Guests discover on an OTA and book wherever is cheapest
The critical moment in hotel booking is not discovery — it is the point where a guest who has found you on an OTA checks whether booking direct is better. Most hotels lose that moment by default, because they never made the case.
Where shall we go?
Destination-led research, often months ahead. Content about the area, events and things to do captures this stage entirely.
Which hotel?
Now comparing properties on OTAs and maps, filtering by price, rating and location. Most hotels are discovered here.
Is this place good?
They search the hotel by name to read reviews, see real photographs and check the official site before committing.
Direct or OTA?
The decisive moment. If your direct rate and benefits are not obviously better, they book through the OTA and you pay commission.
What commission is really costing you
OTA commission is charged on gross booking value, not on profit, which means it consumes a disproportionate share of actual margin. Shifting even a modest percentage of bookings to direct changes the economics of the whole property.
Commission on every OTA booking
Between 15% and 25% of gross booking value on bookings from guests who, in many cases, would have booked directly had your site been visible and the case for it been made.
Losing your own brand searches
OTAs bid on and rank for your hotel name. Guests searching for you directly land on an OTA listing and book there — and you pay commission for a guest who was already yours.
No destination content
The research phase happens months before booking and is entirely won by content about the area. Hotels that publish none of it are invisible until the comparison stage.
A booking engine that loses people
A slow, clunky or non-mobile booking flow sends guests back to the OTA experience they already trust. Direct visibility is wasted if the booking path is worse.
The queries that produce direct bookings
We prioritise queries where a direct booking is realistically winnable — brand searches, location-specific stays and destination research — rather than competing head-on with OTAs on generic terms.
| Search term | Intent | Volume | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|---|
| “[hotel name]” | Very high | Medium | Your own brand. Must be defended against OTA bidding — highest-value query you have. |
| “hotels near [landmark]” | Very high | High | Location-led with strong booking intent. Winnable with proper local work. |
| “[city] hotel with parking” | Very high | Medium | Amenity-specific. Long tail, low competition, converts strongly. |
| “best hotels in [area]” | High | High | Comparison phase, dominated by OTAs and lists. Worth contesting selectively. |
| “things to do in [city]” | Medium | Very high | Dream phase. Builds visibility months ahead of a booking decision. |
| “dog friendly hotel [area]” | Very high | Medium | Filter-led search with very high conversion and light competition. |
| “[city] hotel deals” | High | High | Price-led. Where a best-rate guarantee wins the direct booking. |
| “wedding venue [area]” | Very high | Medium | Very high value per booking if you host events. Frequently under-targeted. |
Volume bands vary sharply by destination and season. We build the keyword map around your actual room types, amenities and event capability rather than generic hotel terms.
Who sits between you and your guests
Hotel search is one of the most intermediated categories online. Understanding exactly who occupies the space between a guest and your booking engine is the first step to bypassing them.
OTAs and metasearch
Booking.com, Expedia and metasearch platforms dominate nearly every generic hotel query and bid aggressively on individual hotel brand names.
Hotel chains
Large groups with substantial marketing budgets, loyalty programmes and extensive destination content across every market they operate in.
Travel publishers
Guides, listicles and travel media own the dream-phase queries where guests first decide where to stay, months before they book.
The work that shifts bookings direct
Every element below is aimed at one outcome: increasing the share of bookings that arrive through your own booking engine rather than through a commissioned channel.
Brand search defence
Ensuring your own hotel name resolves to your site rather than an OTA listing, which is the single fastest commission saving available.
Local & map visibility
Business Profile, map pack and location work so you appear for “hotels near” searches with photography, amenities and direct booking links.
Destination content
Genuinely useful area, events and things-to-do content that captures the dream phase months before a booking decision is made.
Best-rate messaging
Clear, credible direct-booking benefits and rate transparency at the exact moment a guest is deciding between you and the OTA.
Booking engine conversion
Fast, mobile-first booking flow work, because direct visibility is wasted if the booking path is worse than the OTA experience.
Review & reputation
Guest review growth and response handling across the platforms that feed both local ranking and guest decision-making.
Your first 90 days
Brand defence first because it produces immediate commission savings, then discovery and destination visibility.
An independent hotel that halved its OTA dependence
A 40-room independent hotel took roughly 80% of bookings through OTAs, paying substantial commission on each. Guests searching the hotel by name were landing on OTA listings, and the property had no destination content at all.
We defended brand search so the hotel’s own name resolved to its site, rebuilt the Business Profile with proper photography and direct booking links, added clear best-rate messaging at the decision point, and published genuine destination and events content.
The commission we saved in the first six months paid for the work several times over. We are still on the OTAs — we just are not dependent on them any more.
Questions hoteliers ask
Practical answers on OTAs, commission and what direct booking growth realistically looks like.