Social Media, OTAs and New Distribution Channels

Potentially the best way to strategically assess new channels is to first ask, “Do they offer benefit to both suppliers and consumers?” While suppliers often speak negatively about OTAs, the value proposition is clear on both sides as they provide a great shopping experience to consumers and considerable reach and revenue to suppliers. While some newer channels should be analyzed at really a property level for their true incrementality, the burden really lies at that compset level – will a hotel lose market share if they don’t participate with a certain provider when their direct competitor is?

Also, when analyzing your hotel and your competitive set through the lens of social media lens, recognize that there may be a direct impact to your top line revenues if there is clear distinction between properties in the eyes of potential customers. So when considering a new channel, a good first step is to evaluate the opportunities from both parties and if the channel fails to deliver to both key parties, it may not be around for the long haul.

This is the summary from a paper I co-wrote with Jay Hubbs, Vice President, Regional Sales, ReviewPro entitled The Ever Evolving Distribution Landscape – A Focus on Emerging Channels:

Read the full article here.