There are beliefs and there are facts. You, based on your threads in this forum, apparently exhibit the former.

The fact is following: on my last 6 years living/travelling in SEA, first couple of years living here I really tried to find rates on the hotel's website. Every single time they were way off than rates on Expedia/Agoda/Booking. WAY OFF - on hotel's website there was a rate for 300RM for a night in that hotel in Malacca, and on Expedia it was 140RM.
Plus, with Expedia for example I can have status (Gold) based if I have certain relationship with the bank (HSBC) which gives me automatically 10% off from Expedia prices. Now, If I combine this with third-party cashback sites, like shopback, I will get additional cashback.

So at the end using above technique with Expedia (or other OTA) I can get 8-15% off their own rate for the hotel and I am getting additional points/status with Expedia/OTA.

But someone, based on their belief systems, thinks that booking with hotel is the only right option.