Understanding Today’s Hotel Distribution Landscape: New Skift Research
Skift Take
The hotel distribution landscape is complex, with hotel rooms being sold and promoted in many different channels. Covid-19 has certainly impacted how and where hotel rooms are being distributed, but it is unlikely this disruption will be sustained long-term. That’s not to say that disruption isn’t coming, though.
The channel mix, referring to the mediums and platforms used by hoteliers to sell their rooms to consumers, is always in flux. Over the past decades there has been an increased reliance on online travel agents (OTAs). But in more recent years, many hotel players have pushed back, promoting direct bookings made through hotels’ own website booking engines or other direct means.
The pandemic has disrupted the delicate dynamics. Initial data coming out since the pandemic started seems to indicate that out of the much-reduced demands, both direct and OTA bookings have grown their share
