What is an online travel agency (OTA)?
Updated By Akkrev
An online travel agency (OTA), such as Booking.com or Expedia, sells hotel rooms on hotels' behalf for a commission, often 15 to 25% of the booking.
An online travel agency (OTA) is a website or app that sells hotel rooms for many hotels and takes a commission on each booking. The biggest are Booking.com and the Expedia group (Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo). Airbnb plays a similar role for rentals.
Commission
Hotels typically pay OTAs 15 to 25% of the booking value. For an independent hotel, the difference between a direct booking and an OTA booking can be most of the profit on that stay.
OTAs and AI agents
OTAs moved early into AI. Expedia and Booking.com have apps inside ChatGPT, Expedia offers hotel bookings through Meta’s Muse, and Booking.com runs an MCP server for partners. Their sites are also built to be easy for automated shoppers.
That creates a default: when an agent can’t get through a hotel’s own booking flow, it books the OTA. Every agent booking a hotel loses to an OTA is commission it didn’t need to pay. See direct booking.
Why it matters for AI visibility
OTAs are among the sources AI trusts most. If your own site is less clear than your OTA listing, AI links the OTA.