Breaking free from OTAs with paid search

With a strategic approach to people searching their market for rooms, hotels can engage potential guests before they notice or book through OTAs

Hotels continuously face the challenge of competing with the dominance of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), which claim a significant portion of bookings across all markets. On top of that, hotels often pay 18-23% of their revenue to OTAs for these bookings. However, with a relatively small investment—far less than these commission fees—and a more strategic approach, hotels can regain a larger share of direct bookings.

Key takeaways

• To increase the likelihood of securing direct bookings, hotels must actively promote themselves 4-10 weeks before guests are ready to make a reservation. This is the critical window when potential guests are conducting online research;
• The longer hotels delay promotion, the higher the chance of losing direct bookings to OTAs, which run ad campaigns year-round. Additionally, OTAs have strong cross-selling capabilities, further increasing the risk of losing potential guests;
• When measuring return on ad spend (ROAS), it’s essential to focus on the overall lift in brand.com traffic over time, rather than short-term campaign revenue. This is because most tracking tools are limited to 30-day windows, while the optimal timeframe for influencing bookings is typically 4-10 weeks.

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