Unpopular Opinion: OTAs Are Not Your Friends – They’re Your Most Expensive Employees

If you run a hotel, you already know the power of OTAs. They bring visibility, bookings, and demand when you need it most – especially in competitive destinations or when your property is still building brand recognition. For many hotels, OTAs feel like the safest route to consistent occupancy because they already have the traffic, the search rankings, and the trust of millions of travelers. That convenience is real, and it’s why OTAs became a default channel for the industry.

But here’s the part hotel owners often realize only after a few seasons: OTAs don’t behave like “partners.” They behave like marketplaces built to maximize their own revenue per booking. And when you do the math, the relationship starts to look less like a partnership and more like an expensive payroll expense you can’t control. That’s why the unpopular opinion is worth saying clearly:

OTAs are NOT your friends.
They are your most expensive employees.

This isn’t about quitting OTAs or taking an emotional stand. It’s about regaining control over your margins, your guest relationship, and your long-term growth. Because a hotel that depends on OTAs forever is always one algorithm change away from panic.

Why OTAs Feel Like Friends (At First)

OTAs are brilliant at capturing traveler intent. They invest heavily in SEO, Google Ads, metasearch placements, app installs, retargeting, loyalty programs, and conversion optimization. Your hotel might be beautiful, well-managed, and perfectly located – but if you’re not visible exactly when travelers are searching, you’re invisible to the majority of demand. OTAs solve that problem quickly. They can put you in front of international guests, last-minute travelers, and people who would never have typed your hotel name into Google.

That early impact feels like relief. Suddenly you’re filling weekday gaps, improving base occupancy, and staying afloat even when the market is uncertain. It’s easy to mistake that relief for “a healthy channel strategy.” In reality, what happens in many hotels is a slow drift from channel usage to channel dependence. The more you rely on OTAs to fill rooms, the less you invest in your own direct channels, and the less your direct channels convert – creating a cycle where OTAs become the default forever.

OTAs are not wrong for discovery. The danger begins when discovery becomes your primary engine, because the platform controls the terms, the visibility, and the guest relationship.

Why hotels start depending on OTAs:

• Direct website is outdated, slow, or doesn’t convert on mobile
• Booking engine is confusing or payment fails too often
• Reviews exist, but the brand isn’t “searchable” yet
• Marketing is inconsistent (no steady SEO, no retargeting, no CRM follow-ups)
• OTA bookings feel “automatic,” while direct bookings feel “effort-based”

The Real Cost: 15–25% Commission Is Only the Visible Layer

Commission is the obvious pain point, but most hotels still underestimate its long-term impact. A commission range (often ~15–25%+, depending on the market and programs) is not a small “marketing fee.” It is a permanent margin leak – especially because it comes out of revenue, not profit. In a hotel business where expenses are heavy (staff, utilities, maintenance, linen, consumables, rent, loan costs), your true net margin may not be high. So when you give away 20% of revenue, you may be giving away the majority of profit.

Now add the hidden layers. Many hotels end up paying more than the listed commission because they get pulled into visibility programs: preferred partner tiers, mobile discounts, Genius-style loyalty discounts, seasonal promotions, last-minute deals, and sponsored placements. Each one may feel “optional,” but when your competitors participate, it becomes hard to opt out without losing visibility. That’s how hotels quietly move from a visible commission to an effective cost of sale that feels like a second payroll.

“We’re running full, but profits don’t feel full.”

Because when you’re busy via OTAs, you’re busy on someone else’s terms. The property works harder, the team is more stressed, operational costs rise – and yet profit doesn’t scale the way it should.

What commission does to your business (practically):

• Reduces your ability to reinvest in upgrades and guest experience
• Creates cash-flow pressure even in high occupancy months
• Forces you to chase volume instead of quality and repeat guests
• Makes it harder to offer staff incentives because margins are thin

They Own Your Guest Data (So You Lose the Relationship You Paid For)

The bigger cost is not commission. The bigger cost is customer ownership. When a guest books through an OTA, you get a booking – but the OTA gets the relationship. They control the email communication, the app notifications, the loyalty points, the next-offer suggestions, and the rebooking behavior. Travelers don’t become loyal to your hotel; they become loyal to the platform because the platform is what they interact with repeatedly.

Even if you deliver an amazing stay, the guest may still return to the OTA next time because the OTA feels familiar, it saves card details, it offers “member deals,” and it compares everything instantly. That means you might pay commission for the same traveler again and again – even when you’ve already proven your product is good.

