoteliers prefer to update their listings across all OTAs from a single channel manager, to ensure that availability, rates, photos, details, special promotions and more are consistent across all their platforms – rather than having to update every single one manually.
Javier Aranda,
E-commerce Senior Manager
Palladium Hotel Group
Benefits of integrating your hotel with Despegar
Despegar is a powerful online travel agent that offers a strongly targeted channel to the valuable South American market. There are plenty of benefits of using Despegar that were described earlier – greater visibility, simplified management, secure transactions – but there are even more to be uncovered by integrating your hotel with Despegar through your channel manager.
SiteMinder’s channel manager integrates seamlessly with Despegar (along with hundreds of other OTAs), allowing you to make listing updates quickly and painlessly once your listings have been mapped. Rate parity guaranteed, risk of double bookings eliminated.
It doesn’t stop at simple admin, however. SiteMinder also provides in-depth insights into customers and competitor pricing, analysis of guest preferences and staff scheduling, not to mention an integrated online booking portal and website builder that helps you generate more direct bookings and avoid OTA fees and commission.
Integrating your hotel with Despegar is a smart choice to access the South American market. Doing so through SiteMinder is even smarter – easier and more effective too.
