While balanced distribution across OTA, GDS, metasearch, and direct channels is key to your property’s visibility and profitability, direct bookings are the most valuable. As of 2024, direct website bookings made an average of $519 per reservation compared with an OTA average of $320. Because direct bookings involve no commission fees, they’re generally more profitable. They also provide opportunities to collect guest data and lay the foundation for meaningful, long-term relationships.
Putting time and effort into your direct booking strategy pays off. Here are three proven steps to increase direct reservations.
1. Improve Online Presence
Most guests research their accommodation across a variety of online channels, including OTAs, metasearch sites, social media, and property websites. In the 45 days leading up to their booking, consumers view an average of 141 pages of travel content. Therefore, a consistent and quality online presence (and reputation) is key to standing out so that guests ultimately book with you.
Your Website
Your website is your online storefront and the only channel entirely under your control. As such, it has strong potential to drive conversions. Make sure potential guests can find your website by optimizing your SEO strategy. Be aware that SEO is not only about keywords; elements such as site speed and intuitive navigation also play an important role. In addition, Google has implemented mobile-first indexing, which means that the mobile version of the site is deemed primary. Use a responsive design that automatically adapts to the user’s device, whether desktop, mobile, or tablet, to improve both SEO and user-friendliness.
OTA Listings
Counterintuitively, your OTA listings also enable you to boost direct bookings because of the “billboard effect.” How does that work? Your listing acts as a billboard that notifies guests of your availability, and from there, they can either book via the OTA or proceed to your site to see more and book direct. According to a Cornell University study, 30 percent of direct bookers start their research on an OTA site. Ensure your listings are complete, consistent, and up-to-date to boost bookings—including direct.
Google Business Profile
Claim the listing for your Google Business Profile too and fill it out completely. This listing appears in Google search results and on Google Maps, displaying your property’s information and links. Google offers free links that take travel consumers straight to your online booking engine. Properties can take advantage of this through WebRezPro’s Google integration, which keeps pricing and availability up to date in real time. There are paid advertising options on Google as well that allow you to target specific audiences by location, keyword, and even URL.
Social Media
To cultivate a strong social media presence, you don’t need to be on every channel, though you should post consistently. According to Booking.com, Instagram and Facebook are the top platforms used for travel inspiration. Don’t neglect user-generated content as it’s key to online credibility, with 86 percent of American consumers likelier to trust brands that leverage it. One simple strategy is to repost positive reviews along with a selection of curated photos from your property.
2. Provide an Effortless Booking Experience
A booking isn’t guaranteed when a guest navigates to your booking engine; 80.8 percent of consumers on travel websites fail to complete their reservation. To convert lookers into bookers, the reservation process must be convenient, intuitive, and truly seamless.
- Flexible, intuitive search experience: WebRezPro’s customizable, commission-free booking engine displays live rates and availability in real time through a variety of formats, including tile layouts, maps, and interactive calendars. This allows guests to browse search results in a format that suits them best, whether they want to view a map to see where on the property a unit is located or open a calendar to see availability around the dates they are interested in.
- Real-time amenity filters: Guests can filter their search by specific amenities to ensure their room has everything they need for a comfortable stay, and properties can create custom amenities to highlight the features that best strengthen their unique selling proposition.
- Unit slideshows: Adding quality photos of your units and property is important for enhancing credibility and visual appeal. With WebRezPro, photos can even be set to change automatically by season so that they reflect the most relevant experience at your property.
- Streamlined booking form: Once guests have selected their unit type, the booking form must gather all necessary data and special requests while preserving simplicity and ease of use. It’s a balancing act. While you need enough guest data to personalize the guest experience, asking for too much information slows down the booking process and increases the chance of abandonment.
- Mobile-friendly interface: Approximately 35 percent of travel reservations occur via mobile devices, so your booking engine needs to be mobile friendly. WebRezPro uses a responsive design and incorporates easy access links to important functions at the bottom of the screen.
- Automatic confirmations: Lastly, send a confirmation email after the booking is completed. This both reassures guests that their room will be waiting when they arrive and signals that you’re a professional, legitimate business. WebRezPro includes automated booking confirmations so that none fall through the cracks.
Providing incentives, promotions, and packages exclusive to your online booking engine encourages guests to book directly with you. While OTA parity agreements prevent you from supplying the same room at a lower price, you can add perks to that room which make it a better deal, e.g., free breakfast or parking, or bundle it into a package. Use guest data from your booking engine to tailor packages and promotions to your guests.
WebRezPro empowers properties to sell add-ons or offer free perks from a pop-up modal with photos within the booking form. Guests can conveniently select the extras that make their stay special while they are booking their room.
Offering discounts to a select group of travelers such as loyalty members is another effective way to boost direct bookings without violating parity agreements, as long as those discounts are not available to the general public. Managing this is easy with password-protected rates.
Driving direct bookings doesn’t just improve your bottom line—it strengthens guest relationships, fosters long-term loyalty, and future-proofs your business. Follow these three strategic steps to craft a seamless journey that guides prospective guests toward booking directly with your property.
Want to see how WebRezPro’s powerful and intuitive online booking engine boosts direct revenue? Contact us for a free, no-obligation demo.
