Choosing a marketing agency for a hotel or resort
What to ask a marketing agency before hiring them for a hotel or resort, and why understanding the OTA-versus-direct dynamic matters more than general creative flair.
4 min read
A visitor who lands on a hotel's own website after finding it through an OTA is genuinely considering booking direct — the site's job is to make that decision easy and clearly worthwhile, not to lose them back to habit.
What the site needs to make direct booking appealing
- Real-time availability and pricing, matching or beating OTA rates.
- A clear best-rate-guarantee or direct-booking-perk statement.
- Room and amenity detail that goes beyond what an OTA listing shows.
A booking engine that does not lose the guest
A clunky, multi-step booking engine that is harder to use than a familiar OTA app will lose guests back to the OTA mid-process — this is one area where investing in a genuinely smooth booking flow pays for itself directly.
If your own booking flow is harder to use than the OTA app the guest already trusts, you have lost the direct booking before price even matters.
Mobile-first design
Many travel bookings happen on mobile, often while comparing several properties in different browser tabs — test the entire booking flow on an actual phone regularly, not just on desktop.
The takeaway
Show the full, all-inclusive price early in your own booking flow, matching or beating what OTAs display after their own fees — this is the single clearest reason for a guest to book direct.
Written by Fibvo — Bengaluru and Erode, India — working with clients in other time zones. Questions, or think we have it wrong? Tell us.
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