Every OTA booking eats your margin: a direct booking engine is the way out
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Every time a booking comes through an OTAOTAAn online travel agency is a channel that sells accommodation and travel online in exchange for a commission. Booking.com and Expedia are the biggest. They bring volume and visibility, but charge commissions that eat... with a high commissionCommissionCommission is the percentage a channel keeps for each booking it brings the hotel. It is the cost of selling through an OTA and usually runs from 15 to 25 percent, more in niche channels. Cutting dependence on high co..., the hotel sells, yes, but gives up margin. That is where a hotel booking engineBooking engineA booking engine is the tool that lets guests book directly on the hotel's own website. It shows availability, prices and takes the payment with no middleman. It is the key piece for winning direct bookings and saving... stops being an expense and becomes the most profitable tool in your strategy. According to Avirato, the key is not just having it installed but using it as a lever to sell more direct and stop giving away between 15% and 25% of every booking to intermediaries.
The travel industry knows it: whoever sells more direct breathes easier. The rest keep paying the dependency toll. In this Avirato analysis the myth that the engine is just a technical formality is dismantled. It is, in reality, the first strategic decision to stop funding OTAs.
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