Direct Bookings: How to Depend Less on Booking and Airbnb Without Disappearing From Them

Booking explains in its partner help centre that it charges “a set percentage of the value of each reservation”, calculated on the total value of the stay, and that the percentage varies by country and by property type. Many hotels end up paying around 15%, according to industry guides, and more if they pay for extra visibility. In Airbnb’s case, the host-only fee is around 15.5% of each booking.

A round-number example to size it: a property that receives 1,000 nights a year through these platforms at 2,000 pesos a night pays around 300,000 pesos in commissions at 15%. If a third of those guests had already stayed before, about 100,000 pesos went to platforms for customers who were already yours.

A Cornell study by Chris Anderson, published in 2011 with InterContinental Hotels data, found what the industry calls the billboard effect: being listed on an online travel agency also increases bookings on the hotel’s own website. Nearly 75% of the guests who booked directly had visited an online travel agency first. Anderson concluded that part of those commissions should be seen as a marketing expense.

In practice: many new guests discover you on Booking or Airbnb, compare, and then look for you by name. If at that moment they find a clear website where they can book, some of them will book there. If they find nothing, they go back to the app. The platform is your shop window; your website is where you want the sale to close.

A website with photos and a “message us on WhatsApp” button is not enough. The guest who compares at 11 p.m. wants to see dates, prices and pay, not wait for a reply the next morning. For that you need a booking engineBooking engineThe system on your own website where customers check availability, pick a date and pay, without going through a platform that charges commission. on your own domainDomainYour business’s address on the internet, like yourrestaurant.com. It is yours as long as you renew it, and what you build there (visits, reputation on Google) stays with you.Read more →, connected to a channel managerChannel managerSoftware that keeps your availability and prices in sync across Booking, Airbnb and your own website, so you never sell the same room or seat twice. so a room sold on Booking disappears from your website at the same moment.

It also has to load fast and work on a phone, because that is where most guests compare. What a complete website must include is covered in what a website should include.

Few small hotels know this. Google has free booking links: when someone searches for your hotel, your own website can appear next to Booking and Expedia with its price, and Google charges nothing for those clicks. According to Google’s Hotel Center help, many hotels are already connected through their reservation system provider. If yours offers it, it is one of the cheapest direct bookings you can get.

Before that, your Google Business ProfileGoogle Business ProfileYour free listing on Google and Google Maps with your address, hours, photos and reviews. It is the first thing many people see when they search for your business.Read more → has to be complete: photos, services, correct phone number and recent reviews. It is the first thing a guest sees when searching for you by name.

The guest who arrived through Booking is physically at your front desk. That is when to invite them into your own channel: ask for their email at check-in or through the Wi-Fi login page, with your privacy noticePrivacy noticeThe document the law requires you to show before asking for personal data. It explains what data you collect, what you use it for and how the person can exercise their rights over it. visible, and tell them what they gain by booking directly next time. We explain the Wi-Fi idea in QR menus for restaurants, and it works the same way in a hotel.

With that list you can do email marketingEmail marketingSending emails to your customer list with offers, news or reminders. The list is yours and does not depend on any algorithm.Read more →: an anniversary of their stay, the low season, a local event. And with the Meta PixelMeta PixelA free code from Meta that is installed once on your website. It tells Meta who visited so you can later show ads on Facebook and Instagram to those people and to others like them. You never see names or personal data.Read more → installed on your website, you can show ads to those who visited it and did not book, which is remarketingRemarketingShowing ads again to people who already know you, for example those who visited your website or viewed your menu. It works because you are talking to someone who has already been in touch with you.Read more →.

The instinct is to offer a lower price on your website. Before you do, read your contract with each platform: some ask that your prices are not lower elsewhere. A safer route is to offer something extra instead of a discount: breakfast, late check-out, a welcome bottle, free cancellation or a better room if available. It costs you less than the commission and does not break any agreement.

Say it clearly on your website (“booking here includes breakfast”) and at the front desk. A benefit nobody knows about does not move a single booking.

Track one number every month: the share of nights booked directly versus through platforms. Also record how many direct guests had stayed before. If that share rises season after season, you are keeping your customers; if not, the platforms are keeping them.

If you want to know what to fix first on your website, Google profile or channels, our free diagnostic for hotels and lodging gives you the list in order in a few minutes.