Seems like there has been a bit of surge of developments for independent hotels recently, recognising they need help with technology, as their skills lie in hospitality.
A recent Phocuswright study reinforces this revealing independent hoteliers don't have the resources and expertise to compete with big chains and will miss out as a result.
The report also shows online travel giants such as Booking.com and Expedia are increasing their share - despite the drive from independents to attract direct bookings.
In the US, OTAs will represent 58% of US independent properties’ online bookings in 2015 compared to just under 50% of the share for chains. European hotels are even more dependent with intermediaries representing almost three quarters of independent hotel online bookings in 2015.
Trivago came out this week with an expansion of its Direct Connect to the independent market.
Meanwhile, hotel technology specialist SiteMinder recently unveiled Canvas, a website design tool for independent hoteliers.
The service enables hoteliers to create and manage a website using a range of templates. It is also designed to be responsive to devices and integrates with the company's existing booking and channel management technology.
The main picture above is the before and after for Cowra Country Gardens Motor Inn, New South Wales, Australia. It's a dramatic difference and early signs are good.
In the four months since unveiling itts new site, the inn's Google rankings are reported to have improved by an average of almost four spots across search terms, including "Cowra hotel."
Year-on-year bookings for the property have also increased by 100% for the month of August and 25% during September following the website revamp.
SiteMinder EMEA managing director Dai Williams says many of the websites of its 20,000 customers are not modern or mobile responsive with hoteliers unable to change content or images.
At a World Travel Market session earlier this month, SiteMinder EVP global enterprise sales and business development David Chestler said that with the power shift from experts such as agents to the consumer, technology and functionality is what will make hotels standout.
He pointed to the increasingly competitive landscape figures from the American Hotel & Lodging Association showing there are 480 million online hotels bookings made per minute - that's eight bookings per second.
"Now it's the user economy, the standard players are starting to change, new players emerging are starting to drive behaviour for the consumer and the user is becoming the expert.
"There are a lot more locations to get information, guests no longer consume the content, they create it, the industry has a less influential role, travel has evolved from a sellers to a buyers and businesses have to adapt."