Hospitality Digital Marketing, AI & MarTech Consulting
I help hotels, venues, and hospitality groups win more direct bookings and lean less on aggregators that take a cut of every stay. Most venues hand guest relationships and margin to booking platforms, with no owned channel bringing guests back.
The challenges hospitality faces
Aggregator dependency
Booking platforms own the guest and take commission on every reservation.
Weak direct channels
Sites and booking flows often lose to the aggregator on ease, so guests default to it.
Unused guest data
The information to bring guests back directly exists but is rarely put to work.
Thin margins
Commission and rising costs leave little room, so every direct booking matters.
The approach for hospitality
Make the direct channel the easy choice: a booking journey that beats the aggregator on the things guests care about. Then use guest data to bring people back without paying commission twice.
Questions
Straight answers. If yours is not here, ask it directly.
Can we really cut aggregator dependency?
Rarely to zero, and anyone promising that is overselling. What most venues can do is shift a meaningful share to direct by fixing the booking journey and using the guest data they already hold. Aggregators keep a role in discovery; they should not own the repeat visit.
Why do guests book through aggregators anyway?
Usually because it is easier, not cheaper. The platform remembers their details, shows availability clearly and takes three taps. If your direct journey asks for more effort than that, guests default to the platform and you pay commission for a customer you already had.
What do we do with guest data?
Use it to bring past guests back directly, with timing that reflects what they booked and when. A venue holding two years of booking history already knows who visits in summer, who books for occasions and who has not returned, and none of that costs commission to act on.
Advisory only, or hands-on?
Both. Some venues need the strategy and a clear brief for their existing team or agency. Others need the booking journey and the guest data work done, which means hands-on website and MarTech work rather than a document.