From a business perspective, this is the worst kind of model: you pay to acquire a guest but you don’t build an asset. A direct channel builds a database, repeat behavior, and predictable demand. OTA dependency builds only today’s occupancy and tomorrow’s uncertainty.

What it looks like in real life:

• The guest remembers the platform, not your hotel name
• The guest reviews on the platform and stays inside that ecosystem
• Your ability to remarket is limited because you don’t fully control the channel
• Future bookings become “auctioned” in the marketplace again

They Show Your Competitors Next to You (Even When Guests Are Viewing Your Page)

OTAs are marketplaces designed for one goal: keep the traveler on the platform and maximize conversion. To achieve that, they show alternatives – always. Even when your hotel is being viewed, the platform displays competitors beside you through “similar properties,” “compare hotels,” “better value,” and “people also considered.” This isn’t personal; it’s the platform’s core design. They want the traveler to pick something quickly inside the OTA ecosystem. Whether it’s your property or your competitor, the OTA wins.

This becomes dangerous when you’re priced higher due to better quality, premium location, or peak season. The moment your rates rise, the traveler sees cheaper alternatives a swipe away. The OTA experience trains customers to compare, bargain, and switch. So you are not just competing on brand – you are competing on price, photos, and immediate perceived value.

Marketplace behavior that hurts hotels:

• “Cheaper options nearby” encourages switching
• Urgency nudges impulsive choices (often not yours)
• Mobile deals and loyalty tiers distort price perception
• Guests become less loyal and more price-driven

They Push Hardest During Peak Season (When You Should Be Recovering Margins)

Peak season should be your profit season. It should be the time you recover costs, build reserves, invest in renovations, pay down loans, and strengthen operations. But marketplace dynamics often push harder during peak season with ranking pressure and promotional programs. The reason is simple: peak season is when demand is high and competition is intense, so platforms monetize visibility.

• You raise rates because demand is high
• Visibility becomes more competitive
• Incentives push you into discounts and programs
• Your effective cost per booking increases when it should decrease

And many hotels unintentionally create a new habit: they become dependent on platform ranking for peak occupancy too. Once that happens, it’s hard to exit, because the hotel has never built a stable direct booking engine that can carry peak season on its own.

The Question That Changes Everything

Let’s make it brutally simple.

If you had a staff member who:

• took 25% of your revenue
• kept your guest data
• showed your competitors beside your brand
• pressured you to discount in peak season

Would you keep them?

Of course not. But because it’s “platform commission,” hotels normalize it. This is why the unpopular opinion matters. It forces owners to evaluate OTAs like a channel – not a dependency.

The Balanced Truth: Hotels Need OTAs for Discovery – But Not Forever

OTAs can be useful for discovery, especially when:

• Your hotel is new or recently renovated
• You don’t rank on Google yet
• You have inconsistent demand patterns
• You need international visibility
• You’re trying to fill specific gaps (weekdays, low season)

So the goal is not “OTA vs Direct.”
The goal is OTA + Direct, with Direct as the destination.

A smart hotel uses OTAs to meet new guests, and then builds a relationship strong enough that the next booking happens directly. That’s not just a strategy – it’s a survival model in a world where ad costs rise and platforms tighten control.

The Smart Strategy: Use OTAs for Discovery, Convert Guests to Direct Bookings

Here’s the rule that protects margins:

OTAs win the first booking. Your hotel must win the second booking.

That means every OTA booking should trigger a conversion plan that turns that guest into:

• a repeat guest
• a direct booker
• a loyal promoter
• a database contact (with permission)

This is how hotels reduce dependency without losing occupancy – and how they build a direct booking engine that compounds over time.

Practical Ways to Convert OTA Guests Into Direct Guests

Conversion isn’t a poster that says “Book Direct & Save.” Conversion is a system: experience + trust + incentives + frictionless booking.

1) Offer direct-only value (not only discounts)

Discounts train guests to negotiate. Value perks create loyalty.

• Early check-in / late check-out priority
• Room upgrade priority (subject to availability)
• Complimentary breakfast add-on or upgrade
• Welcome drink / local snack
• Better room allocation (view/higher floor)
• Flexible modification support via WhatsApp

2) Post-stay “next booking” push (when satisfaction is highest)

The best time to convert is right after a good stay, when trust is maximum.

• Checkout message
• Thank-you WhatsApp message
• Email with direct booking link + VIP perks

3) Make direct booking frictionless

A guest may want to book direct, but if your site is slow or confusing, they go back to the OTA.

