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The growth of booking portals such as Booking.com and Expedia, also known as OTA (online travel agencies) has been truly impressive. The revenue of Expedia itself has increased almost threefold over the last ten years (to USD 5.76 bln in 2014) and the net profit of the company is now around USD 400 mln per year. Booking.com generates even higher turnover (USD 8.4 bln) while its sales have increased almost 30 pct per annum over the last five years. Hotel chains can only look enviously upon the dramatic growth of booking portals. Furthermore, these portals are the absolute monarchs of internet browsers, having taken virtually complete control of the online hotel offer. Rooms offered through these agencies are positioned much higher by Google and price comparison websites, giving the average customer a much greater chance of coming across the website than of accessing the hotel reservation site directly. “This is due to the fact that OTAs can in