HI·06.10 · How to · 9 min
Rebalancing the mix
The previous nine guides built the machine. This one is about driving it: the steady, slightly boring rhythm that takes you from 95% OTA to mostly direct, without ever needing to delist a thing.
First, know your number. Run the Leakage Calculator with this year’s real figures and write down two things: your current OTA share, and what a 20-point shift would save you. That second number is your motivation for the slow patches, and there will be slow patches, because this is a two-to-three-year project, not a season. Anyone promising faster is selling something.
Route your best demand direct
Here’s the engine of the whole thing. Your peak weeks (school summer holidays, Christmas, Easter, the local festival) sell out wherever they’re listed. So why pay 15% for demand that didn’t need buying? When next year’s calendar opens:
- Offer peak weeks to your guest list first. That’s the priority-access email from guide HI·06.3. Give it two or three weeks to work.
- Then open them to the public on your own site. Your social post and Google presence carry it from there.
- Only then release what’s left to the OTAs. They’re brilliant at filling shoulder season and awkward gaps, which is exactly the demand you want to pay commission for, because you couldn’t find it yourself.
Do this once a year and your commission bill starts falling even before your total direct demand grows, because you’ve stopped paying for the bookings that were never in doubt.
The quarterly half-hour
Once a quarter, with a cup of tea and a spreadsheet (or your PMS reports if you’re running one from the Tools page), look at four numbers: bookings by channel, revenue by channel, commission paid, and email list size. That’s it. You’re looking for the direct share creeping up and asking one question: what’s the current bottleneck? Not enough people finding you (guides 06.8 and 06.9), finding you but not booking (guides 06.4 and 06.5), or booking once but not returning (guides 06.3 and 06.7). Fix the bottleneck, ignore the rest until next quarter.
What the stages feel like
- 95/5, the starting grid. Direct bookings are friends and flukes. Every guide from 06.1 onwards moves you off this line.
- 80/20, the machine works. Usually reached within a year of doing the basics. The OTAs still matter, but the repeat loop has started and peak weeks are increasingly yours.
- 60/40, the tipping point. Direct revenue now covers your fixed costs. OTA policy changes stop being scary and start being weather. Somewhere around here, most hosts notice they’ve stopped checking their ranking obsessively, which is its own kind of profit.
- Mostly direct. The OTAs fill gaps and introduce the occasional new face, at a commission bill that’s a line item rather than a mortgage. This is the destination, and it’s worth saying plainly: for most hosts it beats 100% direct, which trades resilience for purity.
Keep the listings healthy
Even at low volume, treat your OTA listings well: respond quickly, keep the calendar true, gather the occasional review. A healthy listing is a free insurance policy and a shop window for guests you’ll convert on arrival (guide 06.7). Letting it rot buys you nothing, and point five of Why Direct was always the deal: this is about choosing your mix, not burning boats.
And when your direct share becomes something you’re quietly proud of, fly the Champion Badge and get yourself on the Champions list. The next host starting at 95/5 could do with seeing it’s possible.