Hotel business generation polls are taken by World Independent Hotels Promotion (WIHP) yearly from guests that book directly with hotels to determine how they decided to stay in hotels. Previously, TripAdvisor.com was first in the poll but 2013 moved friends and family to first. This is thought to be, in part, to hotel’s current strategy to retain guests. While strong at 16.2%, outside travel agencies are on the decline, along with travel blogs when it comes to generating business for hotels.

I am surprised that online travel agencies are third - especially with the heavy marketing of Priceline, Kayak, Trivgio and others. I know that I usually go to one (or more) of these sites first, then compare reviews from sites like Trip Advisor. Perhaps, the reason "friends and family" came first is because there are more and more travel and travel review sites, which will dilute any one site.

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What are the online sources of a hotel booking?