Serve the Servers.

In war, demonization of the enemy is a central parameter in the behavior of a combatant. Likewise, in hotel marketing, demonization of OTAs is a central parameter in the behavior of an entrepreneur.

If you can’t track it, then you shouldn’t do it.

The things your guests want at 7:00 AM, are not the one they want at noon. We’re entering the schizophrenic-customer-service-era.

It shouldn’t be easy. It should be good.

TripAdvisor has always been a top-funnel platform, not a bottom-funnel one. Now, thanks to a new feed-oriented design, fresh content from over a thousand influencers and Facebook integration, it (finally) takes a step back in the customer journey: no longer a OTA / metasearch engine /review site hybrid, therefore, but an inspirational site for curious travelers

As new, more affordable players entered the hotel's realm (such as Airbnb focusing more and more on boutique properties), OTAs had to reinvent and adapt, in order to survive the next generation of distribution, where boundaries between OTAs, metasearch engines, review sites, marketplaces and bed banks will be just a semantic issue

Soon enough, end users (hotels, apartments, b&b, etc.) could be able to manage the entire suite of Google advertising from a single, simple extranet, decreeing the end of hotels' dependence to third-parties (web agencies and vendors)

I have personally never bought this over-simplistic portrait of the industry, made of Rebel Alliance’s ewoks (small startups) fighting evil stormtroopers (established companies) with bare hands and rocks.

TripAdvisor may have found a new youth with the new feed-based design, but it is still worth half of what it used to be four years ago.