Hotel marketing: how to get bookings without commission

A small hotel, guesthouse or holiday flat almost always starts with Booking.com — and rightly so, because it is the fastest way to get the first guests. The problem comes later: a year on, eighty per cent of occupancy goes through the portal and a fifth of revenue leaves the business as commission.

This guide does not ask you to close your Booking account. It is about building a second channel next to it — one that takes nothing from each booking. We start with the free things.

Work out what a portal booking really costs

Without this number, no advertising decision makes sense. Take your average nightly rate and see what is left of it.

The last row matters most. A direct booking won with thirty złoty of advertising still leaves you more than a “free” booking from the portal. That is the whole economics of this guide — the rest is about spending those thirty złoty wisely.

Free booking links on Google

Next to accommodation listings, Google shows a list of prices from different sources. Most owners do not know that you can appear there free of charge, next to the portals’ paid offers — Google has offered free booking links since 2021 and takes no commission.

What you need:

1. A verified Google Business Profile with the category “Hotel”, “Guest house” or “Serviced apartment”.
2. A booking engine on your own website. The simplest one will do — most systems for small properties include a Google integration as standard, switched on with a single toggle.
3. Prices and availability sent to Google. Your booking engine does this for you.

Photos and descriptions, room by room

Portals force you to keep photos in order; your own website does not, so it often looks worse than your Booking profile. This is the most common reason a guest clicks “back” and books through the portal after all.

• Each room type separately. Not one “interiors” gallery, but a set of photos tied to a specific room, as on the portal.
• The bathroom of every room. A missing bathroom photo reads as hiding something.
• The view from the window — one shot per room type. Even if the view is ordinary; no photo is worse.
• Entrance, parking, access road. Fewer “I can’t find you” calls and fewer bad reviews because of them.
• Breakfast as it really is, not from stock photos.

The description needs the three things people look for most: check-in and check-out times, rules on children and pets, and whether parking is included. Leaving out any of them costs you either a phone call or a lost booking.

Reviews: two different ratings

Reviews on Booking and reviews on Google are two separate sets, and they work at two different moments of the decision. Portal reviews decide your position on the portal’s list. Google reviews decide whether someone who already knows your name visits your website at all.

Most properties only ask for the first kind. That is a mistake, because direct, commission-free traffic relies on Google.

Your first paid campaign: protect your own name

One scenario happens every day and costs the most. A guest finds your property on Booking and then, before booking, types its name into Google to see the website and make sure the place is real.

If a portal ad is the first result at that moment, your commission-free booking has just turned into a commissioned one. The person clicks the first link, goes back to the portal and books there.

Setting up a campaign on your own name:

• Keywords: the property name in exact match and its most common misspellings, plus the name together with the town.
• Goal: a visit to the booking page, not the home page.
• Budget: PLN 10–15 a day. Clicks on your own name are the cheapest you can buy, usually under one złoty.
• Put your direct price in the ad itself, plus what the portal does not offer: free cancellation, late check-out, parking included.

Only after that is it worth thinking about a campaign on generic phrases such as “nocleg w [town]”. There you compete with portals whose budgets are not comparable to yours, and for a small property it usually makes no sense.

A seasonal budget, not a flat one

Tourism runs in cycles, yet most small properties set up their advertising once and leave it all year. That is the easiest way to burn half the budget.

• People book ahead. A July campaign makes sense in April and May, not in July — by July you are either full or empty.
• The low season is not a reason to switch ads off but a reason to change the offer: week-long stays, remote work, off-season weekends.
• Long weekends and holidays should be planned six weeks ahead, with a separate budget.

Five mistakes that cost the most

1. A higher price on your site than on the portal. Guests compare in two seconds. Your direct price must be at least the same — otherwise all the other work is wasted.
2. Booking only through a contact form. “Write to us and we’ll confirm” loses to instant booking on the portal. You need a calendar that confirms immediately.
3. No website of your own at all. A portal profile alone means one hundred per cent of occupancy with commission and zero control.
4. Ignoring your Google Business Profile. It is the only place where you stand next to the portals for free.
5. Generic ads instead of protecting your own name. The most expensive clicks instead of the cheapest.

In short: what to do in two weeks

Everything except the last item is free.

• The real commission on an average booking has been calculated
• Google Business Profile created and verified, category set
• The booking engine on the website works and confirms instantly
• Free booking links on Google switched on
• The direct price is not higher than on the portal
• Photos tied to each room type, with bathroom and view
• Check-in and check-out times, rules on children and pets, parking — described on the site
• A QR code for Google reviews on the desk
• Replies to every review from the last three months
• A campaign calendar planned by season six months ahead
• A campaign on your own name: PLN 10–15 a day, exact match