INDIANAPOLIS — While much of the discussion on hotel distribution over the past decade has focused on the importance of funneling guests into direct channels, experts say hoteliers also need to be thinking critically of how their properties appear on online travel agency websites.
Speaking at the 2025 HSMAI Commercial Strategic Conference, Erica Lipscomb, Crescent Hotels & Resorts senior vice president of revenue strategy, said that's where her focus is today.
"What does our content look like?" she asked. "What do our photos look like? What does the guest experience look like? It's not just about the rate display, but our customers are looking for experience, so on all channels, are we displaying that consistently?"
During the session, representatives from both of the major OTA groups discussed how they can be resources for hoteliers.
Julie Kyse, vice president of hotel global partnerships for Expedia Group, said her company is sitting on a veritable mountain of data — roughly seven petabytes of information — that can be leveraged by hoteliers to assist in their decision-making.
"We don't expect you to wade through all that data," she said. "That's what our teams are for. That's what our tools are for. So we want to provide you with useful insights that will help you figure out things like: What [should] your top pricing strategy should be? How are your campaigns delivering? Then you can tweak and adjust and go after the business that's most meaningful to you."
Lipscomb said that can be a powerful tool when companies like Crescent also leverage their own data and business intelligence tools.
"So how do I integrate all that data to look at demand patterns and understand booking windows?" she said. "We definitely love to get into the customer insights. That information actually helps us make much more strategic decisions."
Betsy Steckler, director of partner services for Booking.com, said there are real opportunities for hoteliers to enhance revenues and better set strategy through insights from OTAs.
"There are things like feeder markets — where are you getting your travelers in from and how do you leverage that to help you understand how you want to use the OTA platform," she said.
OTAs are often also ahead of the curve on technology compared to hotel companies, and Steckler said hoteliers can leverage that in an era where hotel guests are transitioning to artificial intelligence for search.
"You now have a built-in assistant where we're seeing growth and opportunity is really in how you curate your travel," she said. "So think about using some of the smart tools that I know each of the OTAs have on their sites to really understand what it is you're looking for versus only using the traditional checkbox filters.
"As you're thinking about developing your content and thinking about your overall marketing approach, it's how do you connect the experience you want travelers to have, and more importantly, how do they find you?"
The big change coming from AI is a higher expectation for personalization and "the need to meet travelers where they are," Kyse said.
"It's not them finding the things you want to push at them but the things that are important to them and designing your marketing strategies in a way that drive that," she said.
The big shift with OTAs and hotel companies in recent years has been a more collaborative approach after decades of OTAs being viewed as a competitor for guests' attention and a cost for distribution, Lipscomb said.
"It's about having relationships," she said. "We don't look at it as a vendor. We look at our relationships with Expedia and Booking.com as our partners. We have marketing managers that meet with our teams on a monthly basis."
Kyse said the key is for hoteliers to think of OTAs as more than a distribution channel.
"You're thinking about us as being a real part of your demand generation strategy," she said.