OTAs are here to stay and – like it or not – there isn’t much hotels can do about it. What hotels can and should do is to strengthen their partnership with the OTAs and focus on what they do best.

It suffices to look at the great example of OTAs as far as customer service, technological development and analysis of travel consumer behaviour is concerned. As such, and in order to make the most of their relationship with OTAs hotels should:

Get and defend a high rating score

Hotels can do that by listening to customer’s feedback and continuously improve their service based on the guests’ comments. Very often, travelers consult OTAs even before the booking. They use these channel while planning their vacation and read hotel descriptions and reviews in order to select a hotel for their holidays. This is why is so important to put an extra effort here and successfully communicating hotels’ brand image on OTAs.

Post good content

A good visual content and accurate descriptions give the hotel’s bookings a leg up. It is no novelty that hotel images along with the description play a key role in the decision to book. Thus they should provide visitors with the first impression of the place where they’ll be staying and what is in there for them. Each room type should not only be clearly described but also illustrated by several high-quality photos.

Communicate availability effectively

A key area for hotels to defend their competitive position is the communication of their long-term and last minute availability. The use of a channel manager makes this job easier as the tool includes online room inventory and rate management so that hotels can easily distribute their prices and availability among all OTAs.