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Let’s talk about the difference between making a direct reservation through the website of the hotel you’ve chosen and making a reservation through another website, such as Booking, TripAdvisor, Trovago, Airbnb, and other similar vacation booking sites, which we’ll refer to as OTAs (Online Travel Agencies).
So, what's the difference?
When people want to plan their vacation, they very often decide to search for a hotel on major booking sites (such as OTAs) and make a reservation there. The advantage of this approach is that it provides a high degree of certainty about their choice—namely, that they won’t end up at “ghost hotels” or be scammed. Paying for reservations this way is secure, since these sites stake their entire reputation on ensuring their customers receive the service they’ve chosen—namely, a vacation. What isn’t widely known is that making a reservation this way adds extra cost to their stay. It’s sort of like insurance. But not health insurance—rather, the kind where you pay more but can be sure your reservation is valid, and if something unexpected happens, you can turn to the OTA website for assistance. But is this “insurance” always worth it?
The short answer is both yes and no. It’s worth it when you’re looking for a hotel that’s brand new on the market and doesn’t have many online reviews, so you can figure out if it actually exists and if the terms and conditions it offers are accurately described. You can also check whether the prices are final, whether the payment method is secure, and whether you’ll be promptly compensated if something unexpected happens.
In other cases, when you come across a hotel that has a history, has plenty of reviews, and can be easily verified, don’t hesitate to contact the people who handle reservations there directly. One of the biggest advantages of direct bookings is that they save you a lot of money. Other advantages include the fact that hotels offer their direct guests all kinds of additional discounts for loyal customers—something that’s harder to offer to guests who have booked through another website.
It’s no secret that booking a hotel through an OTA involves paying commissions. These commissions are intended to cover the costs incurred by OTA website owners in creating their sites, and they are the primary source of revenue for them. For example, if a hotel wants to be listed on an OTA website so that people can make reservations there, the OTA website owner requires the hotel to pay a commission on each reservation; the amount of this commission varies, but most often ranges between 15% and 20% of the total booking value. In such cases, the hotel typically raises the price it submits to the OTA site by 15% or 20% to recoup the commission. The problem is that this intermediary unnecessarily increases the cost of the entire service, and the end guest bears this additional cost. This distorts the market and incorporates the commission into the room rates.
For example, you decide to look for a hotel in Kranevo for your vacation in Bulgaria. You open the hotel’s website and see that one night in a double room costs 100 BGN. You want to book 5 nights, for a total of 500 BGN (5 × 100 = 500 BGN). For some reason, however, you end up on an OTA website, where the price jumps to 575 BGN (5 × 115 = 575 BGN)—15% more expensive. Will you get anything extra for those additional 75 BGN? No! You’ll receive the same service as if you had called the hotel and booked your stay directly through them, but you’ll pay 75 BGN less—money you can save or spend on other things during your vacation. So always check with the hotel first; once you’ve compared prices and terms and have all the necessary information, you can make the most informed decision.
We hope our article has been helpful to you in choosing how to book a hotel.
Palma Beach Kranevo, Bulgaria 🙂