Distribution Foundations
OTAs, GDS, direct, metasearch. The 40-channel inventory game explained without acronym fatigue.
When you finish this course…
- Map every channel a guest could book your hotel — at least 14 categories
- Explain the difference between OTA, GDS, metasearch, and wholesale
- Calculate the true cost-per-booking by channel including hidden fees
- Identify the three rate-parity traps every hotel falls into
- Defend a "direct first" channel strategy with the GM's own numbers
About this course
Distribution is the most opaque corner of hotel commerce: forty acronyms, twelve contracts, and a meta layer of intermediaries who profit by keeping you confused. This course unwinds it without shortcuts.
You'll learn to map every place a guest could book your hotel, calculate true cost-per-booking (the number your channel manager won't show you), and identify the three rate-parity traps that quietly destroy direct-channel revenue.
By the end you can defend a "direct first" strategy with hard numbers, explain to your GM why a 15% OTA commission isn't really 15%, and know where the regulatory tide is shifting. Prerequisite for the Practitioner-level Distribution track.