ONDA X Google Hotels Webinar Wraps Up

ONDA X Google Hotels Webinar Wraps Up

- Google Hotels' first Korean partner, ONDA, co-hosts webinar charting new hospitality ecosystem and business strategies

- Arindam Das, Google APAC Travel Lead, and ONDA CEO Oh Hyun-seok headline event

- COVID-19 drives digital transformation demand; Google Hotels adoption strengthens hospitality competitiveness

(Press Release—September 17, 2021) Hospitality B2B platform ONDA wrapped up a highly successful joint webinar with Google Hotels.

The live-streamed event took place on the afternoon of September 16 under the theme "Google Hotels and D2C: A New Wave in Hospitality." Headline speakers included Arindam Das, Google's APAC Travel Lead, ONDA CEO Oh Hyun-seok, and ONDA Global Business Team Lead Lee Chan-min. The session offered deep insights into how the OTA-dominated online booking market is being reshaped by Google and travel tech players.

Arindam Das emphasized that while COVID-19 continues, expanding vaccine rollouts are driving travel demand back up. Google Hotels—a search and booking service backed by the world's largest search engine—delivers travelers fast access to room pricing and availability. Crucially, it surfaces hotel booking links organically, without requiring separate ad campaigns from properties, enabling accommodation providers to tap into tens of millions of global travelers and boost bookings and revenue.

ONDA CEO Oh traced the rise of OTAs and outlined a path forward for the hospitality industry amid COVID-19 headwinds. He highlighted Google Hotels as a key "living with COVID" sales strategy and a tool to tackle the industry's longstanding digital transformation challenge—a message that resonated strongly with attendees. Lee Chan-min closed the session with a practical walkthrough of how to integrate and activate ONDA with Google Hotels.

As part of a special partnership program designed to drive industry recovery, ONDA is launching a support initiative. The company will select five Google Hotels adopters in need of digital transformation and provide kiosks (100-room scale), smart door locks, and related equipment worth up to ₩50 million. Additionally, the first 50 partner properties will receive 30% discounts on kiosks and smart door locks.

"As demand for digital transformation grows across hospitality and travel, we're thrilled to share insights into the online travel and accommodation ecosystem Google is building globally," said CEO Oh. "We'll do everything we can to help our partners build optimal environments within Google and strengthen their competitive edge."

ONDA is Google Hotels' first partner in Korea, operating a Property Management System (PMS), Global Distribution System (GDS), Hotel Management (HM), and the SoTA Collection hospitality management brand. The company is also the first Korean firm—and only the fourth in Asia—to become an Airbnb Preferred Partner. (End)

[Images 1, 2] ONDA X Google Hotels Webinar (Event Snapshots)