Online travel agent

nounHotel distribution

A website or app that sells rooms from many hotels in one place, takes the booking and passes it to the hotel, and is paid for each booking it delivers — usually as a commission.

In use: “The online travel agent brought the first-time guests; the website brought them back.”
Also called: OTA · online booking platform

What is an online travel agent — and how should a hotel work with one?

An online travel agent — an OTA — is a marketplace for rooms. Travellers search many hotels in one place, compare them and book. The hotel pays for each booking the OTA delivers, usually as a commission on the room revenue. For most hotels, OTAs are part of the sales mix; the question is how large a part, and on whose terms.

What do OTAs do well?

Reach and trust. An OTA puts a hotel in front of travellers in markets it could never afford to advertise in, in their own language and currency, with reviews they already trust. It helps new hotels get found, fills dates that would otherwise stay empty, and works as a shop window: many guests who find a hotel on an OTA go on to look it up directly.

What do they cost?

Two things. The commission on every booking, which varies by platform, market and contract. And the relationship: the guest belongs to the platform first, so the hotel often receives limited contact details and little permission to market to that guest again. The first cost shows on the invoice. The second shows years later, when the same guests keep booking through the same platform.

The commission shows on the invoice. The lost relationship shows years later.

How should a hotel work with them?

Treat the listing like a shopfront: accurate photos, full content, correct rates and a reply to every review. Use OTAs deliberately, for the markets and dates your own channels don’t reach. Read the contract closely, because rate and availability terms differ by platform and by country. And keep your own website strong enough that a guest who found you on an OTA can choose to book direct next time.

Common questions

What is the difference between the merchant and agency models?

In the merchant model the OTA takes the guest’s payment and pays the hotel an agreed net amount. In the agency model the guest pays the hotel, and the hotel pays the OTA its commission afterwards.

Should a new hotel be on OTAs?

Usually yes, at least at first: they help a hotel with no reviews and no search history get found. The aim is to build your own channels alongside them, so their share can come down as the hotel matures.

Can a hotel leave the OTAs altogether?

A few can, but it is rarely the right goal. Most do better keeping OTAs for reach and working to bring repeat guests to their own website.