Stop guessing.
Start benchmarking.

Most hospitality reports focus on the big chains: Marriott, Hilton, and Hyatt. But for independent hotels, the rules are different. You don’t have corporate negotiating power with OTAs, and you don’t have a global loyalty program.

You know your own numbers. But do you know if your direct booking strategy is actually performing, or if you’re falling behind the property across the street?

Epiic Hospitality is conducting a confidential study to benchmark the real economics of independent hotels in 2026.

What participants receive

The true cost of a direct booking The 2026 channel investment report The technology gap

Everyone knows the OTA commission is ~18%. But when you factor in ad spend, agency fees, and tech costs, are your direct bookings actually cheaper? We’re calculating both numbers so you can audit your own efficiency against the market.

Where are independent hotels actually moving their budget this year? Which channels deliver the best ROI for direct bookings? We’re analyzing real data on investment shifts across paid search, metasearch, email, social, AI search, and more.

Some properties run integrated systems with automated guest communications. Others manage everything manually through OTA platforms. We’re mapping where independent hotels actually stand and how it correlates with direct booking performance.

Choose how to participate

We are limiting detailed interviews to 100 properties to ensure data integrity. Select how you would like to contribute.

Schedule a
15-minute conversation

Best for leaders who want actionable insights tailored to their property.

  • The process:
    A brief, confidential conversation with our research team to discuss your current approach and challenges.
  • What you receive:
    The full report (early access) plus a private gap analysis showing exactly where your property over-performs or under-performs against the benchmark, with a 20-minute call to walk through your results.
Schedule a Conversation

Complete the
8-minute survey

Best for leaders short on time who still want access to the findings.

  • The Process:
    A self-paced, secure questionnaire.
  • What You Receive:
    The full report delivered via email when published.
Take the Survey

Privacy: Your individual property data will never be shared, sold, or published. Only aggregate trends and benchmarks will be released.