Staycae Hotels generated 80% of bookings through Booking.com and Expedia — paying 22% commission. Direct booking infrastructure existed but received almost no traffic.
We restructured Google Ads to use Google Hotels, targeting branded and competitor searches to divert OTA-bound traffic. Meta was used for aspirational awareness campaigns retargeting website visitors with a direct booking discount.
“We were almost entirely OTA-dependent when we came to Synap. Within six months, direct bookings had tripled.”
— Priya Nair, Revenue Director, Staycae HotelsLet’s talk about what’s possible for your business.
Book a free strategy callLondon
The UK’s most competitive market. We help London brands win on SEO, paid media, and web design — accountably.
Manchester
Northern UK’s fastest-growing digital economy. Data-driven campaigns for Manchester businesses in every sector.
Birmingham
The UK’s second city, with first-mover advantage still on offer. Full-service digital marketing for the West Midlands.
The Staycae Hotels case study illustrates how a London hotel or hospitality business can build a direct booking programme that reduces OTA commission dependency. Hotel digital marketing is a direct revenue generation discipline — every direct booking made through your own website versus an OTA platform saves 15–25% commission that goes straight to your bottom line. Synap Growth builds direct booking growth programmes for London hotels that are measurable, scalable, and profitable.
Google Hotel Ads places your property directly in the metasearch results alongside OTA rates — giving guests the option to book direct without navigating away from Google. Our London hotel PPC service manages Google Hotel Ads bid strategies, rate parity management, and branded Search campaigns that protect your direct booking rate from OTA bidding on your brand name.
Organic search for London hotels targets both location-intent searches (“hotel near Paddington station”) and editorial searches (“best boutique hotels London”). Our hotel SEO service builds both: local authority for location-based searches and editorial content that ranks for the broader inspirational queries that OTAs and review platforms don’t own outright.
Staycae Hotels is one example from our broader hospitality digital marketing practice. We work with hotels, boutique properties, serviced apartments, event venues, and restaurants across London — building direct booking and revenue growth programmes that systematically reduce OTA commission costs while growing overall revenue.
The direct booking marketing approach demonstrated in the Staycae Hotels case study delivers strong results for hotels and hospitality businesses in Manchester and Birmingham. Both cities have growing hotel markets with significant OTA commission costs — and properties that invest in direct booking programmes consistently improve their RevPAR alongside reducing distribution costs.
Manchester’s hotel market serves both leisure and corporate travellers year-round. Our Manchester hotel marketing service builds Google Hotel Ads, branded PPC, and local SEO programmes that drive direct bookings for Manchester properties — reducing commission spend while growing direct revenue through owned booking channels.
Birmingham’s hotel market is growing alongside the city’s expanding visitor economy. Our Birmingham hotel marketing service builds direct booking programmes that reduce OTA dependency for West Midlands properties — improving margin on existing occupancy and building the direct booking relationships that reduce long-term distribution costs.
If your hotel is too reliant on OTA platforms and you want to build a direct booking programme that systematically shifts revenue to your own channels, Synap Growth has the hospitality digital marketing expertise to deliver measurable results.
Contact us for a free hotel digital marketing audit. We’ll review your Google Hotel Ads position, branded search protection, local SEO visibility, and website booking conversion performance — and provide a clear plan for building a direct booking programme that reduces OTA commission costs. Book your audit.