Every booking that comes through a portal costs you 15–25% commission. Your own website is the only channel where the whole booking is yours - and guests want to book direct if you give them a reason and remove the friction.
Photography is the product
Guests book the room they can imagine themselves in. Shoot every room type in natural light, made-up and styled; add the bathroom, the view, the breakfast table, the entrance. One weak photo per room beats none - an unphotographed room might as well not exist.
A page (or section) per room type
Each room needs its own photos, occupancy, amenities and from-rate. "Rooms from €80" on a single generic page forces guests back to the portal to see what they'd actually get - which is exactly where you lose them.
Give them a reason to book direct
Portals outrank you; your job is converting the guests who check your site before committing. Make the direct advantage explicit in the hero: best rate guaranteed, free late checkout, a welcome drink - whatever you can honestly offer. Even parity ("same price, no middleman, flexible with us directly") converts.
Answer the pre-booking checklist
Before booking, every guest checks the same things: parking, breakfast (what, when, included?), check-in/out times, Wi-Fi, pets, cancellation. A plain FAQ answers them at midnight without an email round-trip - every unanswered question is a tab back to Booking.com.
Be the local expert
A short "the area" section - the three restaurants you actually recommend, the walk guests love, how to arrive from the airport with landmarks - does double duty: it converts undecided guests and it ranks for the "[town] where to stay" searches that bring them.
Events and extras deserve their own path
Weddings, retreats, long stays, private hire: each is a high-value enquiry with different questions. Give them a dedicated section and an enquiry form that captures dates and headcount, separate from the room-booking flow.
Start from a template that already looks like a stay
The free hospitality templates open with full-width imagery and get out of the way: Hotel for hotels and B&Bs with room sections built in, Wedding for venues, Car Rental with a working reservations engine for rental businesses. Galleries, FAQs and enquiry forms are ready to fill.
Start free - publish today, and let the next guest who googles you book without the middleman.
FAQ
Why should a hotel take direct bookings?
Because commission on every booking is the single largest avoidable cost in hospitality. A direct booking keeps that margin and the guest relationship.
What makes guests book direct instead of a platform?
A clear reason: a better rate, a perk, or flexible terms - stated plainly on the page, not buried.
What does a hotel website need?
Real photographs of the rooms, honest descriptions, availability and rates, location and directions, and a booking path that works on a phone.