Max Starkov

1 month ago | hospitalitynet.org | Max Starkov |Max Starkov Hospitality

The Pareto Principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, suggests that approximately 80% of outcomes or results come from about 20% of the causes or inputs, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the vital few to achieve significant results. Translated in hospitality-speak, The Pareto Principle means that hotels get 80% of their business from a handful of feeder markets. Quite often I hear OTA proponents claiming that The OTAs can take your hotel's name to every corner of the world.

1 month ago | 4hoteliers.com | Max Starkov

 SHARE THIS PAGE NEWSLETTERS CONTACT USSUBMIT CONTENTADVERTISING The 2024 Direct Online Distribution Report is Here and the Results Are TroublingBy Max StarkovThursday, 20th March 2025 Last year’s “leader” in OTA dependency is Europe. In 2024, 77% of hotel online bookings in Europe came from OTAs, almost 10% above other regions. Asia Pacific had the second-highest dependence, reaching 68.6% in 2024, a 3% increase from 2023.

1 month ago | hospitalitynet.org | Max Starkov |Max Starkov Hospitality

Recently, a revenue manager reacted to my LinkedIn post about independent hoteliers’ overdependence on the OTAs by stating Even with the best intentions, money and talent, there's no way independents can beat the big OTA's in search and make money. There's no scheme where they can get a positive ROI on investing search. Google has been trying to break up the OTA monopoly on search for years, but never succeeded. This statement is wrong in so many ways, I simply do not know where to begin.

1 month ago | 4hoteliers.com | Max Starkov

There's no scheme where they can get a positive ROI on investing search. Google has been trying to break up the OTA monopoly on search for years, but never succeeded.” This statement is wrong in so many ways, I simply do not know where to begin. 1. Let’s start with the obvious. The mega OTAs are spending upwards of $10 billion on Google Ads, Google Hotel Ads, Google Display Network (GDN) and all other Google marketing formats.

1 month ago | hotel.report | Max Starkov

This statement is wrong in so many ways, I simply do not know where to begin. 1. Let’s start with the obvious. The mega OTAs are spending upwards of $10 billion on Google Ads, Google Hotel Ads, Google Display Network (GDN) and all other Google marketing formats. Google is NOT trying to break the OTA monopoly - on the contrary! Naturally, you need to know something about digital marketing to be aware of that.