Canada-based Operto has introduced a new Predatory OTA tool within its marketing AI agent, aimed at helping hotels identify and limit direct booking losses due to third-party brand hijacking of online searches.
This feature allows hotels to monitor the search environment in real time and detect when affiliates are running ads targeting the hotel’s brand name, imitating official listings, or directing potential guests to intermediary websites.
Discover effective B2B marketing
We combine business intelligence and editorial excellence to reach passionate professionals across 36 major media platforms.
learn more
Such redirects often result in hotels missing out on bookings that would directly convert through their own channels.
Recent statistics from across the US and Canada show that over 250,000 Google ads are currently targeting hotel brand names.
These are often operated by affiliated booking sites that function beyond the hotel’s direct supervision.
According to Operto, Predatory OTA continuously tracks policy violations by capturing evidence such as ad text and landing page details whenever a third party attempts to exploit branded traffic.
The system automatically flags these incidents and can initiate actions such as reporting problematic ads, modifying paid search strategies, and deploying counter-campaigns to recover potential direct bookings.
With this tool, Operto’s Marketing AI Agent provides continuous monitoring as part of the broader Operto ONE platform, which leverages AI teams across hotel distribution, guest engagement, and operations.
By moving from occasional manual checks to automated, continuous monitoring and response, hotels can better control customer acquisition and address potential revenue loss due to unauthorized third-party activity.
Operto’s tool integration aims to provide hotels with a more practical mechanism to secure their direct booking channel and maintain revenue.
said Tim Major, CEO of Operto. “When a guest searches for a hotel by name, their intent should translate directly to the hotel without the 20% to 30% OTA penalty.” [online travel agencies] Wrong guest booking experience with fees and poor quality. Instead, affiliates use nefarious practices to intercept that claim, often without the hotel’s knowledge.
“Operto’s marketing agents have Predatory OTA skills that give hotels a way to see exactly where that demand is going, so agents can take action to get it back.”
