Case study

Hospitality group grows direct bookings by 58%

A boutique hospitality group in Goa rebuilt their brand websites and launched a direct booking engine. We grew direct bookings by 58% and reduced their commission burden from OTAs.

TL;DR

A boutique hospitality group with three properties in Goa was paying 18 to 25% commission to OTAs for every booking. Their own website was a static brochure with no booking engine and no SEO content. We rebuilt all three property websites with a shared booking engine, a Goa travel blog that ranked for high-intent keywords, and a retargeting funnel that brought OTA guests back direct. Direct bookings grew by 58% and OTA commission spend dropped by 34%.

Key takeaways

Shared booking engine across three properties reduced the per-property cost of the digital stack.
Goa travel blog with SEO-driven content brought 2,800 organic sessions per month within four months.
Retargeting funnel brought former OTA guests back to book direct at 8% conversion.
Direct bookings grew by 58%, reducing OTA commission spend by 34%.
Average booking value increased because direct guests booked longer stays.

The challenge

The hospitality group was paying 18 to 25% commission to OTAs for every booking. Their own website was a static brochure with no booking engine, no SEO content and no retargeting. They needed to shift bookings from OTAs to direct, without sacrificing the reach that OTAs provided.

Our approach

1Audit the existing websites and OTA commission structure to establish the baseline.
2Rebuild all three property websites on a shared platform with a direct booking engine.
3Launch a Goa travel blog targeting high-intent keywords around Goa hotels and experiences.
4Build a retargeting funnel that brought OTA guests back to book direct.
5Optimise the booking engine for mobile, which accounted for 71% of their traffic.

Results

low58% more

direct bookings per month

18–25%3–5%

commission as % of booking revenue

2,800 / monthorganic sessions

from Goa travel blog

"We reduced our OTA commission bill by a third and grew total bookings. The Goa blog brings us guests who already want to be here."

Fernanda Dsouza

Co-founder, Coastal Havens Hospitality, Goa

Services delivered

Marketing website design and developmentTechnical, on-page and local SEOContent and email marketing

Questions about this project

How long did this engagement take?

Six months. Months 1 to 2 were the website rebuilds and booking engine setup, months 3 to 6 were the blog launch and retargeting funnel build-out.

What was the team composition?

A senior Next.js engineer, a senior hospitality designer, a senior SEO specialist and a senior performance marketer. Four seniors.

How does the retargeting funnel work?

We place a pixel on the OTA booking confirmation page (where they consent). Guests who booked on an OTA see ads for the direct booking engine on Google and Meta, with a direct booking incentive.

Do you work with hotel chains or only boutique properties?

Both. The architecture scales from a single boutique property to a 20-property group. The shared booking engine is the key efficiency driver at scale.

What booking engine do you use?

We evaluate the right engine for each client. For most Indian hospitality clients, we recommend a platform that supports Google Hotel Centre integration and the major Indian payment methods including UPI.

How do you handle seasonality?

The SEO content program targets both peak and off-peak intent keywords. The retargeting funnel is most active in the shoulder season, when we nudge early-bird bookings.

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