Expert advice on growing your business with online travel agents

12 minute read• Last updated: 23 June 2026

If your business is looking for customer growth, partnering with online travel agents (OTAs) can be a great way to reach new customers.

There are many different OTAs available, with many focused on selling a specific product (such as accommodation, experiences, attractions, etc) or selling to particular markets.

If you are considering listing your business with an OTA for the first time or perhaps looking to make more of an existing partnership, who better then to tell you more, than the OTAs themselves.

We spoke to representatives from four OTAs active in Scotland to understand how to make the most out of a partnership and help you decide if it’s the right step for your business.

Meet the experts

Booking.com, Expedia, GetYourGuide and Civitatis are four OTAs that work with businesses around the world to grow their customer base and raise visibility.

We spoke to:

Alan Bulloch, Market Team Manager, Booking.com
James Archer, Area Manager for Scotland & North England, Expedia
Kathrin Hakenbeck, Destination Marketing and Partnerships Lead, GetYourGuide
Clara Aragón, North Europe Destination Manager, Civitatis

Take a look at some of the advice they offer and discover why working with OTAs might be just what you need to help grow your business. Remember that if you do decide to work with OTAs, you should take time to research which OTAs are the best fit for your business. Find more advice on choosing the right OTA for a tourism business.

Top tips

Be clear on your goals
“Decide upfront whether you’re optimising for incremental demand, higher ADR, seasonality smoothing, or more international guests; that will guide how you use tools like pricing programmes and Payments by Booking.com.” – Alan Bulloch, Market Team Manager, Booking.com
Invest in good content
“Strong descriptions, professional images, and complete information dramatically improve conversion rates. Aim for at least 10–12 photos per product, and make sure they reflect your experience across different seasons – help travellers visualise the experience year-round and build confidence to book regardless of when they’re travelling.” – Kathrin Hakenbeck, Destination Marketing and Partnerships Lead, GetYourGuide
Focus on quality
“Reliability is key; we look for partners who are committed to the same high standards of quality that have made Civitatis a market leader. Businesses should focus on quality over quantity. Our platform is a curated selection of activities, not a mass-market catalogue.” – Clara Aragón, North Europe Destination Manager, Civitatis
Deliver consistency
“Integrate with recommended channel managers for smoother operations and fewer errors. Keep pricing and availability consistent across all channels to improve trust and reduce cancellations.” – James Archer, Area Manager for Scotland & North England, Expedia

Insights and trends

OTAs are experts when it comes to identifying what customers want, thanks to the large volume of business they attract and manage. The OTAs we spoke to offered their thoughts on what you as a business need to be aware of.

Two customers enjoying browsing the visitor centre — Rosslyn Chapel Visitor Centre
© VisitScotland / Connor Mollison

What do customers want?

competitive pricing
value for money
smooth booking experience
easily located key information:
- location
- price
- opening hours, check-in/out times
support availability when required
authentic reviews

Current trends

How and when customers plan, book and travel can change over time and across different markets. OTAs closely monitor this behaviour and are well placed to advise on how to tailor products and marketing to best capture customers’ attention.

“Last-minute booking behaviour is significant in Scotland, with a substantial portion of travellers booking within days – or even hours – of their experience. This makes real-time availability, instant booking systems, and mobile optimisation critical for capturing demand.”

James Archer

Area Manager for Scotland & North England, Expedia

Booking times

James said: “Expedia’s campaign analysis shows a clear lag between search, booking, and travel, with searches spread over many months but a strong “travel window” clustering where campaign activity is live (for example, around September for recent US campaigns).

“For closer-in UK/European guests, windows are typically shorter (more weekend/short-break and event-driven behaviour).”

Civitatis are also noticing a trend towards shorter booking windows, with more travellers booking via their app just days before their activity.

Unique experiences

When it comes to experiences, Kathrin highlighted the customer demand for:

unique, high-value activities (especially in remote areas)
day trips and attraction tours
walking, boat and bus tours

Clara also noted a demand for:

walking experiences, special-interest day trips or thematic tours
high-quality storytelling in customer’s own language
seamless digital booking processes

Markets

GetYourGuide currently see the main market for Scottish businesses as domestic UK travellers, followed by strong demand from the United States, Germany, France, and Italy.

Kathrin said that success with the European market requires:

maintaining last-minute availability
offering year-round indoor alternatives to weather-dependent activities
ensuring seamless mobile booking experiences

Find more advice and insights on reaching new markets.

