The Hotel Electronic Distribution Network Association (HEDNA), along with NYU and RateGain, recently published their second annual State of Distribution report. This report gives hoteliers an in-depth look at key industry happenings spanning different departments, hotel sizes, and even property types. The data comes from surveys conducted between December ’24 and March ’25, covering over 21,000 properties spread across 700 brands and 310 cities.
Hotel Booking Trends and Team Dynamics
Interestingly, direct online bookings and OTA reservations each contribute about 21% to overall bookings, with GDS following at 20%. Walk-ins and group bookings make up roughly 19%, and direct calls account for the remaining 18%. The observed growth in direct online bookings seems to stem from enhanced brand.com sites, better metasearch connections, and increasingly popular loyalty programs. Yet, hotels are seemingly bulking up their marketing teams, while distribution teams are getting smaller. This probably reflects a push for more direct bookings. However, reliance on external agencies remains high – around 66% tap social media and PR firms for brand building, and approximately 57% utilize digital marketing agencies for those online bookings, citing a perceived gap in in-house know-how.
Hotel Distribution and Data-related Challenges
Across hotel sizes, distribution leaders are finding it difficult to keep up with real-time demand tracking, not to mention, the emergence of new channels. Large chains often struggle with truly understanding user intent, even with enterprise-level contracts. Midsize chains often lack seamless integration, and a whopping 80% of independent properties report feeling overwhelmed by rapidly shifting demand. This “insight deficit” is further compounded by teams spending upwards of two whole workdays per week wrestling with manual reporting, which subsequently restricts their capacity for strategic thinking. Surprisingly, fewer than 20% seem ready to invest in tech to overcome this. Further muddying the waters is the increasingly difficult task of accurately tracking traveler intent to sharpen advertising effectiveness.
Priorities in Hotel Revenue Management and Technology
Revenue management also has its share of problems, particularly with disparate data across different vendors and limited insight into demand driven by marketing. While large chains deal with multiple vendors (a concerning 82% report inadequate insights), they struggle with new channels (76%), and face complexities related to TMCs (65%). Data problems seem even more acute among midsize hotels (89%)—arguably because they have fewer analysts on staff. Independents, though less worried about raw data accuracy (67%), often lack the analytical skills necessary to make use of it (53%). Investment in AI tools is low on the priority list. Tech budgets are generally shrinking as hotels focus on unifying existing technologies. This is likely an effort to dodge duplicate fees, data breaches, manual parity checks, and to get a better handle on data governance and residency.