Direct Bookings for Small Hotels and B&Bs
By CodexierPublished 5 min read
Travel portals are a small hotel's best shop window and its most expensive sales channel. Every guest who finds you there and books there costs a commission, and the guest's relationship stays with the portal. This guide explains why guests book through portals, how to choose a booking engine, how to communicate a best rate honestly and how to measure whether your own site is winning.
Why guests book through portals
Many guests find a hotel on a portal, then search for its name to look at the photos and the website before booking. That second search is the moment you can win. If the site is slow, has no live availability or sends the guest to an email form, they return to the portal and book there. If the site shows the room, the price and a clear booking button, many will book with you instead.
Booking engine choices
The booking engine is the most important part of a hotel site, and it should come from the same system that manages your availability across channels. A channel manager keeps rooms in sync between your site and the portals, which prevents double bookings and makes it safe to open all rooms on every channel.
| Option | Suits | Watch out for |
|---|---|---|
| Engine included in your property system | Most small hotels and B&Bs | Design limits; check it works well on mobile |
| Separate engine linked to a channel manager | Hotels with several room types and packages | One more subscription, and a sync to test |
| Enquiry form only | Very small B&Bs with a few rooms | Loses guests who expect instant confirmation |
Whatever you choose, test the full booking on a phone, in Swedish and English, including payment and the confirmation email.
Best-rate messaging that is honest
A best-price guarantee only works if it is true every day. Under the EU Digital Markets Act the largest booking portal can no longer stop hotels from offering better prices on their own site, but your own contract terms still matter, so read them. The more robust approach is to offer something the portal cannot show: breakfast included, free cancellation until the day before, a room upgrade when available, or a local experience added to the stay.
- State the benefit next to the price, not in a banner that guests ignore.
- Keep prices consistent with the portals unless you deliberately undercut them.
- Show the total price including VAT and any local fees before the payment step, as consumer law requires.
- Put the cancellation rule in the booking summary, not only in the terms.
Local content that sells the stay
Portals list rooms. Your site can sell the place. Guests choose small hotels for the location, the breakfast, the walk to the lake or the closeness to a conference venue. Write short pages about what is nearby and how to get there, with your own photos. They answer questions guests ask before they book, and they bring visitors who search for the area rather than for a hotel. Most Swedish small hotels also need an English version, and often German, because many guests come from abroad; the bilingual website guide covers the set-up.
Getting here
Train, car, parking and charging for electric cars, with realistic travel times.
Things to do
Seasonal ideas within walking or short driving distance, written in your own voice.
Packages
Weekend stays, conference days or cycling holidays, each bookable in the engine.
Measuring direct vs portal bookings
Track three numbers every month: nights booked direct, nights booked through each portal, and the commission paid. Your property system already has the first two. Set up analytics so a booking on your site is recorded as a conversion, which usually means tracking across the domain of the booking engine, and use your Google Business Profile's booking link so guests who search your name can book without passing a portal.
When you do not need a new site: if your current site already has a working engine, loads fast on mobile and converts, spend the money on photos and local pages instead. If it has none of that, a business website launch is how we build it around your existing booking engine. See the pricing page, or book a call and we will look at your current site first.
Frequently asked questions
Should we leave the booking portals?
Rarely. Portals bring guests who would never have found you otherwise. The aim is to shift the share over time, so that returning guests and people who already know your name book direct.
Can we offer lower prices on our own site?
The EU Digital Markets Act now stops the largest portal from requiring parity, but read your own contracts for each portal. Many hotels prefer adding a benefit, such as breakfast or flexible cancellation, which is simpler and easier to explain.
Do we need Swish and Klarna in the booking engine?
Card payment is the minimum. Swish is familiar to Swedish guests and Klarna suits bigger bookings. Choose an engine that supports what your guests use, and consider a deposit rather than full prepayment for longer stays.
Why do guests still call to book?
Usually because the site does not show live availability or the booking engine is hard to use on a phone. Test the booking yourself on a phone. If you hesitate, your guests do too.
Find out where your direct bookings leak
Book a short call and we will walk through your site and booking engine as a guest would, on a phone, and tell you what is sending guests back to the portals.
Book a free 15-minute call