Hotels
Vacation rentals
Brands and ad agencies
Airlines
Destinations
Travel agencies
Cruises
Car rentals
Financial institutions
Activities
New research shows hotel leaders are rethinking connectivity as a driver of performance and growth.
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Hotels don’t need more clicks – they need less complexity
Why Expedia Group is starting its Autonomous Distribution™ journey by removing friction in how hotels connect to demand.
Adding a new source of demand should be a growth decision, not another operational project.
Hotels are managing more channels, more data, and higher traveler expectations, often across fragmented systems and workflows — and new connections add to their workload. For many teams, that requires manual set up and often re-entering the same information. In fact, new Expedia Group research found that 74% of properties not using connectivity report handling OTA tasks partially or entirely manually*.
Finding demand is not the challenge. The challenge is connecting to that demand without doing more work.
81%
say a connectivity provider reduced friction and manual work*
1.6x
1.6x more likely to see improved occupancy, ADR, or RevPAR*
~50%
of hotels have OTA tasks fully or mostly automated*
Hotels using connectivity solutions are saving time by automating processes and seeing improved performance. Our connectivity gap research found that fully connected properties are 1.6x more likely to report improvement across key revenue-driving metrics: improved occupancy, average daily rate (ADR), and/or revenue per available room (RevPAR). Meanwhile, 81% say that working with a connectivity provider reduces friction and manual work.
Connectivity was once primarily about keeping rates and availability in sync across systems. Today, connectivity is more embedded in hotel operations, taking on the repetitive distribution work so teams can move faster and spend their time where it counts. And the beginning is the best place to begin this transformation — when a hotel first connects.
Removing friction at step one
Operational burden often begins before a hotel is even bookable. Setting up a property on a new channel requires significant manual work, from re-entering information and managing separate onboarding processes to navigating disconnected workflows.
Expedia Group’s Autonomous Distribution™ is designed to make that first step simpler. Instead of starting a separate onboarding process, a hotel can select Expedia Group as a distribution channel within its existing connectivity software, sign the agreement, and authorize the connection. The automated setup then transfers property information, and Expedia Group validates the details to get properties live in less than 24 hours.
Once connected, properties can access Expedia Group’s consumer brands, B2B distribution network, and agentic channel partnerships through one connection.
Takeaway
Sign up for Autonomous Onboarding
It gives hotel partners a faster, simpler way to connect to Expedia Group through the connectivity software they already use.
Easy and trusted automation
Speed to market is important, but hotels won't use automation they don't trust. Teams need to know what their technology is doing, and that pricing and inventory stay in their hands.
For many hotels, this is a sticking point: 32% of hotel decision makers say that concern about losing control over pricing or inventory is a leading reason why they have not adopted connectivity software*. Autonomous Distribution is built to manage the repetitive tasks so hotel teams can focus on decisions that need their expertise.
Trust also comes from how the experience is built. Autonomous Onboarding was shaped with input from five connectivity providers who are live with this capability today: HotelRunner, Yanolja, RoomCloud, RateGain, and Eviivo. Their feedback helped Expedia Group design an experience that works within the tools and workflows hotel teams already rely on.
Shaped with input from five connectivity providers across markets
Onboarding with more opportunity to come
A faster connection for partners is the first step, and Autonomous Onboarding sets the stage for Expedia Group’s broader Autonomous Distribution journey where more of the distribution lifecycle will move into software — from onboarding and content setup to management, updates, reconciliation, and optimization.
Looking to get started?
Software providers can contact their Connectivity Account Manager to learn more about Autonomous Onboarding and the next wave of provider participation.
Not yet listed with us?
Check whether your provider supports Autonomous Onboarding.
Chris Hodges
Vice President, Global Connectivity & Partner Solutions, Expedia Group
Chris oversees connectivity strategy and partnerships, scaling lodging distribution across Expedia Group’s global marketplace. He advances integrations across a broad network of connectivity providers and hospitality technology platforms to improve accuracy, automation, and efficiency.
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*Expedia Group Research, Connectivity Gap, 2026