For years, many South African guesthouses and lodges weren't allowed to offer guests a better price for booking with them directly. Booking.com's contracts here included "price parity" clauses: one stopped a property from offering lower rates on other booking sites, and another stopped it offering lower rates on its own website.
In August 2024, that ended. After the Competition Commission's Online Intermediation Platforms Market Inquiry, Booking.com agreed to remove both kinds of price parity from its contracts with South African accommodation providers, and from the conditions for its incentive and membership programmes (Daily Maverick). FEDHASA said the clauses had "placed undue pressure on accommodation providers, forcing them to maintain consistent pricing across all platforms, regardless of the significantly higher commissions" (Travel News).
So the obstacle is gone. What's left is a practical question: how do you get more guests to book with you directly, without damaging the platform that brings in guests you'd never reach on your own?
Start with what a platform booking actually costs you
Most owners know their commission rate roughly. Fewer know what it costs per stay once everything is included.
Your commission rate is in your agreement with each booking site, and loyalty or preferred-partner programmes can add to it. It's worth looking up, because it is the number that tells you how much room you have to reward a direct booking.
Then do a simple comparison with your own numbers. Take a typical stay, and work out what you keep after commission when it comes through a platform. Now work out what you'd keep if the same guest booked directly and you gave them a small discount for doing so, less your card fees. In most cases, you're still better off, even after the discount.
That gap is your budget for winning direct bookings. You can give part of it to the guest as a lower rate, or as something worth more to them than it costs you.
Don't try to win every booking direct
Booking sites are good at one thing your website can't easily do: putting you in front of travellers who have never heard of you. That's worth paying for. And a guest who finds you there will often look up your own website before booking, which is why what every guesthouse website needs matters as much as your listing.
The commission worth saving is on guests who would happily have booked with you anyway:
- Returning guests, who already know and like you
- Local and regional weekenders, who often search for you by name
- Groups, families and functions, who usually want to talk to you first
- Longer stays, where the commission adds up fastest
- Business travellers and companies who send people back regularly
Focus your direct-booking effort on these guests. Let the platforms keep doing what they're good at.
Give the direct guest a real reason
"Book direct" on its own isn't a reason. The guest needs to see what they get, at the moment they're deciding. Now that rate parity no longer applies, a slightly lower direct rate is an option. But perks often work as well and cost you less:
- Late check-out or early check-in, when you can manage it
- Breakfast included, or a welcome drink on arrival
- Free cancellation up to a few days before arrival
- An upgrade when a better room is free
- A returning-guest rate for people who have stayed before
Whatever you choose, say it in the same words everywhere a guest might see it: next to the Book button on your website, on your Google Business Profile, in your confirmation messages, and on a card in the room.
Make booking direct as easy as booking on a platform
Guests use platforms because they're easy: pick dates, see the price, pay, done. If booking direct means sending an email and waiting for a reply, most guests will go back to the platform, even for a better rate.
To compete, a guest on your website needs to be able to:
- See your rates without asking.
- Check availability or book for specific dates.
- Pay a deposit or the full amount by card, so the booking is confirmed straight away.
- Read your cancellation policy before they pay.
- Reach you quickly on WhatsApp if they have a question.
If you already use a channel manager or booking engine, link your website's Book button to it, so there's one calendar and no double bookings. If you don't, a booking form with an online deposit is enough for most small properties.
Turn this stay into the next direct booking
The best moment to win a future direct booking is while a guest is enjoying their stay. Mention it at check-in, leave a card in the room, and say it again when they leave: "Next time, book with us directly for late check-out."
Then stay in touch. Ask guests, in person or with a tick box on your booking form, whether they'd like to hear about specials and return-guest offers, and keep a note of who said yes. Every message should make it easy to unsubscribe. Guests who chose to hear from you are far more likely to read what you send.
A few useful messages a year are enough. A winter mid-week special, a note before school holidays, or a returning-guest rate will bring people back to your own website rather than to a platform.
Measure it, simply
You don't need software to see whether this is working. Each month, write down how many bookings came direct and how many through each platform. Ask direct guests how they found you. Within a season, you'll see which efforts bring guests back, and how much commission you're no longer paying.
How SiteHub can help
SiteHub builds guesthouse websites designed to win direct bookings: rates and rooms that are easy to find, your book-direct offer next to the Book button, and your policies in plain view. You see a live preview of the finished website before you pay anything, and your .co.za domain, business email and hosting are included. Every SiteHub website is built with SEO foundations as standard: page titles and descriptions, a sitemap, structured business information that tells Google who you are and where, image descriptions and a mobile-friendly design. You can add Online Bookings so guests can book and pay a deposit on your website, or we can link it to the booking system you already use. The calculator shows what your setup would cost. SiteHub is a Trusted Partner of FEDHASA.