WHITE PAPER

From OTA Dependency to Data-Driven Domination

5-MINUTE READ | MAY 2025

WRITTEN BY

Victor Dzhagatspanyan

Business Development Specialist

Tigran Manvelyan

CTO MiceDesk (Advisory)

In brief

OTA dominance is eroding hospitality margins — Every third-party booking costs boutique hotels up to 25% in commissions, weakens brand equity, and results in lost guest data.

First-party data is the new strategic advantage. Hotels owning and activating their own data can deliver personalized experiences, increase direct bookings, and reduce acquisition costs.

Data + modular tech stack = independence. With a centralized Datalake and API-first infrastructure, boutique hotels can reclaim control, orchestrate smarter guest journeys, and future-proof operations.

Read the full report

By the numbers

Across the boutique hospitality sector, hotels are transitioning from disconnected systems and OTA reliance to intelligent, data-driven operations.

Our research highlights:

$6.2T

projected global hospitality market by 2028.

15–30%

typical OTA commission per booking, eroding margins.

202%

YoY increase in direct bookings (Sircle Collection case) after centralizing guest data.

95%

increase in unique guest profiles through CRM orchestration.

The challenge

OTA overdependence erodes margins and brand equity, turning hotels into anonymous listings and cutting off access to guest data.

Fragmented systems block personalization and coordination, with disconnected PMS, CRM, and booking engines limiting visibility and actionability.

Manual processes and slow data access reduce efficiency, making it difficult to upsell, respond in real time, or scale service quality.

Why now is the time to act

Speed of deployment

Cloud-native Datalakes like Snowflake offer instant scalability and low setup friction.

Transformational economics

Direct channel growth recaptures margins and increases guest LTV.

AI readiness

With a data foundation in place, GenAI enables automation, personalization, and insight-driven service at scale.

How to accelerate your hotel’s sales transformation

In the next 3 months

Audit your guest data flows and OTA dependency.

Start building a Datalake by consolidating PMS, CRM, and booking engine data.

In the next 12 months

Orchestrate real-time guest journeys across CRM, loyalty, and messaging tools.

Build an API-first Internet Booking Engine personalized via guest history.

By year two

Integrate GenAI to power dynamic FAQs, upsells, and booking assistance.

Scale data-driven personalization across marketing, loyalty, and operations.

Where more work is needed

To fully activate digital independence and break from OTA reliance, hotels must invest in:

Datalake infrastructure that ingests and normalizes guest data in real time.

Composable Experience Platforms that coordinate tools via APIs.

AI orchestration layers that scale human hospitality with intelligence, not cost.

Read the full report

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