For many B&B owners and hoteliers, online travel agencies (OTAs) like Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb, or Agoda are the go-to platforms to kickstart their business and fill rooms. This is understandable – OTAs offer massive reach, a vast user base, and a streamlined booking process that can quickly bring in initial guests. However, as your business grows, you’ll find that relying solely on these third-party platforms is akin to building your entire hospitality empire on rented land, fraught with uncertainty and potential risks.
It’s time to seriously ask yourself: Do you truly “own” your guest relationships and your business destiny? Or are you merely a replaceable participant within an OTA’s ecosystem?
For any B&B or hotel with a long-term vision, establishing its own direct booking website is no longer an “option”; it’s a fundamental necessity for survival and sustainable growth.
1. Breaking Free from the Chains: The Hidden Risks of OTA Dependence
Complete reliance on third-party OTAs means your fate is largely in someone else’s hands. This carries several core risks:
- The “Rulebook” Tightens: OTA rules can change at any moment, and you have little to no bargaining power. Today, it might be an adjustment to their ranking algorithm; tomorrow, they might increase commission rates. The day after, you could face penalties or even de-listing due to an unforeseen review policy change or a competitor’s complaint. This feeling of an OTA holding your “life and death” in their hands is a constant source of insecurity for many property owners.
- The “Black Box” of Visibility: Your property’s visibility and bookings on an OTA are heavily dependent on their complex recommendation algorithms. A minor tweak to the algorithm can cause your property to plummet in search results overnight. You invest significant effort in understanding OTA SEO and ranking factors, but this is ultimately a reactive game where you can never fully control your own lead generation.
- The “Red Ocean” Price War: On OTAs, your property is displayed alongside thousands of direct competitors. Guests can easily compare prices, often leading properties into a relentless race to the bottom, squeezing profit margins dry. It’s challenging to stand out and build a true brand identity when you’re just one listing among many.
2. How OTA Commissions Eat Into Your Hard-Earned Revenue
Let’s do some direct math. For most bookings made through OTAs, a significant portion of your revenue is “skimmed off the top”:
- Commission Fees: Typically ranging from 15% to 30% or even higher, this is often the largest single cost.
- Transaction Fees: Regardless of the payment method, OTAs might charge additional processing fees.
- Advertising & Boost Fees: To gain better visibility on an increasingly crowded platform, you might be pressured to pay for “boosts” or “preferred partner” programs, adding further to your costs.
- Other Fees: Sometimes there are hidden charges or complex pricing structures that can further erode your earnings.
Imagine a room that sells for $100 per night. After deducting a 20% OTA commission, perhaps an additional 3% transaction fee, and then accounting for your operational costs, how much profit is actually left in your pocket?
With your own direct booking website, you primarily pay only the much lower credit card processing fees (typically 2%-3% plus a small fixed fee per transaction) and manageable website hosting costs. This means that for every successful direct booking, you retain a significantly higher profit margin, which is absolutely critical for the long-term financial health of your B&B or hotel.
3. Taking Control of Your Future: The Core Value of a Direct Booking Website
Building a direct booking website is about much more than just saving money. It provides immense strategic advantages, allowing you to build a truly proprietary foundation for your business.
- Craft a Unique Brand Identity On your direct website, you have 100% creative freedom. From the visual design and the way you tell your property’s unique story to every detail of the guest booking experience, you can meticulously craft and convey a consistent, compelling brand image and values. You’re no longer just another listing; you’re a destination with character and soul.
- Own Your Most Valuable Asset: Guest Data This is the most critical and irreplaceable advantage of a direct booking website. On OTAs, the guest “belongs” to the platform, not to you. You cannot access their contact information (like email addresses) or conduct in-depth user behavior analysis. On your own website, every registered guest and every booking action is entirely yours. You can build your own Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, engage in email marketing, implement loyalty programs, offer personalized recommendations, and establish direct, long-term relationships with your guests, turning one-time OTA “traffic” into loyal, repeat customers.
- Implement Marketing Campaigns with Complete Freedom Tired of OTA promotional restrictions? On your direct website, you can implement any marketing campaign you desire. Whether it’s package deals, subscription services (for long-stay guests), early bird specials, last-minute deals, or collaborating with local businesses for exclusive offers, you have complete autonomy. You can test different marketing strategies at your own pace and find the most effective growth paths for your unique property.
- Your “Home Base” for an Omnichannel Strategy Smart hoteliers don’t view direct websites and OTAs as mutually exclusive. The best strategy is to position your direct website as your brand’s official “home base” and profit center, while utilizing OTAs as one channel among others to acquire new guests. You can strategically encourage OTA guests to book directly next time, perhaps through loyalty offers or by showcasing your direct booking perks within their stay.
The era of easy OTA reliance is slowly fading. As market competition intensifies and platform rules tighten, the risks of putting all your eggs in one basket will only grow.
Building a direct booking website is an investment in the future of your brand. It means higher profits, more secure guest relationships, stronger resilience, and limitless possibilities for brand development. While it may require more effort to learn about website management, direct marketing, and guest engagement, this path will undoubtedly lead to more stable and sustainable growth.
