otas

The properties growing their repeat rate are obsessive about moving first-stay guests onto their direct channels by the second stay

We see the most successful direct booking strategies built around one core principle – guests book experiences first, and rooms second

The same AI shift that could make OTAs more powerful can also help hotels finally understand and reduce their true cost per acquisition (CPA)

These seven mistakes share a single root cause, which is fragmented guest data combined with disconnected communication

An OTA can know more about the guest. Hotels can know the guest better. The hotels that succeed will be the ones that combine both

AI does not have to become another OTA to create the same structural dependency. It only has to become the place where traveler preference forms

Many hotels invest in marketing but still struggle to grow direct bookings. The issue is rarely effort. It is usually strategy

While discovery has historically been about inspiration and branding, consideration is where OTAs, metasearch engines, and hotels compete aggressively

OTA market power and the erosion of rate parity protections are all compressing the margin available to properties that have not built owned demand

OTAs are not your marketing partners. They are competitors for the guest relationship. They capture email, own the loyalty data, and retarget your guests