By Stefano Sciamanna, CMO & Senior Revenue Manager at Lybra Tech
Distribution is one of the most misunderstood levers in hotel Revenue Management. It is not about having as many channels as possible; it is about maintaining control over the right channels.
When I analyze a hotel’s distribution strategy for the first time, I often encounter two opposite scenarios: a hotel that sells everything through a single OTA (almost always Booking.com), or a hotel connected to dozens of portals, tour operators, and wholesalers. In the first case, there is no room for maneuver. In the second, there is no control. In both cases, what is missing is a strategy.
The Risk of Depending on a Single OTA
Booking.com is the most powerful channel for the majority of Italian hotels. This is a fact that makes no sense to ignore. However, building an entire distribution model around a single platform means entrusting your revenue to decisions that are completely outside your control. In an international landscape that is constantly evolving, this approach is highly risky, even if it may appear profitable in the short term.
A Real Case
A few years ago, I had to intervene in the strategy of a hotel that had achieved exceptional results on Booking.com through the use of over-commission. The hotel did not want to go below a certain minimum rate, which was relatively high for the market, and compensated by using over-commission to maximize visibility. The results were significantly better than the previous year, even after accounting for the higher commission costs. A few months later, Booking.com changed its algorithm, largely eliminating the effect of the over-commission strategy. The impact on bookings was immediate.
We had to redesign the entire approach: rates were adjusted to better reflect actual demand, the over-commission strategy was removed, and distribution was rebalanced across other channels. Fortunately, the property had already established a solid presence on alternative platforms, which ensured business continuity throughout the season. Had the hotel been completely dependent on Booking.com, the consequences would have been devastating.
Establishing a universal threshold beyond which dependence on a single OTA becomes dangerous is difficult, as it depends heavily on the type and size of the property. For a 10–15 room hotel, it is almost impossible not to rely heavily on Booking.com. Objectively, it is the channel that generates the most revenue for this type of property.
For a medium-to-large hotel, a theoretical threshold would be keeping OTA bookings below 50% of total reservations across all OTAs combined. However, even this varies: a seasonal hotel with a strong base of repeat guests has disintermediation opportunities that a city hotel simply does not. The issue is not using Booking.com. The issue is having no credible alternatives when Booking.com stops working the way it used to.
Over-Distribution: Too Many Channels, No Control
The opposite mistake can be just as costly. I often analyze hotels connected to dozens of active portals, wholesalers, and tour operators. This over-distribution creates a structural problem that few people recognize immediately: the loss of rate control. Wholesalers apply minimal markups in order to remain competitive, and the rate that ultimately appears online is rarely the one the hotel intended to publish. The result is that the hotel’s official website will never offer the best available rate in the market, making it virtually impossible to build an effective direct booking strategy. The solution primarily involves terminating the least productive contracts, although this is not a definitive fix.
Control over wholesalers is never absolute. Continuous monitoring is essential, along with targeted interventions through the channel manager whenever necessary.
Direct Bookings: The Value OTAs Cannot Provide
Price is certainly the primary lever for increasing direct bookings. However, this does not necessarily mean offering lower rates than OTAs. In many cases, providing something that OTAs are structurally unable to replicate generates better results.
For mid-scale and upscale hotels, exclusive benefits often drive more engagement than a simple discount:
- Spa access
- Room upgrades
- Restaurant discounts
- Early check-in
- Late check-out
Guests perceive greater value without forcing the hotel to erode its room-rate margins. And a guest who books directly once is much more likely to return and book directly again if the experience remains consistent.
The Hotel Website: Speed Before Beauty
Far too often, hotel websites are designed to impress: stunning photography, atmospheric videos, and detailed descriptions. The problem is that when a potential guest lands on the website, they want to understand one thing within a few seconds: what they are buying and at what price. An effective website operates on two levels.
On one side, it offers a visible and high-performing booking engine for guests who are ready to book immediately. On the other, it provides high-quality content for those who want to explore the property and understand its atmosphere.
These two objectives are not in conflict. Prioritizing only one means losing half of the site’s potential. There is also a recent shift that many hoteliers are underestimating: the growing use of tools such as ChatGPT, Gemini, Claude, and other AI assistants during the hotel research phase. Until recently, strong visuals and OTA visibility were enough. Today, high-quality written content is becoming essential for being discovered and recommended by language models to potential guests.
This does not replace traditional SEO, but it increasingly complements it in a meaningful way.
Distribution Is Not a List of Channels—It Is a Control Strategy
Having too few channels creates fragility. Having too many creates chaos. The right distribution strategy is the one that maximizes visibility while maintaining control over pricing, margins, and the relationship with the end customer. Only then can Revenue Management truly work.
