Hotels rely on OTAs like Booking.com, Agoda, and Expedia to stay visible and fill rooms. But while these platforms drive bookings, they can also cause unintended revenue loss – not because the platforms are flawed, but because of avoidable mistakes in how hotels manage them.
NB: This is an article from Staah
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From hidden discount stacking to overlooked map pins, these common missteps can quietly erode your profit margins, hurt your rankings, and lead to guest dissatisfaction.
Here are 5 overlooked online travel agent (OTA) mistakes – and how to fix them.
Stacking Too Many Promotions Without Realizing the Impact
Promotions can boost visibility and drive bookings — but if you’re not careful, you could be giving away 60–80% in discounts without even knowing it.
Here’s what happens:
- You run a mobile rate or country discount.
- The OTA adds a member discount on top.
- Then it applies a seasonal campaign or portfolio deal.
- Each OTA stacks discounts differently, and many of these stack automatically.
To make things worse, some discounts aren’t even visible in your extranet. These “hidden discounts” – show up to the guest but not to you, making it hard to track the real final rate.
Why it’s a problem:
You lose control over your pricing, damage rate parity, and hurt your ADR — all while thinking you’re running just one promo.
How to fix it:
- Use your channel manager (like STAAH) to set a consistent BAR (Best Available Rate) across all OTAs as your pricing foundation.
- Ensure the same promotions are applied across all channels. This helps with consistent tracking, eliminates confusion, and gives better visibility of final prices.
- Use tools like the STAAH OCC Formula to quickly detect and rectify rate parity issues across all platforms.
- Manage promotions directlyrather than individual OTAs, so everything is visible and trackable in one place.
- Check how each OTA applies discounts on top of your BAR rate and be aware of hidden promotions that may not appear in your extranet.
- Always do a test booking from the guest side to see the final public-facing rate. It’s the only way to confirm what guests are actually seeing – and paying.
Poor OTA Content: Bad Photos, Weak Descriptions, Missing Amenities, and Wrong Map Pin
Guests shop with their eyes. If your OTA listing has poor-quality photos, vague descriptions, or missing details – you’re silently losing bookings and ranking.
Common issues we see:
- Low-quality, outdated, or unprofessional photos
- Limited or incorrect photos (e.g., a twin room should show twin beds)
- Unclear or missing amenity and facility information
- Incorrect map pin (yes, some hotels literally show the wrong location)
- Generic descriptions that don’t sell the experience
Why it’s a problem:
- Weak visuals and incomplete listings lead to lower conversion rates — and OTAs will push you down in search results as a result.
- OTA search filters rely on your amenity data. If you don’t list Wi-Fi, parking, breakfast, or pool correctly — you won’t show up when guests filter for those features.
- Wrong or missing information leads to guest confusion, unmet expectations, and ultimately, negative reviews.
