How to take direct bookings and pay less OTA commission

Booking apps are good at one thing: putting your rooms in front of people who have never heard of you. They charge for it on every booking, including the guest who stayed last year and would have come back anyway. This guide is about keeping the first and stopping the second.

Start with your own numbers

Open last year's bookings and split them by where they came from: each app, WhatsApp and phone, walk-ins, repeat guests. Multiply each app's bookings by your average booking value and by the commission in your contract. That is what the apps cost you. The commission calculator does the sum.

Airbnb publishes its rate: most hosts on its single host-only fee pay 15.5%. Other apps set the rate in your contract, so take it from your extranet rather than from anything you read online.

Five things that move bookings to you

1. A website with your rates and a way to book

Guests who find you on an app often search your name before they book. If that search finds only the app, they book there. If it finds your own site, with the same photos, your rates and a booking form, many book there instead. The site has to load fast on a phone and say plainly what a night costs.

2. WhatsApp on every page

Many guests would rather message than fill in a form. Put a WhatsApp button on every page that opens a chat with your business number, and answer it quickly. Our WhatsApp guide covers the setup.

3. A Google Business Profile that links to your site

People who search "homestay near" a place see Google Maps first. A profile with your real name, good photos, reviews and a link to your own website sends them to you rather than to an app. See the Google Business Profile guide.

4. Ask every guest at checkout

A card at checkout or a message the day after with your website and WhatsApp number does more than any advert. Give a reason to book direct next time that is not a lower price, such as breakfast included, an early check-in or a late checkout, so you stay within your app contracts.

5. Take an advance without a gateway

The simplest direct booking is a UPI advance: the guest pays to your UPI ID, sends the screenshot, and you confirm. Nobody takes a cut. A payment gateway is useful later, when the volume justifies its fee.

What not to do

• Do not leave the apps overnight. Move guests over gradually and watch the numbers.
• Do not undercut your app rate without reading your contract. India's Competition Commission ordered MakeMyTrip-Goibibo to drop price parity clauses in 2022, but contracts differ between apps.
• Do not let calendars drift. A double booking costs more than a commission. Keep one calendar of booked nights for every channel.

Where StayCraft fits

StayCraft gives you the website, the WhatsApp button, the booking form with a UPI advance you approve, the guest register and your own Google presence, for a flat yearly plan and no commission on any booking. You keep your app listings for the guests they find you.