Hotel Revenue Glossary · Distribution

Direct Booking

A reservation made through a hotel-controlled website, call centre, front desk, or application rather than an external distributor. It may avoid a third-party booking commission but still carries media, technology, payment, loyalty, sales, service, and consent obligations.

Why it matters: Direct and intermediary bookings can have different costs, demand, cancellation, payment, loyalty, and service effects. Compare incremental net contribution and attribution from property data; direct is not universally most profitable and investment does not guarantee NRevPAR improvement.

Worked example: A A$210 OTA booking at 15% commission nets A$178.50. The same room sold direct at A$199 looks better until you load the cost: A$6 in booking-engine and payment fees, A$14 of paid search attributed to it, A$8 of loyalty points accrued — A$171 net. Direct wins only if attributed search falls under A$6.50 per booking, or the guest comes back. Use your own attributed media cost, not a headline rate.

Common mistake: Booking the commission saving as profit. A direct booking that cost A$14 in paid search to acquire saved commission and spent most of it again. Until your channel P&L carries attributed media, payment fees and loyalty accrual against the direct line, the direct-versus-OTA comparison is not a comparison.

All glossary terms OTA (Online Travel Agency) NRevPAR (Net Revenue Per Available Room) Distribution Channel