4 reasons to work with OTAs

Access to new markets
A company such as Expedia reaches “millions of travellers across 75+ markets and 40 languages” while Civitatis gives “immediate access to the world’s leading community of Spanish-speaking travellers, which currently exceeds 1.2 million monthly users.”
Takeaway:
OTAs have a huge global reach. This can allow your business to be marketed in multiple languages to customers around the world. Some OTAs also offer the chance to market to specific customer types such as:
- last minute bookers
- business customers
- higher value customers
- active and outdoor experience seekers
- specific geographic audiences – Europe, Asia, North America, etc
Increased bookings
“Accommodation using online travel platforms see higher occupancy levels; and more bookings means increased profitability.” Alan from Booking.com
Takeaway:
Incorporating an OTA listing into your strategy can help your business:
- fill spaces at short notice
- increase low season bookings
- protect revenue
Visibility
“Travellers use an average of 12 different online sources before deciding what to book”. Kathrin from GetYourGuide
Listing with an OTA can offer greater visibility in a crowded market and allows even smaller businesses to be seen and attract more customers.
Alongside your own website and social media, partnering with an OTA helps you to take a multi-channel approach to being seen at the different stages of the customer journey – inspiration, research, planning and booking.
OTAs can offer increased exposure via promotion opportunities from their investments into:
- TV marketing
- social media influencers
- marketing partnerships
- brand portfolios (ie multiple different booking sites)
- customer loyalty programmes
Takeaway:
James recommends: “Take advantage of promotional tools, sponsored listings, and advertising options to increase visibility.”
Brand awareness and trust
Kathrin notes that visibility has a "billboard effect – being seen on a trusted platform builds brand awareness and drives customers back to a business's own channels too.”
As James pointed out, a business can receive “enhanced credibility when listed alongside major global brands and is trusted by a long-established travel marketplace”, while Clara stated that they offer “the prestige of being part of a platform that is synonymous with reliability and excellence in the tourism sector.”
Takeaway:
Customers want to feel confident about a business when they go to book. Having your business listed on an internationally recognised OTA platform can boost your credibility.

OTA tools and support

“Use the tools, not just the exposure – plan to actually work with the Extranet, Pulse app and (if needed) a connectivity partner to manage content, messaging and multiple listings efficiently, rather than treating Booking.com as a “set and forget” channel.”

Alan Bulloch

Market Team Manager, Booking.com

Along with a listing on their site OTAs offer a suite of tools and support for your use and it’s important to get the most out of them.

Depending on which OTAs you partner with, you can access a range of support options to help:

make the most of your listing
reduce your administration time
better understand your customers
process payments more securely
manage customer reviews

Data and analytics

“Analytics and performance tools provide insights into bookings, revenue, ratings, cancellations, and market trends, enabling continuous improvement and informed decision-making.”

Kathrin Hakenbeck

Destination Marketing and Partnerships Lead, GetYourGuide

Being able to capture and analyse data allows you to better understand customers and target them more effectively to sell your product.

This can mean using data to:

guide your pricing and availability
inform the type of product(s) you sell
track product performances

Having improved knowledge of what’s working and what’s not, lets you make more informed decisions when adjusting your product offer to customers.

Support

“We recommend maintaining a close relationship with our Destination Managers, who are experts in the local market and can provide strategic advice to ensure your product resonates with our global audience of Spanish-speaking travellers.”

Clara Aragón

North Europe Destination Manager, Civitatis

Working with an OTA (especially for the first time) and understanding their systems and tools might seem daunting, but all the OTAs we spoke to were keen to stress the support options that are available for businesses.

Although options might vary depending on your business type and markets you are targeting, support could include:

24/7 phone and messaging support
live online chat features
multilingual support
self-serve tools
local and specialised market advice

System support combined with the strategic marketing advice that OTAs can offer helps build your relationship and ensures your business is getting the most out of an OTA partnership.

Payments and pricing considerations

Commissions
OTAs usually operate on a commission model (usually 15-30%) with no upfront costs. The benefit of this model is that it can be a cost-efficient way to try and reach a bigger and/or new customer audience.
As Kathrin said: “There's no risk in trying. You only pay commission on bookings you actually receive, making it a low-risk way to test a new sales channel and reach travellers you wouldn’t otherwise connect with.”
Customer payment methods
Having your OTA handle payments from customers prior to their arrival means that these payments are more secure and customers can pay in a variety of ways.
Alan told us that Booking.com’s platform offers to “handle collection for prepaid reservations to gain revenue security, reduce no-shows/cancellations, and access more guest payment methods, while choosing payout timing that suits your cash flow.”
Pricing
Although your pricing should be competitive to your local area, it needs to retain a sufficient profit margin after the OTA commission has been deducted.
Remember to:
- set clear policies for cancellations, deposits and pre-payments
- consider flexible and non-refundable rates, and customer loyalty schemes
Advice from James is to “price competitively vs your local competitive set; tools like Automatic Rate Matching/price insights help keep rates in line and can improve ranking.”

Online booking systems

“In practice, the difference is accuracy + efficiency + scale: instead of manually maintaining Booking.com alongside other channels, a channel manager lets you run everything from one system, with better guest communication and fewer costly mistakes."

