Platforms
OTA Online Travel Agency
A marketplace that finds you guests and takes a cut — Airbnb, VRBO, Booking.com.
Why you care
The OTA owns the customer relationship, the search ranking and the refund decision. You are renting demand, and the rent goes up when they change the algorithm.
Worked example
Three channels at roughly 3%, 5% and 15% of gross behave like three different businesses. Know which one each booking came from before you celebrate the rate.
Taught in OTA, PMS, Channel Manager, Pricing Tool