How to Compete with OTAs: Increase Direct Bookings with Smart Digital Marketing

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) like Booking.com, Agoda, and Expedia play a significant role in hotel bookings across the world. But as commission costs rise, hoteliers are asking a crucial question: how can we reduce dependence on OTAs and drive more direct bookings?

At The Percentage Company, a Phuket-based hotel digital marketing agency, we help hotels take back control of their distribution through smarter digital strategies and powerful tools — including our proprietary booking engine and full-service marketing suite.

In this article, we’ll walk you through how to compete with OTAs and boost direct bookings using data-driven digital marketing and hotel-specific technology.

Why Direct Bookings Matter More Than Ever

While OTAs offer visibility, they come with downsides:

• High commission fees (often 15–25%)
• Loss of control over guest experience and communication
• Brand overshadowing (guests remember the OTA, not your hotel)
• Restrictions on pricing flexibility and promotions

Direct bookings aren’t just more profitable — they allow you to build customer relationships, promote upsells, manage your branding, and retain full control over policies and pricing. Lets dive in to the key ways you can drive more direct bookings for your hotel:

1. Start With a Seamless, High-Performance Booking Experience

Your website is your digital storefront — and it must be backed by a booking engine that’s not just functional, but a conversion machine. That’s why we developed The Percentage App, our in-house booking engine built specifically for hotels, hostels, resorts, and multi-property groups looking to maximize direct revenue.

Why The Percentage App Is a Game-Changer:

• Seamless look-and-feel: Embedded directly into your site and domain with full branding continuity — no redirects or clunky interfaces.
• Advanced promotional flexibility: Run discounts, flash sales, coupon codes, exclusive member pricing, and promotional campaigns for long stays or packages.
• Multi-property support: Ideal for hotel groups managing multiple locations or brands from a single platform.
• Room + program packaging: Sell combined offers like “Room + Diving Course” or “Stay + Cooking Class” easily.
• Long-stay and flexible pricing models: Designed for hotels and serviced apartments offering weekly or monthly rates.
• Built-in upselling: Offer room upgrades, spa treatments, transfers, and more during the booking process.
• OTA price comparison: Show guests that booking direct offers better value than OTAs.
• Integrated guest reviews: Display real-time reviews to build trust and drive conversions.
• Google Hotel Search integration: We’re a Google Hotel Center Authorized Partner — send rates directly to Google and run ads with sponsored placement.
• Stripe integration for online payments: Fast, secure payment processing globally.
• Custom cancellation and payment policies: Flexible setup to suit your operations and target audience.
• Built-in member program: Encourage loyalty with login-only discounts and perks.

This isn’t just a booking engine — it’s a comprehensive direct booking platform, and it’s designed to help your direct channels outperform your OTA profiles.

2. Drive Traffic With Hotel-Specific SEO and Paid Ads

A powerful booking engine is useless without traffic. The Percentage Company’s digital marketing team focuses on getting the right visitors to your website through:

SEO for Hotels

• On-site optimization: Ensure every page of your website is optimized for search engines with targeted keywords, metadata, schema markup, and fast loading speeds.
• Local SEO: Optimize your hotel’s presence in Google Maps and “near me” searches — crucial for mobile users.
• Content marketing: Publish destination blogs and travel guides to attract users in the planning phase.
• Technical SEO audits: Clean, crawlable code to boost site authority and ranking.

Paid Ads & Google Hotel Ads

• Google Ads (PPC): Target users searching for hotels in your area — especially on branded search terms where OTAs are likely outbidding you.
• Meta search advertising: Use Google Hotel Ads to display your direct booking rate alongside OTAs right in Google search results.
• Facebook & Instagram Ads: Showcase your unique property through visuals and promote offers with powerful targeting options.

Combined, these strategies ensure your hotel gets seen by the right guests — those ready to book directly.

3. Use Email Marketing to Build Loyalty and Drive Repeat Bookings

OTAs rarely let you build guest relationships. With direct bookings, email marketing becomes one of your most powerful tools for nurturing loyalty and increasing repeat stays.

The Percentage App includes a built-in email marketing platform, designed specifically for hotels. With it, you can:

• Automatically capture guest emails at booking and check-in.
• Send personalized offers and incentives to past guests.
• Launch campaigns for seasonal deals, flash sales, or event promotions.
• Create automated sequences for pre-arrival upsells, post-stay reviews, and reactivation campaigns.
• Segment your database based on booking behavior, geography, or interests.
  

Email remains one of the most cost-effective channels for hotel marketing — especially when powered by a CRM that’s fully integrated with your booking data.

4. Create Member-Only Offers and Website-Exclusive Benefits

Guests are increasingly savvy. They know OTAs might offer perks — but if your website provides something better, they’ll book directly.

With The Percentage App, you can offer:

• Private member rates available only through login
• Website-exclusive bonuses like complimentary breakfast, spa credits, or free room upgrades
• Coupon codes for targeted promotions via email or ads
• Dynamic offers based on stay length or travel date

These incentives not only drive conversions but build long-term loyalty with returning guests.

5. Promote Packages and Long-Stay Offers

Most booking engines struggle with complex offers. The Percentage App was built to support:

• Room + activity packages (e.g., “3 Nights + Elephant Trekking Tour”)
• Flexible long-stay pricing (weekly/monthly rates with included services)
• Add-on experiences and upsells (transfers, tours, meals)

This flexibility allows you to compete not just on price, but on value — a critical edge when trying to outperform OTAs.

6. Monitor and Optimize With Real-Time Insights

Our platform and services include analytics and reporting tools to help you track what’s working and what isn’t:

• Conversion rates by channel and device
• Revenue tracking by campaign and source
• Email engagement metrics
• PPC performance and ROAS
• Booking engine performance insights

With this data, we constantly optimize your website, booking funnel, and campaigns to maximize results.

Final Thoughts: Competing with OTAs Starts with Strategy and Ownership

OTAs will always have a place in your distribution mix — but they shouldn’t control your entire revenue stream. To truly grow your brand and bottom line, you need a direct booking strategy built on visibility, trust, and guest experience.

At The Percentage Company, we give hotels all the tools they need to compete directly — from high-converting websites and Google integration to a fully custom booking engine and hotel-specific email marketing platform.

With us, you don’t just survive the OTA era — you thrive. Let’s get you more direct bookings. Contact The Percentage Company to learn how our technology and hotel marketing services can help your property grow.