How to win direct bookings from metasearch

If there’s any tool that’s the single most powerful resource for your prospective guests, it’s online search. Usually, a guest’s first step when planning travel is deciding on a destination. That’s the easy part! From there, looking for accommodation is where things can get complicated. Numerous factors such as rates, location, amenities and even visitor reviews all impact a potential guest’s decision. Striving to be top of the search engine results can feel like the biggest challenge, and when you add in the challenge posed by Online Travel Agencies (or OTAs) competing for a piece of your rate, the challenge of how to win direct bookings via search can be a real source of frustration.

So, what’s a hotelier to do? We’re glad you asked. While there’s no ‘quick fix’ that will elevate your profile on search channels, there are proven strategies that can harness the power of these tools to improve and sustain your property’s direct booking rates over time. In this guide, we’ll take a look at some of these practices.