The Billboard Effect

I first coined the term the Billboard Effect back in 2009[1] and then later validated it with a series of subsequent studies [2] [3] [4].   Hotels leverage OTAs (like Expedia, Booking.com, etc.) to increase their reach and visibility to potential customers as a subset of customers at OTAs may decide to book directly with the hotel (through its website or phone), the hotel benefits from the OTA’s initial exposure without paying the OTA commission on that direct booking.   While contention remains in estimating the size of the billboard effect it remains a core focus of many direct booking strategies with numerous consultants and vendors providing insight and services to help hoteliers capitalize on the phenomenon.  Numerous online videos and blogs that reference this seminal work are designed to help hotels develop and deploy strategies to capitalize the marketing effects of OTAs while developing a contribution optimizing distribution / digital marketing strategy.

[1] CK Anderson. 2009 The Billboard Effect: Online Travel Agent Impact on Non-OTA Reservation Volume.

[2]CK Anderson. 2011. Search, OTAs, and Online Booking: An Expanded Analysis of the Billboard Effect 11(8).

[3] CK Anderson, S Han. 2017. The Billboard Effect: Still Alive and Well. Cornell Hospitality Report 17 (11), 1-10.

[4] CK Anderson and S. Han. 2018. Living without OTAs – A Summary of the Performance Impacts Resulting from the OTA Delisting of Columbus Georgia. Cornell Hospitality Report. 18(3)

Listen to The Billoard Effect Podcast