Why hotels need to rethink their Black Friday strategy

As Black Friday extends into a longer promotional period, hotels face new challenges in differentiating themselves from the dominant OTAs

Research conducted by three&six into 2023’s Black Friday trends highlights the growing importance for hotels to strategically differentiate their offers from OTAs and leverage their unique strengths. While OTAs will undoubtedly offer substantial discounts, hotels have opportunities that OTAs can’t match, particularly when it comes to appealing directly to their own audience.

Key takeaways

• Originally, Black Friday was a one-day sales bonanza, but in recent years it has stretched into a week or more of promotions;
• OTAs like Booking Holdings and Expedia are already taking advantage of this, with Booking.com reported to start its promotions as early as November 16, running until November 29, likely extending through Cyber Monday with reported 30% discounts;
• These extended sales windows give OTAs a larger audience reach, but it also creates a challenge for hotels: how do you compete with these massive marketing machines?

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