How to Get OTA Guests to Book Direct Next Time

Short answer

Win them while they stay. Booking.com shares only an alias email and bars unsolicited messages to it, so ask guests at check-in or on your wifi page for their own email and consent. Then invite them back at the same price: under Booking.com's US terms, even a lower rate offered at the front desk falls under parity.

A guest who booked through Expedia or Booking.com has already chosen your hotel once. If their next stay comes to your own website, you keep the commission. This guide covers how to make that happen without breaking your booking-site contract. Booking.com's terms were read on the original pages on October 12, 2026. Expedia does not publish its hotel terms, so check your own agreement for it.

Why focus on guests who booked through a booking site?

Because many of them do not mind where they book. Booking.com's own 2023 survey of 2,000 US travelers found 29% prefer to book direct and 22% book only through a booking site, while 46% have no preference either way (Booking.com's Partner Hub). Booking.com also says fewer than 5% of searchers on its site use a property type or brand filter, which it reads as guests being open to many places rather than loyal to one.

So a guest who found you on a booking site may not even know your own website exists. Once they have stayed, you have something the booking site does not: a real person at your front desk.

The sums are simple. On an illustrative 3-night stay worth $480 before taxes, a booking site at 20% takes $96. A guest who comes back twice and books direct saves you about $192 in commission, before the cost of the direct bookings themselves.

What do booking-site terms let a hotel do?

Booking.com's General Delivery Terms set four limits that shape everything else:

No links in your listing. Clause 2.1.1 says the information on your Booking.com page must not contain references or links to your own website, social media or other platforms.
No marketing to Booking.com's contact details. Booking.com shares only an alias email ending in @guest.booking.com, and clause 2.9.3 says you shall not use its messaging service or the guest contact details it provides to send unsolicited electronic communications.
Parity includes the front desk. Under the wide parity wording that applies to US hotels, Booking.com is entitled to the same or better rates, amenities and cancellation terms as you offer on your own website, by phone or directly at the hotel. A cheaper rate quoted at checkout for the next stay is covered.
Member rates are the exception, from the second booking. A closed user group rate is allowed if guests opt in, log in with a password and complete a profile, and if the guest offered the rate has already made at least one booking as a member. A guest who joins at checkout pays your public rate on their first member booking.

Our guide to rate parity for US hotels covers the parity wording in full. We found nothing in Booking.com's standard terms that stops you from telling a guest, face to face, that they can book with you directly next time.

What can a hotel do while the guest is staying?

The stay is your one chance to collect the guest's own contact details with their agreement. Our suggestions, in order:

At check-in, ask for their email for offers, and record the yes or no. A guest who gives you their own address, agreeing to hear from you, is not using contact details Booking.com provided.
Put the same question on your wifi login page, with an unticked box for offers.
Leave a card in the room with your website and one line on why to book with you directly: the same price, and the people who run the hotel deal with any change.
Invite guests into a members program, if you run one that meets the conditions above, and explain that member rates start from their next member booking.
At checkout, thank them and ask for a review on Google, which also helps them find you next time (see Google Business Profile for hotels).

How do you bring them back after they leave?

Email the guests who agreed, a few times a year, with a link to your own booking page. Our guide to email to past guests covers what the CAN-SPAM Act requires and five emails worth sending.

Two more steps catch guests who did not leave an email:

Be first when they search your name. A returning guest often types your hotel's name into Google. If a booking site's ad comes first, the next booking goes there. See OTAs bidding on your hotel's name.
Remind website visitors. Guests who look at your website after their stay can be shown your rooms again in Facebook and Instagram ads; see Facebook and Instagram ads for hotels.

How do you know if OTA guests are coming back direct?

Use your property management system's guest history. Once a month, list guests whose earlier stay came through a booking site, and count how many of them booked their latest stay direct. Track three numbers: the share of booking-site guests who gave an email at the hotel, the share who came back, and the share of those who came back direct. The first one is the easiest to raise, and everything else depends on it.

What should a hotel avoid?

Sending offers to the @guest.booking.com alias or through Booking.com's messaging service.
Quoting a lower rate for the next stay at the front desk or in a printed card, unless it is a member rate that meets the four conditions.
Asking guests to cancel a booking-site reservation and rebook direct. Read your agreement first; in our view it is not worth the risk to your listing.
Assuming Expedia works the same way. Its terms are not public, so read your own agreement before using any guest detail it passes on.

To see what each guest who moves from a booking site to your own website is worth, try our savings calculator. For the full plan, read how independent hotels get more direct bookings.

MarginStay helps independent hotels bring in direct bookings, including by email to past guests, so we have a stake in this topic. Contract terms come from Booking.com's General Delivery Terms, and the survey from Booking.com's Partner Hub, both read on October 12, 2026. This is not legal advice. The $480 example is illustrative.

OTA guests: quick answers

Can a hotel contact Booking.com guests to book direct next time?

Not through Booking.com's channels. Booking.com shares only an alias email, and clause 2.9.3 of its terms bars using its messaging service or the guest contact details it provides to send unsolicited electronic communications. You can ask the guest in person for their own email and consent while they stay, then invite them back.

Can I offer an OTA guest a lower rate for their next stay?

Under Booking.com's standard US terms, not as an ordinary offer. Its wide parity wording covers rates offered on your website, by phone and directly at the hotel. A member rate is allowed if guests opt in, log in, complete a profile and have already made one booking as a member.

How many travelers prefer to book hotels direct?

In Booking.com's own 2023 survey of 2,000 US travelers, 29% preferred booking direct, 22% booked only through booking sites, 46% had no preference and 3% preferred a travel agent. The 46% with no preference are the guests a hotel can most easily win back.

What is the best way to turn OTA guests into direct guests?

Collect their own email with consent while they stay, at check-in or on the wifi page, then write a few times a year with a link to your booking page. Make sure your website shows first when they search your name, and keep the same price as the booking sites unless you run a qualifying members program.

Turn this year's booking-site guests into next year's direct guests

Talk to us about bringing past guests back to your own booking page, or see first what each booking that moves is worth.

See your numbers