HOTELMARKETING.COM

Does hotel advertising on OTA sites make sense?

December 09, 2008 | Hospitality Industry

In his latest article, HeBS' Max Starkov writes that paying to advertise on the OTAs simply doesn’t make much business sense for hotels. Yet, one of his readers left a comment that suggests otherwise. Interesting read.

For Max Starkov of Hotel eBusiness Solutions the new advertising initiatives of OTAs is yet another proof of the existence of a new kind of disparity in the hospitality vertical: between smart, Internet-savvy OTAs on one hand and web-illiterate hoteliers on the other.

Paying to advertise on the OTAs simply doesn’t make much sense. HeBS considers hotel-advertisers on OTAs as being the web reincarnation of the “Stockholm Syndrome” where the kidnapped victims (hoteliers) fall in love with their kidnapper: Expedia and the rest of the OTAs.

A reader by the name “scott7777” thinks different. If there is an uncommitted traveler out there searching Expedia and a hotel wishes to gain more visibility then their competition how is this any different then bidding on a keyword term and offering a discounted promotion to increase conversion? It doesn’t make sense that this is “brand damaging” when in fact it is building awareness of a particular hotel / brand even when a guest does not chose to purchase.

Read the full article/discussion at Seeking Alpha

Visit our sponsors: