Every channel booking costs you twice
Once in commission, and again because the guest belongs to the platform. The second cost never appears on an invoice, which is why nobody manages it.
What's different here
Hospitality treats distribution as an operations question and direct booking as a marketing aspiration. Run it as commerce and it becomes tractable: a channel reservation has a known cost, a direct one has a different cost, and the gap is a budget you're already spending. What makes it unusual is rate parity. You frequently can't undercut your own distributor, so the direct offer has to be built from things the channel can't replicate.
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What e-commerce looks like for travel and hospitality brands.
These are the plays that wouldn't appear on a generic e-commerce page. They only make sense in travel & hospitality.
Price the channel booking properly
Commission plus the cost of never owning the guest. No email, no direct offer next year, no way to raise value. Most operators know the commission percentage and have never expressed the second half as a number, which is exactly why the direct program has no budget.
Compete on inclusions, not on rate
Parity clauses usually stop you undercutting the channel and rarely stop you bundling. Late checkout, a room-type guarantee, a credit, flexible cancellation. Value the channel can't match without your operations behind it.
Convert the channel guest on property
They are physically in your building for several days. Capturing an email with a genuine reason to give it's the cheapest acquisition available, and it's the step most operators skip entirely before wondering why direct share never moves.
Treat the booking engine as a conversion problem
Direct flows are usually a vendor default nobody has tested. Fees appearing late, a date picker that fights a phone, cancellation terms hidden. Guests who intended to book direct end up back on a channel because the direct path was worse.
What holds travel and hospitality brands back
Platform dependency erodes margin
Booking platforms deliver volume at a commission that consumes a large share of contribution. Direct booking share is the single number that most determines profitability in this category.
Inventory expires
Unlike products, an unsold night or seat has zero salvage value. That changes how discounting works. When the alternative is nothing, the right price is anything above marginal cost.
Demand is seasonal and event-driven
Flat monthly budgets are wrong in a category where a single week can carry a quarter. Pacing has to follow demand, not the calendar.
Buyers compare in a marketplace you don't control
Even people who find you directly frequently check a platform before booking. Your direct experience competes against an aggregated one.
Same rigor, applied here.
The full e-commerce scope and process are identical whoever the client is. What changes for travel & hospitality is the tactics above, not the delivery model.
What's included
How it runs
- 01Model the economics — Weeks 1–2
- 02Fix the store — Weeks 2–5
- 03Build retention — Weeks 3–8
- 04Scale acquisition — Month 2+
- 05Expand — Month 4+
Travel & Hospitality results, in detail.
Full case studies with the numbers, the mistakes, and the recommendations clients didn't want to hear.
Scoped like the core service, no surcharge.
Every engagement is quoted from your actual brief. There's no vertical surcharge for this combination. Request a quote and we'll scope it properly.
Store Build
New store or a full Shopify rebuild.
Scoped to your brief
- Custom Shopify theme
- Product page optimization
- Checkout & cart optimization
- App integrations
- Analytics & tracking setup
- 60-day support
Growth
Full-funnel DTC growth management.
Scoped to your brief
- Paid acquisition (all channels)
- Email & SMS retention
- Ongoing CRO program
- 20 creative assets/month
- Feed & catalog management
- Contribution margin reporting
- Weekly growth calls
Scale
8-figure brands and multi-market expansion.
Scoped to your brief
- Multi-market & multi-currency
- Marketplace expansion (Amazon, TikTok Shop)
- Headless commerce architecture
- Dedicated squad
- Custom data warehouse
- Retail & wholesale channel support
All engagements start with a free audit. Prices exclude media spend, which you pay directly to the platforms on accounts you own.
Travel & Hospitality questions, answered straight.
Everything that isn't price, and it amounts to more than it sounds. A guest choosing between two identical rates will take the one offering a late checkout, a better cancellation policy or a guaranteed room type. None of which a channel can offer without your cooperation. What doesn't work is a direct program whose only argument is 'book direct', because that asks the guest to do you a favor. Give them something worth more to them than it costs you against the commission you avoid.
Other services for travel and hospitality brands
Let's talk about your growth constraint.
Once in commission, and again because the guest belongs to the platform. The second cost never appears on an invoice, which is why nobody manages it.
Our commitment: Free store audit including a full contribution margin model. Yours to keep, whether or not you hire us.