Hotels Spent 10 Years Fighting OTAs — Then AI Showed Up and Changed Everything

Why It Matters

These developments force hotels to diversify revenue and modernize data infrastructure, positioning them to compete in an AI‑driven booking landscape and protect margins against OTA commissions.

Key Takeaways

• OTA share rose to 21% despite decade of direct‑booking push
• Marriott cut OTA commissions to as low as 10% through negotiations
• ResortPass lets hotels monetize amenities, boosting ancillary revenue streams
• Mews and SiteMinder integration aims to unify operations and distribution
• Integrated data is prerequisite for AI‑driven revenue management in hotels

Summary

The Skift Daily Briefing highlights that after a decade of battling online travel agencies, hotels now face a new disruptor—generative AI—while recent strategic moves show the industry adapting.

OTA‑derived room nights edged up from 20% in 2019 to 21% last year, yet hotels have secured lower commissions—Marriott reportedly as low as 10%—and leaned on loyalty programs, with two‑thirds of Hilton’s occupancy driven by its own members.

Hilton’s CMO warned AI could bypass hotel websites entirely; Marriott’s partnership with ResortPass opens non‑guest day‑pass revenue, and Mews and SiteMinder’s integration tackles siloed systems—65% of hoteliers expect at least a 6% revenue lift from full integration.

The shift forces hotels to expand beyond room sales, monetize ancillary assets, and build unified data platforms so AI‑driven pricing and inventory management can thrive, or risk losing direct contact with travelers.

Original Description

Hotels and OTAs have been battling over direct bookings for a decade — here's who's actually winning, Marriott just struck a deal that signals hotels are serious about selling more than just rooms, and two major hotel tech companies are joining forces to fix the data problem standing in the way of AI.

On today's Skift Daily Briefing, Sarah Dandashy (https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahdandashy/) breaks down why hotels won the economics of the OTA war but may be about to lose their front doors to AI entirely, how Marriott's ResortPass deal reflects a growing push to turn empty pool chairs and spa slots into high-margin revenue, and why the Mews and SiteMinder integration is the unglamorous foundation hotels need before AI can actually take over.

Articles Referenced:

Honorable Mention: @AskAConcierge on IG (https://www.instagram.com/askaconcierge/)

Direct Booking Tug-of-War: Hotels' Long Bid to Take Back Power (https://skift.com/2026/05/27/direct-booking-tug-of-war-hotels-long-bid-to-take-back-power/)

Marriott Signs ResortPass Deal. Why Hotels Are Pushing to Sell More Than Rooms. (https://skift.com/2026/05/27/marriott-signs-resortpass-deal-why-hotels-are-pushing-to-sell-more-than-rooms/)

Mews and SiteMinder to Put Hotel Distribution, Operations Under One Roof — Exclusive (https://skift.com/2026/05/27/mews-siteminder-hotel-distribution-operations-native-integration-exclusive/)

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