A booking taken by a platform has two costs. The first is visible: the commission. The second is less so: the guest partly belongs to the platform, which will contact them for their next stay, not necessarily with you.
Bringing part of the bookings back direct means saving on every night, and keeping the relationship. It plays out in four places.
The Google profile, the first shop window
“Hotel with a view”, “restaurant Monaco”: the decision is often made on the Google profile, before even opening the website. Accurate categories, recent photos, up-to-date opening hours, replies to every review, and a booking link that leads to you.
Instagram creates the desire, the website converts it
A terrace at sunset, a dish, a room: social media makes people want to come. The link still has to lead to a page that books, not to a home page where everything has to be searched for.
A booking button on every screen
The booking engine or table tool must be visible everywhere, on mobile first, and open within your pages, in your colours. When it sends people to another domain, some visitors hesitate at the moment of paying.
Quiet periods are prepared
Seminars, private hire, seasonal menus, winter stays: each deserves its own page and campaign. That is where direct booking makes the difference, when the platforms are no longer enough to fill up.
Bringing back those who have already come
A guest who booked direct can be contacted again: a letter before summer, an offer on the anniversary of their stay. It is the cheapest channel, and the most forgotten.
What we measure
The share of direct bookings, the commissions saved and the source of each booking. That figure, month after month, tells you whether you are taking back control.