Hotels Tried to Cut Out Expedia. Here's What Happened.
From The Skift Travel Podcast by Skift
June 12, 2026 · 49 min
About this episode
Seth Borko and Sean O'Neill discuss lessons from Skift's Data + AI Summit and hotel direct-booking strategies over the past decade.
Seth Borko and Sean O'Neill discuss the biggest lessons from Skift's Data + AI Summit and revisit a decade of hotel direct-booking strategy. They examine why hotels improved profitability without significantly reducing OTA share, how loyalty programs reshaped distribution economics, and why AI could become the next major disruption in travel booking. Connect with Skift LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/skift/ WhatsApp: https://whatsapp.com/channel/0029VaAL375LikgIXmNPYQ0L/ Facebook: https://facebook.com/skiftnews Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/skiftnews/ Threads: https://www.threads.net/@skiftnews Bluesky…
People in this episode
Guests: Seth Borko, Sean O'Neill
Topics covered
- hotel booking
- profitability
- loyalty programs
- AI in travel
- OTA share
- distribution economics
Keywords
- hotels
- Expedia
- direct booking
- profitability
- AI
- travel booking
- loyalty programs
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Skift
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