A direct booking is a reservation made through the hotel's own channels, mainly its website booking engine, phone or email, without an intermediary. Direct bookings avoid OTA commission and give the hotel the full guest relationship.
Direct is usually the most profitable channel, but it is not free. Website costs, booking engine fees, metasearch spend and loyalty perks all count. The honest comparison is total acquisition cost per channel, not commission versus zero.
The guest data is the strategic prize. Direct bookings deliver the email address, preferences and consent needed for pre-arrival upselling and future remarketing, which OTA bookings partially mask. Hotels typically aim to convert first-time OTA guests into direct repeat guests.
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