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Home / Conference / Webinar Series / Leveraging OTAs in APAC: Balancing Reach with Profitability

Leveraging OTAs in APAC: Balancing Reach with Profitability

Part 2 of ITB Asia’s Market Insights and Commercial Strategy Series

Travellers in Asia rely on OTAs for travel booking more than almost any other region. Accordingly, businesses must navigate how to optimise the balance between OTAs and the broader channel and distribution ecosystem to drive sustainable, profitable growth. 

For travel and hospitality leaders, defining the right channel strategy means aligning reach, customer engagement, pricing, and acquisition efficiency across both direct and third-party platforms. Success increasingly depends on building a distribution mix that supports business goals while meeting evolving traveller expectations.

Join our 45-minute session to learn how to recalibrate your channel strategy and hear from industry peers about how they have done so to maximise success. 

Event Details

  • Virtual
  • 1 July 2026

  • This session is for senior leaders across leisure, travel, and tourism who want to define their strategic roadmap and drive commercial growth over the next 1-2 years. By attending, you will gain:

    • A concise view of the industry’s key trends, challenges, and opportunities 
    • Perspectives on evolving OTA strategies in APAC 
    • Insights into what these developments mean for your business and what to do about it
  • 15-minute presentation on emerging OTA trends and strategies in APAC 
  • 30-minute panel discussion on how industry leaders are optimizing their channel and distribution strategy

Lovrenc Kessler

Senior Partner, Simon-Kucher

Lovrenc Kessler is a Senior Partner based in Simon-Kucher’s Dubai office and is Head of the APAC Leisure & Tourism practice, with over 19 years of consulting experience in growth strategy, digital transformation, and commercial excellence. He advises leading tourism, leisure, and hospitality organisations across Asia and the Middle East, including private enterprises, government, and semi-government entities, helping them unlock sustainable growth. Lovrenc is also a published thought leader on revenue growth, digital and sales transformation, and consumer behaviour.

Conference speaker at ITB Asia 2026 in Singapore, smiling and professional.

Lovrenc Kessler

Senior Partner, Simon-Kucher

Alex Ma

Director, Simon-Kucher

Alex Ma is a Director based in Simon-Kucher’s Singapore office with over 7 years of strategy consulting experience. He has advised clients globally across consumer sectors, with a strong focus on Leisure, Transport, and Tourism, helping clients develop initiatives around expansion strategy, source market development, and attraction proposition development and launches. Alex also brings deep expertise in ASEAN markets, helping our clients develop customer-centric strategies to drive commercial excellence and success.

Alex Ma, Director at Simon-Kucher, speaker at ITB Asia webinar on APAC travel trends

Alex Ma

Director, Simon-Kucher

Celeste Lee

Group Director, Revenue, Naumi Group

With more than a decade of experience in revenue management across multiple regions, Celeste has held various corporate roles in major international hospitality companies covering, hotels, resorts, timeshare and now boutique hotels. Celeste believes strongly in developing a strong revenue management culture and constantly seeks new opportunities to grow commercial success across the portfolio. 

Celeste Lee, Group Director, Revenue at Naumi Group, speaker at ITB Asia webinar on OTA strategy and hotel profitability in APAC

Celeste Lee

Group Director, Revenue, Naumi Group

Deepshikha Sehgal

Head of LGS (Lodging, Ground & Sea) - APAC, Sabre Corporation

Deepshikha Sehgal leads Sabre’s Lodging, Ground, and Sea business across Asia Pacific, overseeing both supply and demand to drive growth, performance, and long-term value for partners across the travel ecosystem. With over 20 years of experience in travel and hospitality, she has built a career at the intersection of commercial strategy, technology, and partnerships—working closely with C-suite leaders to deliver meaningful, scalable outcomes while leading diverse, multicultural teams. 

She began her career in the airline sector, spending several years with British Airways, before joining American Express Global Business Travel, where she focused on strengthening client management and service delivery over a five-year tenure. She later served as Regional Head of Global Chains for Asia Pacific, the Middle East, and Africa at GTA/Hotelbeds, where she led strategic initiatives in B2B hotel distribution. 

Deepshikha subsequently moved into hospitality ownership, heading the revenue management and distribution function for Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts across Southeast Asia and Australasia, driving profitability through data-led pricing and distribution strategies. Prior to joining Sabre, she was Global Head of Commercial Strategy at Bakuun Holdings, a travel technology company specializing in API-enabled connectivity and B2B hotel distribution solutions. 

Deepshikha Sehgal, Head of LGS APAC at Sabre Corporation, speaker at ITB Asia webinar on OTA strategy and hotel profitability in APAC

Deepshikha Sehgal

Head of LGS (Lodging, Ground & Sea) – APAC, Sabre Corporation

Boon Sian Chai​

Managing Director and Vice President, International Markets, Trip.com Group

Boon Sian Chai currently serves as Managing Director and Vice President of International Markets at Trip.com Group. Based in Singapore, Chai oversees the entire International Hotel Supply team, spearheading the growth of supply partners internationally.

Prior to joining Trip.com Group, Chai progressed through the ranks during his more than 14 years in the online travel agency (OTA) space. With extensive knowledge and in-depth experience in the OTA sector, Chai enjoys spending time consulting with hotel partners on their pricing, distribution and marketing strategies. His geographic coverage includes Asia Pacific, having spent time in Hong Kong and Shanghai, and he has extensive networks in these markets.

Before moving into the online travel space, Chai was the COO of an IT startup company specialising in online human resource systems and held corporate planning and e-commerce positions with various enterprises, working on strategic planning, business development, and sales and marketing.

Chai holds an MBA from the Chicago Booth School of Business and a BSc with first-class honours from Loughborough University.

Boon Sian Chai, Managing Director and Vice President, International Markets at Trip.com Group, speaker at ITB Asia webinar on OTA strategy and hotel profitability in APAC

Boon Sian Chai

Managing Director and Vice President, International Markets, Trip.com Group

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