Against the backdrop of the departure of foreign companies from Russia, the hotel business began to work more actively with domestic platforms for booking accommodation.

As RT was told in the travel planning service OneTwoTrip, over the past month and a half, the number of applications for cooperation from hotel representatives has increased by more than 20 times.

“We are talking about direct contracts for work with the service, which allow us to create a high-quality hotel product for customers.

The operation algorithms of Russian aggregator services do not fundamentally differ from foreign analogues, ”said Denis Drozdovsky, head of the company’s hotel direction, in a conversation with RT.

A similar trend is also recorded by representatives of the Yandex.Travel service.

The company's specialists note a multiple increase in requests from hoteliers to connect to the system.

At the same time, the aggregator temporarily reduced the commission for its services.

According to the organization, this should support hotel owners when moving to a new site for them.

Recall that since the end of February 2022, the United States, the European Union and a number of other states have been introducing ever new economic sanctions against Russia.

This is how the West reacts to the military special operation carried out by Moscow to protect the republics of Donbass from aggression from Ukraine.

Restrictions, in particular, affected the banking industry, the energy sector and trade.

Along with this, many international companies have announced the termination of work in the country.

So, in early March, the online hotel booking service Booking.com stopped providing travel services in Russia.

At the same time, the Airbnb short-term rental platform suspended its activities in the country, and later the company completely refused to serve Russians around the world.

“Foreign services that stopped operating in Russia allowed the hotel business to form a client base.

Therefore, the accelerated transition of hotels to Russian aggregators was predictable and logical.

Moreover, in February-March, many tourists booked rooms and apartments for the May holidays, and in April for summer holidays, ”Nikolai Pereslavsky, an employee of the Department of Economic and Financial Research at the CMS Institute, told RT.

Hotel adaptation

Note that Booking.com was one of the most popular services among Russians.

According to various estimates, in 2021, the share of the service in the segment of online sales of travel services accounted for 60-75%.

Such data are provided by the Association of Tour Operators of Russia.

It is noteworthy that in mid-2021, the FAS accused the company of violating antitrust laws.

The aggregator was fined 1.3 billion rubles for "abuse of a dominant position in the market."

“The company imposed unfavorable conditions on Russian hotels and hotels, according to which they were obliged to provide it and observe for their part price parity, availability of rooms and conditions in all sales channels and distribution of their services,” the Federal Antimonopoly Service established.

After the official announcement of the suspension of activities in Russia, Booking.com paid the fine.

As specified in the FAS, the money went to the country's budget.

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Under the current conditions, national booking services will be able to quickly increase the base of loyal customers and successfully replace foreign aggregators who have left the market.

Alexander Osaulenko, director of the Turpomoshch association, shared this opinion in an interview with RT.

“Now the process of adaptation is quite active.

The main problem is that most Russian players did not have a broad profile, and they focused on one specific market segment.

Now our platforms are expanding their presence and expanding into new areas.

I think that by the beginning of summer, Russian services will be able to fully replace the retired foreign players, ”the expert suggested.

According to OneTwoTrip analysts, after the departure of competitors with a significant market share, the number of hotel bookings on the company's website increased by an average of three to four times.

Similar dynamics is also noted by the travel and travel service Tutu.ru.

“Over the past month, visits to the “Hotels” section have increased by about ten times.

At the same time, the number of bookings increased fivefold, ”Sergey Nikolaev, deputy general director of Tutu.ru, told RT.

May reservation

According to Tutu.ru, for the upcoming May holidays, Russians are actively booking accommodation in sanatoriums, rest houses, hostels and glampings (a type of outdoor recreation with hotel amenities).

The average check for accommodation is 4.5 thousand rubles, and the duration is about two nights.

“The most popular destinations are Kazan, Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaliningrad and the resorts of the Krasnodar Territory.

Also, Russians discover the Far East, Altai and Khakassia.

As transport chains are restored, that is, with the lifting of restrictions on the operation of airports, this year we can improve the performance of 2021 for domestic tourism,” said Alexander Osaulenko.

In part, the high demand for trips in Russia is stimulated by the tourist cashback program, analysts say.

Recall that the initiative was first launched in 2020.

Under its terms, for traveling around the country, Russians are returned 20% of the cost of the tour, but not more than 20 thousand rubles.

To receive compensation, you need to pay for the trip with a MIR card, after registering it in the loyalty program on the website of the payment system.

The duration of the tour must be at least two nights.

According to the Federal Tourism Agency, since the beginning of 2022, 2.4 million people have taken advantage of the promotion.

Participants of the program purchased tours for 44 billion rubles, and 8.4 billion were returned to them in the form of cashback. Compared to last year, the popularity of the initiative has grown fivefold.

The next stage of the program ended in early April, and the next one is scheduled for October.

At the same time, the government plans to allocate 5 billion rubles annually for the initiative.

“The program was and still is extremely successful.

It stimulates the growth of citizens' interest in Russian vacation spots, which has a beneficial effect on domestic tourism, as well as investment in it.

Moreover, the action contributes to the further popularization and development of the MIR national payment system,” concluded Nikolai Pereslavsky.