Know where your bookings come from today
Before changing anything, look at last year's numbers: what share came through Booking, agencies, your website, phone or email. Many hotels are surprised: their own website brings very little and almost everything goes through intermediaries.
That number is your starting point. Our goal with each hotel is to move the direct channel towards 60% of bookings, step by step.
Direct: your website, phone, emailBooking, agencies and other OTAs
Today's split is what we see in many hotels, not a measured average.
A website that loads fast on a phone
Most travellers look for accommodation on their phone, often with weak signal. If your site is slow, they go to Booking, which opens instantly.
With Fitz Roy Expediciones in El Chaltén, we went from a site that took about 30 seconds to load to a fast, bilingual one. It's the first thing to fix.
Make booking easy, and worth it
Clear rooms, visible prices, good photos and a booking button always at hand, connected to your booking engine. Every extra step is a guest going back to Booking.
And the advantage has to show: if your terms allow it, a better price, breakfast included or more flexible cancellation for those who book direct. In the European Union, since the Digital Markets Act, Booking can no longer stop you.
Show up on Google when people look for where to stay
The nicest website is useless if nobody finds it. SEO for hotels is concrete: a structure Google understands, content in your guests' languages, a complete Google Business profile and pages that answer what travellers ask before booking.
For Fitz Roy, daily impressions on Google search tripled between July and October 2026.
Your own photos, made to sell
Photos are half of a direct booking. Real pictures of your rooms, the house and the landscape, in good light, make guests trust booking with you rather than a platform.
Keep the relationship
Every guest who books direct is an email and a conversation that belong to you. Next time they can come back to you without going through anyone. That's the real value of the direct channel, beyond the commission you save.
Booking is still useful for being found by people who don't know you. The idea isn't to leave it, but for it to go back to what it should be: a complement.