Brand hijacking in the hotel industry: 1.1 million ads redirect guests from direct bookings
New research by the company Operto reveals the scale of a practice in which individual online intermediaries use hotel names in Google ads to attract guests who want to book directly. In just one month, around 1.1 million ads related to 204,000 hotels worldwide were identified.
The guest has already chosen the hotel, enters its name into Google and wants to book a room. However, instead of going to the hotel’s official website, they end up on the website of an intermediary who charges for the reservation, creating an additional distribution cost.
It is precisely such a practice, known as brand hijacking, Operto, a technology company, analyzed the research State of Predatory OTAs 2026. An analysis of data from the Google Ads Transparency Center showed that between May 22 and June 21, 2026, approximately 1.1 million ads related to nine observed booking platforms were recorded in 205 countries.
How are hotels losing reservations that they already won?
Unlike traditional OTA platforms, Hotels that bring visibility and new guests to intermediaries described in the study primarily target users who are already looking for a specific hotel.
By purchasing Google ads for the property name, they appear at the top of the search results. Some pages even use a visual identity that can create the impression that it is an official hotel website.
The guest can then book accommodation through a third party without being fully aware of it. The hotel then pays the intermediary commission, while communication with the guest, cancellation terms and price transparency can become an additional problem.
Three platforms are ahead in terms of the number of ads
According to Opert’s research, the largest number of ads in the observed period were recorded on the platform GuestReservations.com, approximately 540,000. Next comes ReservationDesk.com with about 240,000 ads, and BookOnline.com with about 90,000.
It is important to distinguish the number of ads from the number of completed reservations. The study documents the scale of advertising, but does not prove how many reservations have actually been redirected or what financial loss the hotel has incurred.
The problem exists outside the American market as well
In 2017, the US regulator FTC also took action against the company Reservation Counter for misleading representations regarding hotel reservations. The settlement included a ban on misleading use of hotel names and logos, as well as an obligation to provide clearer information to consumers.
For hotels in Croatia and the wider Adriatic region, the problem is particularly relevant due to reliance on international guests and Google as a channel for finding accommodation. However, the survey does not provide separate data on the number of affected hotels in the region.
Protection of the hotel brand becomes part of the distribution strategy
Operto recommends that hotel owners regularly monitor ads that use their names, strengthen the visibility of official websites, and control how the property is presented on intermediary platforms.
It is especially useful to check the search results from different countries because the ads visible to a potential guest in Germany or the United Kingdom may not be the same as those the hotelier sees from their own property.
For hoteliers, the most important thing is to determine whether a particular distribution channel generates new demand or simply charges a fee for access to a guest who the hotel has already decided to book.
