The Situation
A boutique hotel group with several properties gets the majority of its bookings through third-party OTAs, paying significant commission on nearly every reservation, while its own direct-booking website sees traffic but converts far less often.
What They'd Already Tried
The group occasionally ran seasonal email promotions to its existing guest list and matched OTA pricing on its own site, assuming price parity alone would be enough to shift bookings direct.
Where They Got Stuck
Price parity wasn't enough on its own — guests defaulted to the OTA they already trusted and had saved payment details on, and the group's own site gave them no real reason to book direct instead.
The Approach
- Build SEO-driven destination and experience content for each property to capture direct-intent search traffic before it ever reaches an OTA listing
- Add a direct-booking incentive that OTAs structurally can't match — a room upgrade, late checkout, or on-property credit — rather than competing on price alone
- Build a pre-arrival and post-stay email lifecycle for past guests specifically encouraging a direct rebooking next time, since repeat guests are the easiest segment to shift off OTAs
- Simplify the direct booking flow on the website itself, since friction at checkout is often what pushes an otherwise-convinced visitor back to a familiar OTA
- Track direct vs. OTA booking share by property over time, so the shift in commission-free revenue is actually visible to ownership
The Outcome
A growing share of bookings shifting toward the group's own direct channel, easing commission costs over time — without needing to compete with OTAs purely on price, which was never a fight this group could win long-term.