The situation
A San Diego boutique hotel operating under an outdated identity, with revenue leaking to online travel agents at 15 to 20% commission on every booking. No direct booking path existed. Guests arrived through a middleman, and the relationship stayed with the middleman.
What was built
- Full brand rollout across Airbnb, Booking.com and Google, with one consistent identity in every listing title, description and photo set
- Google Business Profile setup and optimisation
- Direct booking infrastructure built from zero
- Email campaign to past guests to convert them to direct
- Website, Instagram presence, brand kit and voice guidelines
What happened
$27,122 in direct bookings between February and April 2026, in a channel that had produced nothing before the work started. At 15 to 20% OTA commission, that is $4,068 to $5,424 kept rather than paid away.
Direct is 1.68% of the channel mix today. The point is not the share. The point is that the line existed at all, and that every booking on it carries the guest relationship with it.
