Hotels & Resorts

The shape tilts toward Brand & Positioning (68.6) and away from Data & Tracking (59.8). That tilt tells you where the industry's marketing dollars have gone and where they haven't. The businesses that correct the tilt first will see outsized returns because they're fixing the constraint that's holding everything else back.

Dimension Breakdown

The OTA squeeze and the fight for direct bookings

The central tension of Australian hotel marketing is the relationship with online travel agencies. Booking.com and Expedia deliver guests, but at commission rates of 15-25% that erode margin. The composite of 64.8 reflects a sector that is competent at marketing but financially pressured by distribution costs.

Brand and positioning at 68.6 is the strongest dimension. Hotels are inherently brand businesses. The property, the location, the experience, the visual identity: these are the marketing. The hotels with strong brand scores have invested in professional photography, curated social content and a website experience that matches the on-property experience.

The OTA dependency shows up in the acquisition score of 64.2. Hotels that rely primarily on OTAs for bookings have outsourced their acquisition to platforms that prioritise their own revenue over the hotel's margin. The properties winning on acquisition have invested in direct booking strategies: best-rate guarantees on their own website, email marketing to past guests, Google Hotel Ads and metasearch.

Retention at 62.1 with 25% weight separates the best from the rest. Loyalty programs (Accor ALL, Marriott Bonvoy, IHG Rewards) drive repeat bookings for chain hotels. Independent properties that build guest databases, send personalised offers and remember guest preferences achieve similar retention without the brand investment.

Digital maturity at 68.0 is driven by operational tech: property management systems, channel managers, revenue management and booking engines. This operational technology also feeds marketing capability. The hotels connecting their PMS data to their marketing platforms can send the right offer to the right guest at the right time.

A 25.9-point spread between Marriott AU and Saffire Freycinet. That's not one industry. That's two separate leagues operating under the same name. The leaders are playing chess. The challengers are still learning the rules.

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Cross-cut Hotels & Resorts data by taxonomy, compare dimensions across sectors and see where this industry sits nationally.

Frequently Asked

Where does your business sit in this picture?

Hotels & Resorts scores 64.8 on average. That's one number across 6 dimensions. Your number will be different, and the breakdown will tell you exactly where to invest and where to stop wasting money.