How to win more direct bookings and pay less OTA commission

An online travel agency (OTA) puts your hotel in front of travellers who have never heard of it. The commission is the price of that reach, and for a new guest from a distant market it is often money well spent.

The waste is somewhere else. It is the returning guest who books through an OTA out of habit. It is the traveller who typed your hotel's name into a search engine and clicked the first result, which was not yours. This guide is about those bookings: the ones where you pay to be introduced to somebody who already knew you.

Work out what each channel costs you

Start with a plain count. For the last twelve months, list every booking source, what it cost to win each booking and what you were left with.

Channel	What you pay	What you should know
OTA	A commission on the booking value, sometimes more for extra visibility	The cancellation rate, and whether you receive the guest's real email address
Your own website	The booking engine's fee, card processing and any advertising that led to the booking	How many visitors start a booking and how many finish
Phone and email	Staff time	How long an enquiry waits for an answer
Agencies and tour operators	A contracted discount or commission	Payment terms, and how late unsold rooms are released
Walk-in	Nothing beyond the desk	Rarely a large share, but worth counting

Two figures matter more than the rest: the net amount you keep per room night by channel, and the share of OTA guests who had stayed with you before. The second figure is the size of the opportunity.

Make your website the easiest place to book

A guest who reaches your website and then leaves to book elsewhere is telling you that the other place was easier. Test your own booking path on a phone, as a stranger would.

Show dates and prices early

The guest wants to know two things: is the hotel free on my dates, and what does it cost. Put the date search on the first screen. Show the total price for the stay, with taxes and fees stated, before asking for a name or an email address.

Make it work on a phone

Many guests compare hotels on a phone, often on a slow connection. Every step should fit the width of the screen, photographs should load quickly, and the keyboard should suit the field: a number pad for a phone number, an email keyboard for an email address.

Speak the guest's language

If a fair share of your guests come from one country, offer the booking path in their language, and carry it through to room descriptions, cancellation terms and confirmation emails. A translated home page that ends in an English payment form loses trust at the worst moment.

Take payment and confirm at once

State the deposit and the cancellation terms in plain words beside the price. Take payment through a provider the guest will recognise, and send the confirmation within seconds. A guest left waiting for a confirmation may book a second hotel as a precaution.

Let guests manage their own booking

A link in the confirmation that lets the guest change or cancel under the stated terms removes one of the reasons people give for preferring an OTA. It also saves the desk a telephone call.

Give guests a reason to book direct

Read your OTA contracts first. Many contain a price parity clause, in which you agree not to publish a lower public price on your own website. How far such a clause can be enforced differs by country, so take advice before you undercut an OTA in public.

A parity clause usually governs the public price of the same room on the same terms. That leaves a good deal of room:

Add value, not a discount. Breakfast, a late check-out, parking or a welcome drink for direct bookings.
Sell what an OTA listing handles poorly. Packages that combine the room with dinner, a transfer or an activity. Guests compare a room against a room. A package is harder to compare and easier to remember.
Offer paid extras during booking. A guest who adds an airport transfer or a sauna hour on your website has bought something an OTA listing rarely offers.
Reward returning guests in private. A code sent by email to past guests, or a loyalty programme with member benefits, is an offer to a closed group. Many contracts treat that differently from a public price.
Be more flexible. Kinder cancellation terms for direct bookings cost little in quiet periods.

Say it plainly on the website: what a guest gets by booking with you that they do not get elsewhere. One short line near the price does more than a banner.

Win back the guests an OTA found for you

The first booking through an OTA is an introduction. The second should come to you.

At check-in, ask for the guest's own email address and, separately, their consent to hear from you. Record when and how the consent was given.
During the stay, make sure the guest knows your website exists. A card in the room that names the direct booking benefit is enough.
After the stay, send one thank-you message with a reason to return: a returning-guest code, or an early look at next season's dates.
Before your busy season goes on sale, write to past guests first.

None of this works if guest records are scattered. One profile per guest, with their stays and their consent, is the foundation.

Keep the OTAs working for you

Pulling out of OTAs rarely pays. Use them on purpose instead.

Keep photographs, descriptions and policies as accurate there as on your own website. Some guests find you on an OTA and then look you up directly.
On dates you will fill anyway, reduce the rooms you offer through the channels that cost the most.
On quiet dates, let the OTAs bring the guests you would not reach alone.
Keep availability accurate everywhere. An overbooking costs more than a commission.
Watch what appears when somebody searches for your hotel by name, and make sure your own website is among the first results.

A direct booking checklist

You know the net amount per room night for every channel.
You know what share of OTA guests were returning guests.
A stranger can book a room on a phone in a few minutes.
The total price, taxes, deposit and cancellation terms are visible before the guest enters personal details.
The booking path is offered in your main guest languages.
Direct bookers get a named benefit, stated beside the price.
Extras and packages can be added during booking.
Guests can change or cancel a booking themselves.
The desk asks every OTA guest for an email address and consent.
Past guests hear from you before each season goes on sale.
Somebody reviews channel share and cost every month.

Review the numbers every month

Track three things: the share of room nights booked direct, the net amount kept per room night by channel, and the cancellation rate by channel. Look at the trend over a season, not week to week. A steady move of returning guests from OTA to direct is the sign that the work is paying off.

If winning more direct bookings means changing systems, read the PMS migration checklist before you set a date.

Hemmz, the platform we build, includes a hotel booking engine sold on a subscription with no commission on bookings. It is available to founding properties and is not yet offered as a self-service product.