Judging by the robust pipeline of Marriott, the process of 'branditization' of the hospitality industry is accelerating even further.

Already 73% of hotel rooms in the U.S. belong to branded hotels, 27% to independents. Branded vs independent hotel room ratio in the UK is 50:50, 45% in Europe, 50:50 in APAC.

The question is why?

Independents have emerged from the pandemic weakened, without resources to update their tech stack to appease the tech-savvy travel consumers, equip employees with tech tools, and invest in digital marketing to decrease their over-dependence on OTAs which INCREASED their share at the expense of direct bookings.

While for the major hotel chains the ratio direct online vs OTAs bookings is on average 4:1, for independents this ratio is 1:4 in the U.S. and 1:5 for European independents.

Did I mention that on average independents pay 2x-2.5x higher OTA commission on top of the 4x-5x greater dependence on the OTAs?

In addition, labor shortages and unsustainable labor costs are forcing hoteliers to introduce technology solutions to decrease the need for human-provided services.

Independents simply do not have the resources to invest adequately in talent, technology and digital marketing.

Max Starkov
Hospitality & Online Travel Tech Consultant & Strategist

Follow Max