Free direct booking audit

Commission‑free direct bookings: a booking engine and a website for your hotel

direct booking agency

00:00:00 GMT+0

©2026, Concept Hub®

Taking 2 more projects in November

Knock knock, direct bookings here?

Message the founder,
not a form
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We’re hoteliers

why it matters

If the hotel is yours, and the guest finds you, books with you and pays you, why are you paying Booking.com? It only gets worse when you also pay a booking system for the engine on your own website.

who we are

Concept Hub is a direct booking agency. As hoteliers ourselves, we found that we really love direct bookings. We set out to build a system that brings them in, whatever it took. Now we are ready to share it.

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Team and journal

Notes from the front desk

All articles
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where your hotel loses money

  1. 1

    OTA commission

    The guest found your hotel, but books through Booking.com or Expedia, and the OTA takes its cut.

    10–⁠20% a booking

  2. 2

    Booking engine fees

    Even a booking on your own website goes through someone else’s booking engine: WebHotelier takes 3%.

    3% a booking

  3. 3

    Payment markup

    You pay twice for online payments: to the bank and to the booking system. Mews adds 1.1 points, Cloudbeds 1.2.

    +1.2% a payment

8 in 10

The guest leaves without paying

That many guests leave the booking page without paying: a slow third‑party engine, extra steps, surcharges at the end. Mirai, 2023

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why guests don’t book with you

The five main reasons guests leave a hotel website, and how to stop it. The figures come from our direct booking research: more than 700 sources. We stand behind every figure.

  1. (01)Google and Deloitte, 2020

    +10.1%

    The booking engine loads slowly

    more bookings for travel websites from a mobile speed‑up of just 0.1 seconds. A third‑party booking engine loads separately, from its own servers, so it takes 3 seconds on average to open.

    Instant booking engine

    Rooms on screen in 0.04 s, instead of 2–⁠5 seconds.

    +4.4%more bookings for every second faster

  2. (02)Baymard, 2022

    78 in 100

    The booking button is hard to find

    test participants did not see the booking form on the IHG website until they scrolled: large header images pushed it down. The booking form must be visible straight away.

    No extra steps

    One click on the home page, and the guest is already in the chosen room, already in your booking engine.

  3. (03)VCIOM for the Russian Union of Travel Industry, 2026

    74%

    The guest leaves to compare prices

    of travellers in Russia at least sometimes search for a stay in one place and book it in another. 76% look at more than one OTA.

    Cheaper than OTAs

    The engine tells guests how much cheaper it is than on Booking.com.

    +36%more bookings with a price comparison banner

  4. (04)TravelLine, 2026

    2×

    A question goes unanswered

    as many bookings from guests who asked the AI chat on the hotel website a question.

    AI concierge

    Answers at any time and leads the guest to payment.

    1 in 7direct bookings at a hotel come through the AI chat

  5. (05)SaleCycle, 2019 data

    84.8%

    The guest left without paying

    of bookings started on hotel websites are abandoned before payment.

    Abandoned bookings

    We bring back guests who left the payment page with SMS, emails and calls.

    30+ in 100bookings come back after SMS, emails and calls

More money from every booking

  • 0%

    The whole booking amount stays with you. No percentages.

  • Upsell at booking

    Offers a room upgrade or an extra service at checkout.

    +17%to the average spend with each upsell

Everything the engine does
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How it looks

try the engine yourself

This is how the engine looks on the website of Park Lane, a boutique hotel. Click and book a room yourself: it is a demo, no real booking is made. On your website the engine will be in your style.

  • All rooms with photos and prices on one page
  • Colours and fonts are the hotel’s own
  • Guests can choose the bed and the view
  • Rates with and without breakfast, online payment

The booking engine on the Park Lane website, desktop version
The booking engine on the Park Lane website, mobile version
Demo · Park Lane
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work out your hotel

  1. Booking systemon your website now

  2. €

  4. %

  5. %

Each year your hotel will save and earn

≈ €10,000

Saved on commission
≈ €5,000
New bookings on your website
≈ €5,000
Payback
we work it out at the audit
Free direct booking audit

How we count: room revenue = rooms × rate × 365 × occupancy. Our engine takes no commission on website bookings, so you save what your current system charges. We also assume 3% more bookings on your website.

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Launch

Switching with no downtime

  1. 01

    Audit

    Before we start, on a free call we check your whole direct booking system and work out how much the hotel will save and earn. From your booking system’s data we record how many bookings come through your website now.

  2. 02

    Setup

    Rooms, prices, rates and payments are set up for your hotel. You see test bookings in your booking system, with the right dates and amounts.

  3. 03

    Switch‑over

    Your website’s buttons switch to the new engine, and reception works as before. Every month you get a report: how many bookings and how much money came in.

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Cases

Work by our team, gathered from different corners of the world. 67 projects in total.

Park LaneOur own hotel: website, brand and our own booking engine
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Solution

the direct booking system

More about the system

  1. Curly Branding

    So guests remember your hotel and choose it by eye, not just by price.

    • Hotel concept
    • Name and meaning
    • Visual identity
    • Photo style
    • Signage and brand items

  2. A website that sells

    A website that sells rooms, not one that just shows them.

    • Rooms with photos and prices
    • A ‘Book now’ button on every screen
    • Search right on the home page
    • AI concierge
    • Fast on mobile
  3. Flagship

    Booking engine

    Your own engine instead of someone else’s: in your website’s style, with bookings going straight into your system.

    • 0% commission
    • Instant booking engine
    • Tells guests it’s cheaper than OTAs
    • Recovers abandoned bookings
    • One‑click upsells

  4. Growth services

    They help you sell more after launch: show what to improve and remove barriers at payment.

    • AI replies to reviews on maps and OTAs
    • AI website analyst for Google Analytics
    • Pay in instalments
    • Cheaper card payments

Free direct booking auditMore about the system

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Guarantee

no growth your money back

We take from your booking system how much the bookings through your website brought in over the same months last year. After 6 months, we compare.

  1. 6 months

    Term

    We compare the six months after launch with the same months last year, so the season does not affect the result.

  2. 100%

    The full amount back

    If you are not earning more, we return the full price of the package.

  3. 1st booking

    Why we are sure

    Because when we put these solutions into our own hotel, and then into others, we saw the result from the first booking.

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Questions

What hoteliers ask

One team runs each hotel project, from the numbers to the launch. Get in touch with the team directly.

Message the team

  • No. The engine goes onto your current website. Whether you need a new website and branding, we decide case by case: first we review what you have and tell you honestly what already works and what is worth adding.

  • We are hoteliers ourselves: we first put the system into our own hotel, Park Lane, and saw the result. And we give a guarantee: if you are not earning more after 6 months, we return the full amount.

  • Bookings from the engine go into your booking system, and prices and availability update by themselves. We check the connection to your system before we start and show you test bookings.

  • About a month on average: we do the numbers, set everything up for your hotel and switch your website’s buttons to the new engine.

  • We do. After launch, our support team looks after the system.

  • Get in touch with the team: send us the hotel’s name, how many rooms it has and which booking system you use. On a free call we check everything that makes up your direct booking system: brand, website, booking engine, reviews on maps and OTAs, analytics and payments. And we work out how much money the hotel is losing now.

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