As 2025 approaches, boutique and design hotel groups – especially those balancing bustling city center hotels with countryside or beach properties – face a pivotal moment.
NB: This is an article from GuestCentric
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Are you prioritizing profitability, guest relationships, and autonomy? Or are you still overly reliant on OTAs like Booking.com, whose high costs and unpredictable policies might be eating into your bottom line? It’s time to rethink your approach and chart a smarter path toward sustainable success.
How Cancellations are Killing your Business
Let’s cut the niceties: OTAs are focused on their bottom line, not your brand’s long-term success. And guess what? You’re footing the bill. With sky-high commissions, ridiculous cancellation rates, and zero loyalty from the guests they send your way, OTAs are not helping you grow your brand or business. For boutique and design hotel groups, where creating unique, high-value guest experiences is the cornerstone of your brand, this transactional model is a recipe for mediocrity—not success.
Did you know nearly 40% of OTA bookings get canceled? That’s right—nearly half of what you think you’ve booked disappears before check-in. Why? Because OTAs make it so easy for “guests” to click, book, and cancel on a whim. These aren’t real bookings—they’re noise.
Compare this to direct bookings: only 14% cancel. For every 10 bookings, OTAs leave you scrambling with 6 actual arrivals, while direct bookings stick at nearly 9 out of 10. Still think OTAs are helping you? Think again.
You’re Leaving Money on the Table
Direct bookings aren’t just more reliable—they’re also more valuable. On average, they’re worth 13% more than OTA bookings. And during peak seasons, that gap can explode to 60%.
Here’s the cold, hard math:
- For every 10 OTA bookings, 40% vanish, leaving you with 6 arrivals. After commissions, you’re pocketing just €960 on what should have been €2,000.
- For 10 direct bookings, almost 90% materialize, and each booking is worth more. That’s €2,000 in revenue – double what OTAs leave you with.
Why keep bending over backward for OTAs when direct bookings deliver twice the value?
OTAs care more about their Profits than your Success
As a boutique hotel group, you offer something OTAs can’t replicate: a curated experience, unique design, and an emotional connection with your guests. Yet OTAs treat you like just another commodity on their shelves.
