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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

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