Tourism and hospitality marketing for direct bookings
Every booking that comes through an online travel agency (OTA) such as Booking.com or Airbnb costs you commission. For a guest who found you on the OTA, that's a fair price. For a guest who searched your name on Google, saw an OTA link above your website and booked there, it isn't.
Our tourism and hospitality marketing goes after that second guest. A hotel website that takes bookings and ranks for searches about your town, a Google listing with your own booking link beside the OTAs', and Meta ads for the quiet months. It's for guest houses, lodges, boutique hotels and restaurants.
4,586 establishments held a TGCSA star grading in 2024/25, down from 4,959 in 2022/23 (South African Tourism, Annual Report 2024/25).
How travellers find and book
A couple planning three nights in Franschhoek will look in more than one place. They search "guest house Franschhoek" or "Franschhoek accommodation with pool", compare prices in hotel search on Google, read reviews on Google, Booking.com and Tripadvisor, and scroll Instagram to see what the rooms look like before they pay.
Where your own site loses the booking
- A search for your property's name can show OTA links above your website.
- Hotel search on Google lists OTA prices but not yours, because your reservation system isn't sending your rates to Google.
- Your site only takes enquiries by email, so a guest who wants to book at 11pm books where they can.
- Your Google Business Profile has old photos and reviews nobody has answered.
Restaurants
Restaurant searches are local and quick: "restaurants near me", "Sunday lunch Stellenbosch", "steakhouse Umhlanga". The Maps pack answers those searches, and a complete profile with recent reviews, a menu and a booking link gives you a better chance of getting the booking.
Winning back direct bookings
Hotel website design for direct bookings
A fast website with your booking engine on every room page, honest photos, rates in rand and a WhatsApp button for guests who want to ask first. Each page is written for the searches travellers make about your town and your kind of stay.
Free booking links in hotel search on Google
We check that your reservation system sends your rates to Google, so your own booking link can show beside the OTAs' when travellers search for a place to stay. Google doesn't charge for clicks on free booking links (Google help page 'About hotel free booking links', checked October 2026).
Google Business Profile and reviews
Categories, amenities, photos and booking links set up properly, and a routine for asking guests to review you on Google after checkout. We draft a reply to every review, the good and the bad.
Instagram and Facebook
Posts that show the rooms and the view as guests will find them, and Meta campaigns in the quiet months aimed at travellers in the provinces your guests come from.
Tracking direct bookings
Bookings on your own site are tracked back to the search, ad or post that sent the guest, and set against what the OTAs charged that month.
Your monthly booking report
Bookings, and what each channel cost you to get them.
Direct bookings by source
Bookings on your own site, split by Google search, Google Maps, hotel search on Google, Meta ads and social media posts.
Direct against OTA bookings
If you share your OTA figures, the month's direct bookings beside them, with the commission those direct bookings would have cost on an OTA.
Enquiries
Calls, WhatsApps and emails from the site and the Google profile, from guests who ask before they book.
Reviews
New Google reviews this month, your average rating, and any still waiting for a reply.
Our prices are on the site
Seven of the twelve South African agencies that rank most often on Google don't publish a pricing page. We'd rather you knew before we speak.
12 agencies checked across 19 searches, September 2026.
We're not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added to our prices. Contracts run for three months minimum, then month to month.
Where to start
You can start with one of these and add another once the first is paying its way.
Rankings on Google and Google Maps for the searches your customers type. Technical fixes, service pages that answer the question, and links from sites people in your industry read.
SEO in Cape TownFrom R7,500 a month
SEO pricingFast sites built to turn a visit into a call or a form. The domain, the site and the logins are in your name.
Web design in Cape TownFrom R14,500
Website pricingPosts and a small ad budget on up to two of Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and TikTok, measured on the leads and sales they bring in.
Fixing the booking path
Step Month 1: Tracking and Google's booking links
We set up booking and enquiry tracking on your site, count last month's direct and OTA bookings for a baseline, and check whether your reservation system connects to Google's free booking links.
Step Month 2: Website, profile and reviews
We fix whatever is slowing direct bookings on the site, rebuild the Google Business Profile, and start the review routine after checkout.
Step Month 3: Ads for the gaps in your calendar
The dates with the most empty rooms get Facebook and Instagram campaigns. Your direct bookings by source then sit next to your OTA bookings in the report.
Questions about OTAs and direct bookings
No. The OTAs bring guests who would never have found you, and the commission is worth paying for those. The aim is to stop paying it on guests who already knew your name.
They can send an enquiry, but a guest who's ready to book wants to see what's available and pay there and then. If you don't have a booking engine yet, we'll recommend one that connects to Google's free booking links.
Yes. For a restaurant the Google Business Profile does most of the work: menu, hours, photos, reviews and a booking link. A fast menu page on your own site and a page for each type of booking give Google more to go on when someone nearby searches.
Websites start at R14,500 and SEO at R7,500 a month. Social media, including Meta ads, starts at R6,500 a month, with the ad spend separate. We're not registered for VAT, so no VAT is added to our prices. A small guest house can often start with the website and its Google profile alone.
Find out who's taking your direct bookings
Send us your website. We'll search your name and your town the way a guest would, check hotel search on Google and your Business Profile, run a quick AI check of 5 prompts in ChatGPT, Google AI Overviews and Gemini, and show you where bookings are going to the OTAs.