Working with Online Travel Agents

What Are Online Travel Agents (OTAs)?

Online Travel Agents (OTAs) are global platforms that sell tours, activities, and attractions. One of the most important things to know, is that they actively market to travellers during the research and planning phase of their trip, often before a destination or itinerary has been finalised. Platforms such as Viator, Klook and GetYourGuide help experiences appear where travellers are actively researching what to do and where to go, increasing visibility at the moment decisions are being shaped.

By appearing early in the research journey, OTAs can introduce your experience to new audiences who may never have found your business through direct search alone. This discovery role is a key reason OTAs remain influential in how travellers choose experiences within a destination and the actual destination itself (as 'things to do' actively influences destination choice).

In addition, many travellers still book in-destination, using mobile devices and platforms they already know and trust. OTAs support this behaviour by presenting experiences in the traveller’s native language and often in their preferred currency, with familiar payment methods and instant confirmation. This removes friction at the point of purchase and makes OTAs highly effective at converting intent into confirmed bookings.

Beyond direct consumer sales, many OTAs also operate within the broader travel distribution ecosystem. This includes affiliate programs and travel agent networks, offering commissions, incentives, automated payments, and instant confirmation - all of which can extend your reach beyond direct consumer channels.

Understanding how OTAs influence traveller decision-making, and how they connect to your booking system, is the foundation of using them effectively as part of a broader marketing and distribution strategy.

What Booking or Ticketing System Do You Need to Work with OTAs?

Your booking or ticketing system plays a critical role in whether OTAs work for your business or create ongoing operational risk. Without the right system in place, operators and attractions often face potential overbookings, manual updates, inconsistent availability, and unnecessary administrative workload.

Many systems without native OTA channel management require you to manage availability and bookings manually through individual OTA extranets, or to introduce a separate external channel manager and work across multiple platforms. This adds complexity, increases the chance of human error, and makes it difficult to maintain accurate, real-time inventory.

This becomes especially critical for experiences with limited or fixed capacity — for example, a tour with 12 seats per departure or a timed-entry attraction with strict ticket limits. Without seamless inventory synchronisation, a single missed update can result in overbooking, operational stress, and a poor visitor experience.

A booking or ticketing system designed for OTA connectivity uses native channel management to automatically sync inventory, pricing, and availability across OTAs in real time. This ensures that when a seat or ticket is sold through one channel, availability is immediately updated everywhere - protecting capacity, reducing admin, and allowing OTAs to function as a reliable distribution channel rather than a risk.

OTA Commission vs Direct Bookings: Finding the Right Balance

Commission is often the first concern operators raise when considering OTAs - but it shouldn’t be the only factor. The more important question is how OTA bookings fit within your overall customer acquisition and distribution mix, alongside direct, inbound, and local sales channels.

In Australia, OTAs typically operate on a nett rate model, with commissions averaging around 25% nett. This commission doesn’t simply disappear, it funds the broader distribution ecosystem that makes OTAs effective. It contributes to travel agent and affiliate commissions, global marketing campaigns, platform visibility, paid search, and demand generation in key international source markets. Importantly, OTAs are a performance-based channel: you only pay commission when a booking is confirmed.

Balancing OTA sales with direct bookings allows operators to access global demand while still protecting margins, brand control, and long-term customer relationships. Many operators also find that increased visibility on OTAs creates a halo effect, where direct FIT bookings increase as travellers discover the experience through an OTA and later book direct.

This balance starts with pricing. Building distribution-ready nett rates from the beginning, with commission factored in,  allows you to protect profitability while maintaining flexibility across channels. When your pricing structure supports multiple sales paths, OTAs become a strategic channel rather than a margin risk.

👉 Not sure how to build nett rates?
Learn how to calculate a nett rate here. 

How to Build an OTA Distribution Strategy That Works Long-Term

An effective OTA strategy goes beyond listing on multiple platforms. It considers which channels suit your product, how much inventory to allocate, and how distribution aligns with seasonality, pricing, and business goals.

When approached strategically, OTAs can support growth without creating dependency or operational complexity.

Read more...

Common OTA Mistakes

Many challenges operators experience with OTAs stem from setup decisions made early, often before systems, pricing, or processes are ready. These mistakes are common, avoidable, and rarely discussed by the platforms themselves.

Understanding where other operators go wrong can help you avoid costly rework and protect your margins from day one.

Some common mistakes we see:

• Connecting OTAs before fixing internal systems 

• Having a ticketing system that does not have a channel manager
  
  

• Underpricing to “win” OTA visibility

• Letting OTAs control nett pricing 

• Not reviewing performance data