> OTA's are fine for price discovery but you often get a better deal (and better service) from the hotel/brand directly. The front desk knows you booked via an

> OTA's are fine for price discovery but you often get a better deal (and better service) from the hotel/brand directly. The front desk knows you booked via an OTA instead of the hotel directly. That used to be more true in the past, but recently OTA's are beginning to offer better rewards programs, as well as making your trip more 'interconnected' (having one place to get flight, hotel, cars, events, activities, etc.), so now I'd say "it depends". Lately though, the bigger hotel chains themselves are also starting to introduce their own rewards, so we'll see what happens