Wall Street analysts are busy adjusting post-split price targets on Booking Holdings while the company prepares to report Q1 earnings tonight. What operators should care about isn't the stock price... it's what a $140 billion OTA's growth trajectory means for the 15-22% of your revenue you're handing them every month.
Booking just posted $5.53 billion in Q1 revenue, up 16% year-over-year, and immediately spent $3.6 billion buying back its own stock. If you're an independent hotelier wondering where your commission dollars go, now you know.
Cloudbeds just analyzed 90 million bookings and the picture for independents isn't tightening margins... it's a slow-motion surrender of your business to platforms that charge you 15-25% for guests who used to find you on their own. The question is whether you're going to do something about it or just keep writing the commission checks.
