The Economics of Going Direct

Direct booking isn't a marketing slogan — it's an accounting decision. Here's what it actually does to a hotel's revenue, its margins, and the asset value of its guest list.

18%
Blended commission a direct booking avoids
+18pts
Typical direct-share shift we target
<2s
Page-load standard for every build
270+
U.S. hotel markets mapped

Run the numbers on your own hotel

Take a 40-room property running at 70% occupancy and a $200 average daily rate. That's roughly 10,200 room-nights and about $2.04M in room revenue a year. If 45% of that flows through the OTAs at an 18% blended commission, the hotel pays out around $165,000 a year in commission alone.

~$165,000/yr
The annual OTA commission in that worked example — a 40-room hotel at 45% channel share. Shifting even 18 points of that share to direct recovers roughly $66,000 a year in the example. Your numbers will differ; the mechanism will not.

That recovered revenue arrives with no commission, no rate-parity handcuffs, and the guest's email address attached — which means the second stay costs almost nothing to win. A direct booking is worth more than its face value, and the gap compounds every year you own the relationship instead of renting it.

Why we don't publish inflated case-study numbers

Plenty of agencies will promise you a specific percentage lift. We'd rather show you the mechanism and let the math speak: faster site, better conversion, more direct share, less commission. The exact figures depend on your size, your market, and your current mix — which is precisely what a free proposal is for.

Recent work

Built for Real Properties

A sample of hospitality websites we have designed and built. We keep client names off this page by default — ask in your proposal and we'll walk you through the work directly.

Website design for a historic mountain inn
Historic inn · North Carolina mountains

A Century-Old Inn, Rebuilt to Book Direct

A 39-page build for a historic small-town inn: rooms, dining, and a deep local-guide section engineered to own the town's lodging searches — with the booking path one tap from every page.

  • Full rooms-and-rates architecture with booking calls to action throughout
  • Local SEO pages for the searches that fill small-market inns
  • Sub-two-second static build on a global CDN
Website design for a wellness retreat lodging property
Wellness retreat · Oregon

A Retreat Property with a Story to Sell

A calm, photography-led site for a wellness-focused lodging property — built to convey the experience of staying, then convert that feeling into direct reservations.

  • Cinematic full-bleed imagery and unhurried storytelling
  • Direct inquiry and booking flow, no third-party detours
  • Privacy, accessibility, and performance built in
Website design for a neighborhood city inn
Neighborhood inn · Chicago

A City Inn Competing with Downtown Brands

An independent neighborhood inn up against big-brand downtown supply. The build leads with character and location — the two things a chain cannot copy — and routes every page to the booking ask.

  • Neighborhood-first positioning and content depth
  • Rooms, events, and dining pages that each earn search traffic
  • Fast, mobile-first booking path
Website design for beachfront stays in Hawaii
Beachfront stays · Maui

Island Lodging, Booked Without the Middleman

A conversion-first site for beachfront accommodations on Maui — imagery that sells the view, availability up front, and a direct path to reserve that keeps the platforms out of the transaction.

  • View-led photography and rate presentation
  • Direct availability and inquiry flow
  • Built to rank for the property's neighborhood and stay types

Get the numbers for your hotel.

A free proposal includes a real estimate of your current commission load and what a direct-first website could recover.

Get a Free Proposal