The Symbiosis and Game between OTA Platforms and Hotel Management

Abstract

With the rapid development of the digital economy, OTA platforms have gradually become an indispensable marketing channel for the hotel industry. By integrating traffic and user evaluation systems, they have greatly changed the operational logic and management paradigm of hotels. However, while bringing convenience and traffic benefits, OTA platforms are also reshaping industry rules, eroding the pricing power and brand dominance of hotels. Behind the traffic benefits lies a series of challenges such as weakened pricing power, compressed profit margins, marginalization of brand value, and lack of control over user data, putting hotels in a passive position in the cooperative relationship. At the same time, the trend of platforms building their own hotel brands and interconnecting membership systems further blurs the boundaries between cooperation and competition, making traditional hotel management face a dual dilemma of "dependence and confrontation". This article attempts to start from the perspective of hotel managers, deeply explore the complex competitive and cooperative relationship between hotels and OTA platforms, and think about how hotels can break through in the highly dependent traffic environment, find new paths of collaboration through technological empowerment, and thus establish a sustainable symbiotic ecosystem.