a hotel website that takes bookings away from the portals

business · 2026-10-29 · 4 min

direct booking is won with details

people book on a portal because in three clicks they saw availability, price and cancellation policy. if your site lacks those three things, the commission you pay the portal is not a marketing cost: it is the price of your hesitation. direct booking is not won with a discount, it is won with certainty.

you need a real calendar, the final price with taxes and city tax, the cancellation policy in one line and an immediate confirmation. "contact us for availability" is a promise to reply, not a booking, and in low season it rarely works.

a room is sold with the boring details

square metres, bed size, private or shared bathroom, lift or no lift, how many stairs, how far the parking is. in a b&b inside a historic building those lines are worth more than a photo of sheets in backlight. someone arriving with a twenty-kilo suitcase wants to know whether they will carry it up three flights.

add check-in and check-out times, whether breakfast is included and what it contains, whether you take pets, and the national identification code: displaying it is mandatory, and putting it in the footer or on the contact page saves arguments. if you publish a lower price than the portal, check what you signed first: rate parity clauses still have teeth.

map, arrival, check-in

the map has to be a map, not a screenshot. add three lines no portal asks for: where to park, whether the street is in a restricted traffic zone, what to do if you arrive after midnight. a b&b that answers these before booking gets fewer calls and calmer guests.

if check-in is self-service, explain how the key box works and who to call if the code fails. if someone welcomes guests, say until what time. the transfer from the station or the airport, if you offer it, needs a price or a note that it is on request: "shuttle service" on its own says nothing.

real reviews, no shop window

reviews are shown, not selected. a block with the latest google reviews, three-star ones included, builds more trust than a wall of five stars. if you answer the negative ones by explaining what you changed, the reader sees a person behind the property.

do not invent scores, do not copy sentences from portals without permission, do not ask for reviews in exchange for an upgrade. and if a guest writes that the room was noisy, do not delete the comment: soundproof it, then write about it. if you want a method, i wrote about showing google reviews.

this week: open the site on a phone and try to book one night, the way a guest would.

faq

should i rely on portals only?

no, but stop treating them as the enemy. they help people find you; the site helps them choose you the second time, when the guest returns and does not want to pay commission.

do i have to show the city tax?

yes, ideally in the final price or on a separate, clear line. a cost that appears at the front desk is the first thing a guest mentions in a review.

how many photos does a room need?

enough to answer objections: bed, bathroom, window, wardrobe, breakfast. five or six honest shots beat twenty photos with the same framing.