🤔Is a Win-Win with OTAs Even Possible for Hotels?

It was blunt. It was unapologetic.

Former Expedia CEO Dara Khosrowshahi didn’t mince words.

To hoteliers everywhere, he said,

“If they come back to us again, shame on you.”
– Dara Khosrowshahi, former CEO of Expedia Group

When I first heard it, I thought, 'That sounds fair.'

Hotels should do a great job.
Capture the guest’s heart and their email, and they’ll never need Expedia again.

But it doesn't align with how the OTAs operate.

That one statement tells you everything about the OTA game.

The Reality Hotels Face

Expedia says it’s your job to keep the guest, but they built their platform to keep the guest for themselves.

And hoteliers feel it every day:

Undercut rates.
Guests often find lower prices on Expedia than on your website. Trust in your brand takes a hit.
Surprise promotions.
Discounts show up in ways you didn't plan for. Your meticulously constructed pricing strategy unravels.
Fourth-party leaks.
Wholesale rates spill onto shady sites. Guests arrive confused, and you look unreliable and untrustworthy.
Guest tension
Guests often arrive stressed. They may have issues with rate disputes or shady resellers. Your staff must explain situations that you didn't create.
Loyalty & Repeat Business Undermined
Even with strong guest loyalty programs, OTAs disrupt the relationship - their points schemes, free-night perks, and follow-up emails keep guests connected to them.

So when their CEO says, “shame on you,” it lands unfairly.

Because he came off as saying: hotels, you need to do the loyalty work.

In reality, Expedia’s systems are made to keep guests returning to the OTA.

Market Managers echo this on calls and performance reports with hoteliers.
They shift the burden and pressure back to hotels.
Even using comp set and FOMO to drive your decisions about promotions and deeper discounts.

Here's the Turning Point

Just because it is unfair doesn't mean you have to take your lumps and bumps.

You can play it differently.

Yes, OTAs hold the cards when it comes to scale and visibility.

But hotels can hold the cards when it comes to guest experience, loyalty, and trust.

The question isn’t whether OTAs will continue to try to own the guest - they absolutely will.

The question is, "Will you let them?"

Time to Play A Smarter Game.

OTAs aren’t going anywhere.
And you don’t need them to.
The visibility they bring is real.

But you don’t have to be subservient.

Shift your outlook. Stop reacting.
Utilize OTAs strategically to unlock new opportunities and freedom.

Here’s what I recommend:

Fill rooms in softer seasons without discounting year-round.
If you run targeted OTA promos, do so only when you choose, not as a default setting.
Use OTAs to attract first-time guests, then win them over directly.
Capture their repeat business by offering rebooking incentives and collecting their email addresses to stay in touch.
Protect rate integrity so your website stays the price authority.
Never let Expedia or Booking.com undercut your direct site.
Free up commission costs and reinvest them in your own marketing.
Scale back a fraction of your OTA sales, especially during peak demand dates and seasons, and reinvest into direct campaigns.
Build simple systems that keep the guest in your funnel.
Email, rebooking offers, social media campaigns, and personalized experience touches that OTAs can’t replicate.

Hotels Need to Build a Strategy Around 3 Things.

The ones who thrive in this game know:

OTAs are for reach. They put you in front of travelers you might not reach on your own.
Direct is for profit. Every guest you convert directly is worth more to your bottom line.
Loyalty is built in-house. Your top priority should be nurturing the guest relationship.

A winning plan is even more critical now with AI search.

TL:DR - In a Nutshell