Online presence is becoming critical to reach target segments. A stat unveiled by the Syndicat des Régies Internet illustrates this perfectly, between 2020 and 2021, digital advertising has grown by 24%. This is a market that is heavily controlled by the American company Google and for which, after many years of debate, the European Commission intends to legislate beginning 2023. The future law will make it possible to re-establish a balance in competition on the web by sanctioning the monopolistic approach of certain players who favour their products to the detriment of new or more confidential solutions.

On the German market, the historical player Booking.com now occupies a position that can be described as monopolistic. The platform concentrates 69.5% of online hotel reservation transactions. Some people are talking about the end of rate parity between OTAs and direct bookings, a practice that is already established but still poorly understood by consumers who see the convenience of the tool without seeing the commissions charged by these organisations. This is a perfectly logical system for a service that allows establishments to increase their visibility to the end customer throughout the world. However, more and more lodging providers are seeking to rebalance their sources of revenue. They are aware of the need to diversify in order to better resist periods of crisis and of the importance of keeping the value of the customer relationship that ultimately only comes directly down to the hotel staff.

Rewards and Genius, the loyalty programmes of the two major OTAs Expedia and Booking, have been designed to keep the customer in the ecosystem of the platforms so that as much value as possible flows through their systems. These solutions make it difficult for hoteliers to attract as many customers as possible directly. Platforms have the possibility of reducing...