• Fast mobile website
• Clean booking engine UX
• Reliable payments + multiple payment methods
• Transparent taxes/fees breakup
• Trust signals (policies, reviews, contact support)

4) Build a repeat guest database (your real asset)

Your future profit lives in your own database – not the platform’s.

• phone and email (with consent)
• stay purpose (business/leisure)
• preferences (room type, food preference)
• key dates (anniversary, yearly visit patterns)

The Real “System” Behind Direct Bookings: Technology + Distribution Control

Direct booking growth is not only marketing. It’s also infrastructure: rate parity control, inventory sync, conversion-focused booking flow, reliable payments, and the ability to distribute your rooms across channels without losing control of the guest relationship.

If you manage multiple travel products (rooms, packages, transfers, experiences) or sell via partners, your hotel (or group) often needs a stronger distribution and booking stack – the kind that is normally built using:

• Channel management + rate management discipline
• CRM + remarketing workflows
• Conversion-first booking engine
• Stable integrations that keep pricing, availability, and confirmations consistent

This is also where many travel businesses use a white label travel portal approach – so the brand owns the customer relationship while the backend handles inventory, bookings, vouchers, and automation.

And if you’re building distribution at scale (B2B partners, corporate bookings, affiliate sales, multi-property selling), you typically rely on robust Travel APIs to keep availability, rates, booking, and post-booking workflows consistent across touchpoints.

For teams evaluating integrations, a good starting point is to explore reliable Travel Booking API Suppliers that can support stable booking flows and reduce operational headaches like payment mismatches, confirmation delays, or reconciliation gaps.

Direct Booking vs OTA Booking: The Simple Cost Comparison

Common Mistakes Hotels Make When Trying to Increase Direct Bookings

• Only offering discounts: This attracts deal seekers, not loyalty.
• Fixing marketing but not the booking experience: Traffic without conversion is wasted spend.
• No post-stay conversion plan: The best moment to win the second booking is ignored.
• Not capturing guest preferences: Without personalization, repeat intent fades.
• Over-dependence on one channel: Any algorithm change becomes a business threat.

FAQ: OTA Commission, Direct Bookings, and Hotel Growth

1) Are OTAs bad for hotels?

No. OTAs are useful for discovery and filling demand gaps. The problem is dependency. A healthy strategy uses OTAs for the first booking and builds systems to win repeat bookings directly.

2) How can a hotel reduce OTA commission without losing occupancy?

Use OTAs for discovery, then convert guests to direct repeat bookings using direct-only perks, post-stay offers, a fast booking engine, and a permission-based guest database (WhatsApp/email).

3) What is the fastest way to increase direct bookings?

Fix the biggest conversion bottlenecks first: mobile speed, booking engine UX, payment reliability, transparent pricing, and trust signals. Then run a consistent post-stay conversion workflow to capture repeat demand.

4) Why do hotels struggle to get repeat bookings directly?

Because platforms keep the guest relationship and train travelers to rebook inside the marketplace. Hotels must create a “second booking” plan that feels easier and more valuable than going back to the OTA.

5) Should hotels stop selling on OTAs completely?

Usually no. The smarter move is to reduce reliance: keep OTAs as a discovery channel while building direct bookings into a stable, predictable profit engine.

6) What direct-booking perks work best without hurting rate integrity?

Non-discount perks typically convert best: late checkout, upgrade priority, breakfast value-add, flexible changes via WhatsApp, better room allocation, and VIP benefits for repeat guests.

7) How do Travel APIs help a hotel or travel business build better booking systems?

Travel APIs help unify availability, pricing, booking, vouchers, and post-booking automation across channels – so direct booking flows stay reliable and conversion-friendly while operations remain scalable.

8) When does a hotel need a white label travel portal approach?

When the business wants to sell under its own brand while keeping control of customer data and building a repeat engine – especially for multi-property groups, B2B partner selling, corporate bookings, or packaged travel experiences.

Closing: Want to Stop Paying 25% Forever?

OTAs are not going away. But your dependency can go away.

You don’t need to “quit OTAs.” You need to upgrade your direct booking ecosystem so OTAs become optional – not essential. Smart hotels treat OTAs as a discovery engine and then build a direct relationship that pulls the guest back to the hotel’s own website for the next booking.

If you want, I can share a practical plan tailored to your property – what to fix first, what offers convert best, and how to build a repeat engine that grows direct bookings month after month.

Drop an inquiry with these details:

• Hotel name + city
• Current OTA commission range (approx.)
• Website link (if any)
• Average monthly room nights (approx.)

That’s not just smart. That’s survival.