Online Rate Parity Is a Problem; Data Is the Solution with Sean Fitzpatrick of OTA Insight

 

As more North Americans use online travel agencies like Expedia and Booking.com (an estimated 40 percent), hoteliers have to get smart about competing for those travel dollars. That means competing on price as one approach, Sean Fitzpatrick, CEO of OTA Insight, tells us in this episode of the Hospitality Podcast. “The hotel industry is going through a significant period of disruption with the rise of Online Travel Agents,” Fitzpatrick said. “Hotel operators are wrestling with a huge amount of information that has a significant impact on their business.”

It’s a great time to be a hotelier, with the industry seeing a record period of growth. Not only is supply growing, but so are levels of demand and the number of channels to market to. But with a wide range of fluctuating room rates, it’s still difficult to offer guests consistency and value. Enter data. Fitzpatrick discusses how that data is being used to help solve the recurring issue of rate parity across the hotel industry. “OTA pulls all that info, rationalizes it and presents it in a simple way that empowers the hoteliers to make smarter revenue decisions,” Fitzpatrick said.

For the latest news, videos, and podcasts in the Hospitality Industry, be sure to subscribe to our industry publication.

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Twitter – @HospitalityMKSL
Facebook – facebook.com/marketscale
LinkedIn – linkedin.com/company/marketscale

Follow us on social media for the latest updates in B2B!

Image

Latest

pre-clinical
From Classroom to Clinic: Pre-Clinical Talent Steps Into Healthcare’s Hard-to-Fill Roles
April 23, 2026

Healthcare systems are facing a workforce crisis that’s no longer temporary—it’s structural. Even before COVID-19, staffing shortages across nursing, technical, and administrative roles were already straining capacity; today, those gaps are wider, costlier, and directly impacting patient access. With labor shortages persisting and burnout rising, health systems are being forced to rethink not just…

Read More
learning
If Higher Ed Wants Experiential Learning at Scale, It Needs a Broader Playbook
April 21, 2026

The ground is shifting under higher education. AI is changing how people learn almost overnight—and at the same time, more than half of graduates are underemployed after finishing their degrees. That’s forcing a more uncomfortable question into the open: what is a college credential really worth today? As employers and governments shift their focus…

Read More
skilled trades mentorship
Why the Modern Data Center Is Forcing Communities and Policymakers to Rethink Infrastructure
April 21, 2026

Data centers have moved from largely invisible digital infrastructure to a highly visible source of public debate as artificial intelligence accelerates demand for power, fiber, and compute capacity. The modern data center is now being built closer to population centers to support low-latency services, bringing critical infrastructure into direct contact with residential communities for…

Read More
Inside the Spot Freight Shift: How Manifold Is Simplifying a Fragmented Logistics Market
April 21, 2026

The freight market is in the midst of a notable shift. With national tender rejection rates approaching 14% by the end of Q1, freight conditions have shifted back in carriers’ favor, often coinciding with increased activity in the spot market. At the same time, logistics teams are juggling an increasingly fragmented ecosystem of portals, emails,…

Read More