#330: The Biggest Change in Hotel Distribution | with Oshick Shams

How can independent hotels build a profitable distribution strategy while navigating OTAs, direct bookings, metasearch, and AI-driven travel discovery? In this special Independent Hotel Show Miami episode of The Modern Hotelier, David Millili and Steve Carran sit down with Oshick Shams, Partner Manager at SiteMinder, to explore how hotel distribution is evolving and what independent hoteliers need to know to stay competitive. Oshick shares his career journey from sports management and recruiting to hotel technology and partnerships, along with the lessons that shaped his approach to sales, relationship-building, and business development. They also talk about the growing role of AI in how travelers discover hotels, why having accurate information online matters, and how connected technology can help hotel teams spend less time managing systems and more time making smart business decisions.  David, Steve, and Oshick also discuss the growing influence of AI on hotel discovery and why accurate, consistent digital information and reviews are becoming increasingly important. They explore how connected technology and data can help hotels reduce manual work, make faster decisions, and unlock greater value from their technology stacks. In this episode, you'll learn: How to evaluate the true profitability of OTAs and other booking channels Why the guest booking journey is increasingly influenced by AI How hotels can improve their visibility across AI-driven discovery What to consider when evaluating hotel technology How smaller independent hotels can access better revenue and performance insights  This episode is sponsored by SiteMinder: https://www.siteminder.com/ Watch the FULL EPISODE on YouTube: https://youtu.be/cizfAxl2lmY Links: Oshick on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/oshick-shams-40900b106/ SiteMinder: https://www.siteminder.com/ For full show notes head to: https://themodernhotelier.com/episode/330 Follow on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-.. Join the conversation on today's episode on The Modern Hotelier LinkedIn page Connect with Steve and David: Steve: https://www.linkedin.com/in/%F0%9F%8E... David: https://www.linkedin.com/in/david-mil.