Food for thought: In 2023 hoteliers will pay the top OTAs and bed banks $50 billion in commissions/markups.

A staggering amount!

Just imagine if 10%, 20%, 30% or even 50% of these commissions are saved by direct bookings via the hotel website or app and used to increase salaries of the property associates, for professional development, improvements in property product, amenities and infrastructure, technology innovations and digital marketing.

Some say that the OTAs have the marketing muscle that individual hotels often can’t match and can open doors to new markets and customer segments. helping to put “heads in beds” that might otherwise remain empty.

Many hotels do not need new feeder markets or new customer segments that the OTAs could open to them, since they can achieve desired occupancies from their traditional feeder markets and customer segments.

A hotel in London or in New York does not need Agoda sending them a few Australians, Brazilians or Indonesians a week to survive.

The issue is that the OTAs are now taking over bigger and bigger percentages of the property’s traditional feeder markets and customer segments, taking advantage of hoteliers’ systemic underinvestments in technology, digital marketing and talent

Max Starkov
Hospitality & Online Travel Tech Consultant & Strategist

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