A direct booking can change the cost of acquiring a guest. To understand the value, use your own channel statements and costs rather than a generic promise about what a new website will recover.

Start with your actual commission

As an illustrative example, a property with R80,000 per month in platform bookings at a 17% commission rate pays R13,600 per month, or R163,200 per year, in commission. The revenue and rate here are assumptions, not industry averages.

Repeat the calculation for your property. Check whether the statement includes additional programme charges, taxes or other fees before comparing channels.

Gross commission avoided is not net profit

If 25% of the example’s platform volume moved to direct bookings at the same room rate, the gross commission avoided would be R40,800 per year. That is a scenario, not a forecast.

Deduct the direct channel’s costs: booking software, payment processing, marketing and any incentives. Also consider whether the booking would otherwise have happened through the platform at all.

Give guests a usable direct route

Your own site should make room information, rates or availability, policies and the booking step easy to find. Where the booking system supports it, connect the route clearly and test it on a phone.

Review your platform agreements before setting direct-booking offers. Use accurate comparisons and account for any extras in the price.

Measure the channel mix

Record bookings, room revenue and channel costs consistently. Look at cancellations and the type of guest as well as headline booking totals. A shift in channel share can mean different things during different parts of the season.

For a new website, agree how direct enquiries and completed bookings will be measured. The site is part of the booking process; it cannot guarantee a particular shift in demand.

Choose the integration deliberately

Confirm who maintains availability, where payment is processed and which provider handles confirmations. Those responsibilities should be included in the scope for a guesthouse or lodge website.

Use the expected operating costs and a realistic range of booking outcomes when deciding what to invest. One optimistic calculation is not a business case.

Next step: request a free Website Check, or see Baken’s website scope and pricing.