💬 Guest article by Andrew Lawrence, Senior Business Development Manager for MENA – Enterprise at Profitroom
As part of our Profitroom Talks series, Andrew explores the seismic shift taking place across the Middle East and North Africa — where governments, hotel groups, and tech providers are working together to rebuild tourism infrastructure around direct bookings. With national goals like Qatar’s 67% direct booking target by 2027, this isn’t just a tech trend. It’s a regional revolution.
If you're working in hospitality across the Middle East or North Africa today, you've probably noticed something significant shifting. This isn't just about individual properties upgrading their tech stack or experimenting with digital marketing. We're witnessing entire nations redesigning their tourism technology ecosystems from the ground up.
I find this transformation truly inspiring. Countries like Saudi, UAE, Egypt and Qatar aren't just suggesting hotels improve their digital presence; they've set ambitious national targets of almost 70 % online bookings by 2030. This isn't coming from one hotel group or one brand, it's a country-level objective changing how the entire industry operates.
What makes this shift so powerful is that governments are starting to view direct booking technology as essential tourism infrastructure—not just an operational detail left to individual properties to figure out.
I've spent nearly 16 years in travel tech across the region, from my early days at Amadeus to Four Seasons, TBO Holidays and neutral consulting platforms. This experience has given me a clear view of what happens when distribution models become too dependent on a single channel.
In Egypt today, some hotels still see up to 80% of their business coming through tour operators. When COVID hit, followed by the Russia-Ukraine conflict, occupancy dropped dramatically in Red Sea resorts heavily dependent on Russian tourism. The vulnerability was impossible to ignore.
The more mature hotel groups have managed to shift some business toward OTAs, but that's really just exchanging one dependency for another. When OTAs control 35-70% of your distribution, you're still exposed to significant commission costs and limited guest data ownership.
This is why destinations themselves are stepping in. Saudi Arabia is developing an entire new tourism ecosystem like Red Sea Global where the technology infrastructure is being planned alongside physical buildings. There's a growing alignment between public-sector goals (diversifying tourism demand) and private-sector needs (improving profitability through direct channels).
Big visions matter, but implementation is where real change happens. In just my second month at Profitroom, we signed one of our largest enterprise clients regionally: a Saudi group operating 59 properties across 3 distinct brands.
Their existing provider couldn't support their scale or ambition. Together, we've established clear KPIs: doubling their direct booking share from its current 7% to 20% within two years. The full group will go live in July 2025, with phased implementation across all their hotels.
What struck me was how quickly this enterprise-level decision moved: just five weeks from first meeting to signature. This pace speaks volumes about how urgent this shift has become for forward-thinking groups in the region.
When introducing new technology, there's often fear among staff that it might replace them. My advice is straightforward: technology should empower people, not replace them.
Hotel owners and management companies should view tech as a way to enhance staff productivity and profitability rather than as a threat to jobs. Similarly, employees shouldn't fear that adopting new systems means their roles will disappear.
This mindset shift is perhaps the most profound change needed across the industry. For too long, hotel owners have viewed technology purely as CapEx or OpEx—a necessary expense that drains the balance sheet. But when properly implemented, booking technology is an investment with measurable ROI tied directly to reduced commission costs and improved guest relationships.
While these changes are happening most visibly in the Middle East right now, there are lessons here for hoteliers everywhere:
First, align your technology strategy with broader destination goals whenever possible. What Saudi is doing by setting national direct booking targets creates momentum that individual properties can leverage.
Second, recognise that improvement doesn't have to happen overnight. Even moving direct booking share from 5% to 15% creates significant financial impact through reduced commission payouts and better guest data capture.
And third, approach technology as collaborative infrastructure rather than competitive advantage. What makes the current transformation in MEA markets so promising is that everyone seems to be moving in the same direction simultaneously: governments, tech providers, and hotel operators all recognise the need for change.
What excites me most about working in this region right now is seeing destinations transform areas that were previously underdeveloped into world-class tourism experiences.
The development happening along Saudi Arabia's Red Sea coast is truly remarkable. They're creating "the new Maldives" in areas where there was virtually nothing before. They are building not just hotels but entire destination ecosystems, including the digital infrastructure needed to support direct distribution from day one.
This combination of physical development and digital strategy represents a new model for how tourism destinations can evolve: one that puts technology at the centre rather than treating it as an afterthought.
For hoteliers across the region and beyond, the message is clear: direct booking technology isn't just about having a good website, it's about aligning with larger destination strategies, building guest relationships that transcend individual stays, and taking greater control over your distribution destiny.
The future is collaborative, and it starts with seeing technology as investment rather than expense. Because ultimately, the most profitable guest journey is one you own from beginning to end.
Watch Andrew’s Profitroom Talks episodes — 3 short, quick, practical videos on how hotel groups in the Middle East and Northern Africa are embracing tech, integrating systems, and future-proofing their direct sales strategies.
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