Direct booking: what it is worth to a hotel, and how to get more
A direct booking is one a guest makes with the hotel itself, on its own website, by phone, WhatsApp or email, or at the front desk, rather than through a booking site. The hotel pays no booking-site commission on it, keeps the guest's details and deals with the guest itself. It still has costs, such as the booking engine and the payment gateway, but they are usually much smaller than a commission.
Also called: book direct, direct bookings, commission-free bookings, hotel direct booking, direct booking website, brand.com.
A OneHorizyn page. Updated .
What counts as a direct booking
- A booking on your website's booking engine, including one that came from your website's link on Google.
- A phone call, a WhatsApp message or an email to the hotel.
- A walk-in at the front desk.
- A company or a group booking with you at an agreed rate, with no booking site in between.
A booking made through a booking site is not direct, even when the guest found you first on Google or Instagram: the site takes the booking and its commission. Booking.com, for one, charges a set percentage of the total booking amount, including the fees you charge through it, once the guest checks out.
What a direct booking is worth
The range EHL Hospitality Business School gives for the commission hotels pay booking sites, as a share of the booking's value, in May 2026. Your own rate is in your contract with each site.
A room sells for ₹5,000 before tax. Through a booking site at 18% commission, with 18% GST on the commission, the hotel pays ₹1,062 and keeps ₹3,938. Booked on the hotel's website, with a payment gateway charging 2% plus 18% GST on its fee, the hotel pays ₹118 and keeps ₹4,882: ₹944 more. Twenty bookings a month moved from the booking site to the website are ₹18,880 a month, or ₹2.3 lakh a year, before the booking engine's own price.
OneHorizyn's page on booking-site commission has a calculator for what a booking leaves you, and its page on booking engines sets out what taking bookings on your website costs.
What your booking-site contracts allow
Before you price your website below a booking site, read your contract with it. Booking.com applies one of three parity rules, depending on the country the hotel is in, and its General Delivery Terms say which applies to you:
- No parity: no obligation on how Booking.com's rates compare with your other channels.
- Narrow parity: Booking.com should get the same or better rates and conditions as your own online channels, for the same room.
- Wide parity: Booking.com should get the same or better rates, conditions and availability as on any channel, online or offline.
Its programmes lean on the same rule: Booking.com's Genius programme asks hotels in wide-parity and narrow-parity countries to offer competitive prices on Booking.com, compared with all other websites or with their own website. Where your contract limits the price on your website, compete on what a booking site can't offer: breakfast, a better room when one is free, an early check-in, a direct line to the hotel.
Being found by guests who already want you
A guest who searches your hotel's name on Google sees prices from booking sites beside your own website's, and books where it looks easiest. Make sure your website is there:
- Free booking links: Google says there is no cost for clicks on them and nobody can pay for a higher place among them. Your booking engine or channel manager sends your prices.
- The “Official site” badge: Google shows it beside one link for each hotel, for hotel owners, direct suppliers, central reservation systems and integration partners, never for booking sites, at no cost.
- Your Google Business Profile: your website, phone number and WhatsApp, kept up to date.
- Google Hotel Ads, if you choose to pay: OneHorizyn's page on them explains how the bidding works.
OneHorizyn's guide to booking sites above your hotel on Google shows how to see who takes the top of your own listing.
Giving guests a reason to book direct
- A price no higher than the booking sites', and lower where your contract allows.
- Something only the hotel gives: breakfast, a room upgrade when one is free, an early check-in or an airport pick-up.
- A member price for past guests who sign up on your website: OneHorizyn's page on member rates explains how the booking sites do this.
- Quick answers on the phone and on WhatsApp, in the guest's language.
- A booking engine that is quick on a phone, with the taxes, cancellation rules and what is included shown before payment.
- At check-out, tell guests how to book with you next time.
How to measure your direct bookings, step by step
- 1Each month, count room nights by where the booking came from: your website, phone and WhatsApp, walk-ins, companies, and each booking site.
- 2Work out the direct share: direct room nights divided by all room nights.
- 3Work out what direct bookings cost: the booking engine, the payment gateway and any Google ads, divided by the direct bookings.
- 4Set that beside each booking site's commission on the same bookings.
- 5Check your hotel on Google for the nights ahead: is your website listed, at what price, and below which booking sites?
Sources
- EHL Hospitality Business School: online travel agencies' business model explained (EHL Insights), read
- Booking.com for Partners: how parity works, read
- Booking.com Partner Hub: understanding the Genius marketing programme, read
- Booking.com Partner Hub: understanding your commission, read
- Google Hotel Center Help: about hotel free booking links, read
- Google Hotel Center Help: about Official site badges, read
- Google Hotel Center Help: hotel owners, share your rates, read