Alan Bulloch

Market Team Manager, Booking.com

Online booking systems can be crucial when it comes to getting the most out of a partnership with an OTA and therefore something you should consider prior to entering an OTA partnership. As Clara described it, having an online booking system is a “gamechanger”.

The OTAs we spoke to highlight a number of benefits, including:

centralised management
more visibility
reduced overbooking risk
less administrative work
stronger customer communication
improved connectivity resulting in real-time pricing and inventory

Alan said: “From promotions and pricing models to bulk editing across multiple properties, a channel manager is the main way to use Booking.com’s tools efficiently if you’re on more than one channel or manage several properties.”

Before choosing an online booking system you need to check that it’s compatible with your OTA and the needs of your business – you want it to sync availability and bookings automatically. Kathrin said: “Mobile optimisation is another critical aspect, as travellers increasingly book on mobile devices. A seamless mobile experience can be the difference between a completed booking and an abandoned cart.”

Find out more about online booking systems.

Optimising your OTA listing

A woman and man looking at a laptop screen from a sofa — Lochend Chalets
© VisitScotland / Matt Davis

Getting the most out of your OTA starts with making sure your business listing has great content and up-to-date information.

Alan’s top tip is to: “Nail the foundations of the listing. Booking.com explicitly calls out “checking your foundations” and fine-tuning content/settings as the base for better ranking and reach.”

Make sure to regularly:

complete all key fields
show real-time availability
use high quality/professional seasonal imagery
include detailed description of your product(s)
offer clear and competitive pricing
display transparent terms and conditions

An OTA might also offer tools that can help with the creation and checking of your content.

Capturing customers' attention also involves highlighting what is unique about your business.

Kathrin said: “The guide, the staff, the personal connection – these are what turn a good experience into an unforgettable one, and they are the single biggest driver of positive reviews. Customers want clear information and transparent pricing, but it's the quality of the people delivering the experience that generates the social proof that drives future bookings.”

For more advice read our guidance on how to create business listings.

Customer reviews

“Small improvements driven by review feedback – like tweaking schedules or clarifying meeting points – can quickly add up to better ratings and happier guests.”

Kathrin Hakenbeck

Destination Marketing and Partnerships Lead, GetYourGuide

All the OTAs we spoke to highlighted the important role customer reviews play in converting “lookers into bookers”. Alan told us that guest reviews are one of the top filters used by customers on Booking.com.

In a world where AI becomes more prevalent, having OTA-verified guest reviews can give an authentic indication of what to expect and aid discoverability.

Alan said: “As GenAI tools increasingly summarise and compare properties, they rely heavily on guest review content; good, detailed reviews make it easier for algorithms to match your property to the right travellers.”

James told us that for Expedia “almost half (46–48%) of consumers rank guest reviews ahead of family recommendations and even ahead of travel booking websites themselves, when deciding whether to book with a travel provider.”

While for Civitatis, Clara said that reviews “provide the social proof that travellers rely on to make informed booking decisions.”

The more reviews a business has the more likely they are to get more bookings. Kathrin highlighted that on GetYourGuide “activities with just 15 reviews are, on average, 10 times more likely to receive bookings than activities with no reviews.”

A lady in a company branded red fleece is concentrating on the tablet device she is using. — The Helix Visitor Centre, Falkirk
© VisitScotland / Matt Davis

Review support tools

OTAs can provide built-in tools to help your business manage and respond to reviews. These can include:

dedicated portals to manage reviews
guidance articles on responding to reviews
analytics that help you identify areas needing focus
AI powered review summaries
AI translation of multiple languages

Alan advises to “build a review routine – Booking.com recommends scanning reviews weekly for quick wins and doing a deeper review at least quarterly to spot patterns and feed changes into your operations and Marketplace Foundations plan.”

Some OTA platforms will also offer functionality to help you generate more reviews and feedback, such as:

QR codes to share with customers
automatic post-visit review request messaging
real-time, non-public feedback

Discover more on managing customer feedback.

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Expert advice on growing your business with online travel agents

Meet the experts

Top tips

Be clear on your goals

Invest in good content

Focus on quality

Deliver consistency

Insights and trends

What do customers want?

Current trends

Booking times

Unique experiences

Markets

4 reasons to work with OTAs

Access to new markets

Increased bookings

Visibility

Brand awareness and trust

OTA tools and support

Data and analytics

Support

Payments and pricing considerations

Commissions

Customer payment methods

Pricing

Online booking systems

Optimising your OTA listing

Customer reviews

Review support tools

Understanding travel distribution

Related pages

Travel distribution benefits

Creating good content

Photography tips

How the Scottish Football Museum has benefited from their online booking system

Sign up for the latest advice

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