Our recent study uses multi-year, objective data to clearly demonstrate that hotel properties that work with Online Travel Agents (OTAs) perform significantly better financially than those that do not, with commissions being more than compensated for by the increased revenues, resulting in higher bottom-line profits. However, in reality, many hotels still have a (perhaps historic) negative opinion of OTAs. While appreciating the resulting bookings, many still perceive OTAs as competitors rather than partners and fail to commit fully to what should be a win-win relationship.

With travel reigniting following the COVID-19 pandemic, what can/should OTAs consider doing to better seduce hotels and convince them to engage more fully with this valuable distribution channel?

Ross McAlpine
Ross McAlpine
Director, CRM at EOS Hospitality

I read a summary of the study and it is interesting academic research but we should be careful drawing conclusions for the US market based on a study of Belgian hotels using Booking.com. I'd love to see further research in this area that looks at US hotels using Expedia and Booking.com since these two OTAs dominate the US market.

A true hotel-OTA partnership should aim to provide the best guest experience possible. My thought to achieve that is to solve a major pain point between hotels and OTAs: ownership of guest data. If OTAs are truly looking to partner with hotels (and I don't believe they are) a major step forward would be transparency over data ownership, allowing the hotel to better understand the guest and their booking patterns and preferences. I believe that would help to drive incremental revenue and repeat bookings.

The 2021 travel landscape has dictated that the leisure guest is all-important and that guest loyalty should be the prize, not channel loyalty. Any strategy that overly relies on one channel will be leaving revenue on the table. 2020/21 has shown us that channel management and distribution strategy is one of the most important elements of hotel operations, that is something that is certain to remain the case. 

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