Hotels Are Taking Back Bookings from the OTAs — One Step at a Time
If you are still paying Online Travel Agent commissions of 15 percent or more, you are not alone. But that does not mean you have to give away every booking.
Many properties feel stuck. Their website is outdated. Their rankings are slipping. And the OTAs are outbidding them on their own brand name just to send bookings they have to pay for.
That is exactly what Swell Resort was facing not long ago. Their direct bookings had plateaued. Their brand was being hijacked in Google search. And they were losing control of their marketing.
A Smarter Strategy for Growing Direct Bookings
Instead of continuing to hand over every booking to OTAs, Swell Resort joined our Boost Direct program. It is a fully managed marketing system that covers everything from paid ads and SEO to social media, email marketing, and ongoing content.
The best part? It runs on a performance based model, which means there is no upfront cost. We only earn when our clients grow.
Within months of launching the new strategy, the results spoke for themselves.
Revenue Up. Rankings Up. Some Bookings Taken Back.
In just five months, Swell Resort achieved the kind of growth many properties are chasing:
- Online revenue increased by 55.8 percent
- Every month outperformed the previous year
- February revenue more than doubled
- SEO rankings hit the top positions for major Burleigh Heads terms
- All while still using OTAs — just relying on them a little less
This was not about cutting off OTAs. It was about rebalancing the strategy, reclaiming some control, and increasing profitability by winning back direct traffic.
See the Full Swell Resort Case Study
If you want to dive deeper into how this was done — including a breakdown of the strategy, services delivered, and keyword rankings achieved — we have documented the full journey.
👉 Read the full case study here.
It is a practical example of how performance based marketing can deliver meaningful change for resorts, hotels, and accommodation providers with 15 or more rooms.
Want to Know If This Can Work for You?
We built Boost Direct to help accommodation providers win back bookings from the OTAs. If you want to see how your website is performing and where the gaps might be, we have a free checklist to help you assess your current setup.
👉 Download the Website Audit Checklist
Or, if you are ready to talk strategy, we would be happy to show you how your property could grow like Swell Resort.