What Is the Video-First Advantage on OTA Platforms?
Video converts dramatically better than photography across every OTA platform. Hotels with video see up to four times higher conversion rates, and Booking.com reports an eighty percent increase in landing page conversion. Travelers decide within seven seconds, and video breaks the monotony of static room photographs.
Properties with video reduce OTA dependency with higher direct booking rates, avoiding platform commissions that consume 15 to 25 percent of revenue.
The OTA space moves slowly. Most platforms built their video infrastructure in the mid-2000s and have only recently upgraded to mobile-first requirements. What hotels face now is a fragmented landscape where Booking.com accepts one video format, Expedia another, and a dozen other platforms operate with entirely different specifications.
What Booking.com Actually Accepts Right Now
Booking.com updated its video infrastructure in 2023 and continues to refine it. The platform now accepts video uploads directly from property manager accounts.
Booking.com's current specifications: video duration ranges from a minimum of five seconds to a maximum of thirty seconds. The platform accepts both landscape (16:9) and portrait (9:16) formats, though landscape remains the default for desktop. Vertical video is critical because sixty percent of hotel reservation browsing happens on mobile devices.
File formats accepted include MP4, MOV, and WebM. File size should not exceed 500 megabytes. Video quality matters to Booking.com's algorithm; minimum resolution of 1280x720 for landscape and 720x1280 for portrait. Better performing videos hit 1920x1080 or 1080x1920.
One critical detail: Booking.com penalizes watermarked content. If your video contains a production company watermark, logo overlay, or any branding element that obscures the property, the platform reduces its visibility in search results.
What Expedia Accepts for Video Content
Expedia's duration limits are more flexible: ten seconds to sixty seconds. Research consistently shows that videos under thirty seconds perform better in actual traveler behavior.
Expedia accepts MP4, MOV, and WebM with a maximum file size of 1 gigabyte. Resolution requirements mirror Booking.com: minimum 1280x720 for landscape. Expedia natively supports 16:9, 4:3, and 1:1 (square) formats. Modest branding is permitted if it occupies less than 10 percent of the frame.
What Do Other Major OTAs Accept?
Airbnb prioritizes video in its search algorithm. Portrait video (9:16) gets featured placement in the mobile app while landscape video is essentially secondary. Maximum file size is 10 gigabytes, fifteen to sixty seconds duration.
Vrbo accepts MP4 and MOV formats with file sizes up to 250 megabytes, ten to sixty seconds duration.
TripAdvisor accepts MP4 format, 500 megabyte maximum, ten to thirty seconds.
Google Hotel Ads accepts video links (typically YouTube) as primary property assets, preferring mobile-first, authentic property walkthroughs.
OTA Video Format Specifications at a Glance
| Platform | Aspect Ratios | Duration | Max File Size | Min Resolution |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Booking.com | 16:9, 9:16 | 5-30 sec | 500 MB | 1280x720 |
| Expedia | 16:9, 4:3, 1:1 | 10-60 sec | 1 GB | 1280x720 |
| Airbnb | 16:9, 9:16 (preferred) | 15-60 sec | 10 GB | 1920x1080 |
| Vrbo | 16:9 | 10-60 sec | 250 MB | 1280x720 |
| TripAdvisor | 16:9 | 10-30 sec | 500 MB | 1280x720 |
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How Should You Produce Video for OTA Listings?
OTA video differs from social media content in audience intent and context. Viewers have already filtered by destination, date, and price; they are evaluating whether your property matches its description.
The sequence structure should follow a simple pattern: open with an exterior shot at golden hour, move to the lobby, proceed through common areas, transition to a bedroom showing bed quality and bathroom, show distinctive amenities, and close with a reinforcing establishing shot.
Total runtime should not exceed twenty seconds for maximum OTA performance. Each scene should hold for approximately two to three seconds. Camera movement should be steady and deliberate.
What to avoid: Extended shots of corridors, footage of staff or guests (privacy concerns), drone shots showing rooftops, and anything that looks promotional in tone. OTA video should feel documentary, not theatrical.
How Does Video Create Differentiation in OTA Search Results?
When every competitor shows an identical grid of room photographs, travelers use those photographs as a proxy for actual property condition. A video asset breaks that pattern. It tells a narrative progression. It occupies more visual real estate and triggers attention capture even when the traveler is scrolling quickly.
A property that invested in professional video production signals operational competence in a way that standard photography does not. Sixty percent of hotel reservations originate from mobile devices, and on mobile screens, video occupies substantially more visual space per pixel than static images.
How Does Video Reduce OTA Dependency and Drive Direct Bookings?
A hotel website with high-quality video that demonstrates property benefits more effectively than OTA listings can attract a substantial portion of direct bookings. Those direct bookings carry no commission.
Produce video assets in multiple formats: hero (10-30 seconds) for OTA listings, short (3-9 seconds) for social media and paid advertising, and longer campaign format (30-60 seconds) for homepage carousels. Modern AI video production platforms can generate multiple aspect ratio and duration variants from a single source set.
How Long Does OTA Video Actually Take to Produce?
A property with strong photography can produce OTA-ready video within forty-eight hours using AI video production platforms. The cost typically ranges from 200 to 500 euros per video.
Original video production involving on-site filming takes longer: three to five business days from filming, costing 1,500 to 2,500 euros per video. For a full comparison of these approaches, see our AI video vs. traditional production guide.
A hybrid approach uses AI video production for primary OTA assets, with original production reserved for hero content on your website.
Frequently Asked Questions
Published February 19, 2026