For most of modern hospitality history, the battle for bookings has been a battle over distribution.
Over the past three decades, hotels have navigated successive waves of change: the rise of direct online booking, the emergence of Online Travel Agencies (OTAs), mobile booking, review platforms and loyalty ecosystems. Each innovation reshaped how travelers discovered and booked accommodations.
Today, the industry may be entering its next major shift.
Increasingly, the traveler’s journey begins not with Google, an OTA or even a hotel website, but with a piece of social media content: A TikTok video showcasing a hidden rooftop bar. An Instagram Reel documenting a weekend stay. A creator’s itinerary shared in a group chat. A friend’s recommendation sent through WhatsApp.
From Search to Discovery
The hospitality industry’s digital transformation accelerated in the late 1990s and early 2000s as hotel brands embraced online reservations and OTAs such as Expedia and Booking.com scaled globally. OTAs succeeded because they simplified comparison shopping, aggregated inventory and offered travelers an efficient way to evaluate options.
Historically, hotels competed for visibility within search results. Today, they increasingly compete for attention within social feeds.
According to Expedia Group’s 2025 Traveler Value Index, more than 60% of travelers now cite social media as a source of travel inspiration, compared to just 35% two years earlier. Research from multiple travel studies similarly indicates that roughly three-quarters of travelers use social media during the travel planning process.
Platforms such as TikTok, Instagram and YouTube have evolved into discovery engines in their own right. Travelers now search for destinations, neighborhoods, restaurants, itineraries and hotels directly within social platforms. Research cited by Forbes found that 67% of Gen Z consumers use Instagram for search and 62% use TikTok as a search platform.
For hospitality brands, discoverability is no longer determined solely by search rankings and website optimization. It is increasingly influenced by the quality, relevance and visibility of social content.
The Trust Economy
Creator content has emerged as one of the most effective forms of modern word-of-mouth marketing because it allows potential guests to experience a destination through the eyes of someone they trust.
While the hospitality industry was an early mover with creators for this reason, and the great compatibility between travel and social, content from the industry is still generally overproduced, like traditional ads. Today, creator content is increasingly replacing or supplementing traditional destination marketing assets. Not because it is necessarily higher production quality, but because it feels more credible, immediate and relatable.
Increasingly, social media is becoming part of the distribution ecosystem itself. Wise industry members will take heed of having left money and results on the table for not truly embracing the emergent channel by fully embracing social commerce.
The Largest Referral Channel You Can’t Measure
Many travel decisions now happen in private digital environments: WhatsApp groups, text messages, Facebook Messenger conversations and group chats among friends and family planning trips together. This is a shift back to when personal recommendations and relationships with travel agents were what drove the industry.
This new phenomenon is referred to as “dark social” because the recommendation pathway is difficult to track.
A traveler may discover a hotel through an Instagram Reel, save it, share it with friends, discuss it in a group chat and ultimately book several days later through the hotel’s website. To the hotel’s analytics platform, that booking may appear as direct traffic. The original source of influence is often invisible.
For hospitality leaders, the lesson is to recognize that recommendation networks increasingly exist beyond traditional attribution models. Measurement here may not always be perfect or easy, but don’t turn your back on the complexity–to do so is to ignore modern consumer behaviour.
The most effective social strategies are therefore designed not only for visibility, but also for shareability.
Why Social Influence Favors Direct Bookings
OTAs excel when travelers enter the market without a strong preference. They aggregate inventory, simplify comparison shopping and help consumers evaluate options.
Social is different. When a traveler discovers a hotel through a creator they trust, a recommendation from a friend, or content shared within a private community, much of the consideration process has already occurred before they begin searching. The traveler is no longer asking, “Where should I stay?” They are asking, “How do I book this hotel?”
Social content creates preference before comparison shopping begins. Creator content, user-generated content, and recommendation-driven discovery help hotels establish intent earlier in the decision-making process and create a ‘must-have’ mindset for a specific hotel or experience. In this light, differentiation of content has never been more critical. Those glossy hotel ads overwhelm audiences with sameness.
When combined with conversion-focused social advertising, remarketing strategies, loyalty incentives and seamless booking experiences, social platforms can help hotels accomplish something the industry has pursued for decades: generating demand before travelers enter the OTA marketplace. Rather than replacing OTAs, social commerce creates an opportunity to strengthen direct-booking ecosystems and reduce dependency on intermediary channels over time.
Embracing Social Commerce
Social platforms influence every stage of the guest journey—from inspiration and discovery to validation and booking.
Hotels that successfully adapt will integrate creator and user-generated content throughout the customer journey, including websites, email programs, paid media and booking experiences. They will treat social content as a discoverability asset rather than simply a brand-awareness tool. They will build content strategies designed for recommendation and sharing, not just engagement.
Maximillian Adagio leads the U.S. market as senior director of growth for Pulse Advertising, a global social media and influencer marketing agency.