Most hotel websites are designed to look pretty — but they're quietly haemorrhaging revenue to OTAs like Booking.com and Expedia. Here's a practical guide to what to fix.
The OTA trap
Online Travel Agencies take 15–25% commission on every booking. For a hotel doing €500,000 in annual revenue through OTAs, that's €75,000–€125,000 in commissions. A well-designed website that captures even 20% of those bookings pays for itself many times over.
But here's the problem: most hotel websites aren't designed to convert. They're designed to look nice in a portfolio. There's a critical difference.
Speed kills (or saves) bookings
If your site takes more than 3 seconds to load, you've already lost 40% of visitors. Hotels are particularly vulnerable because they tend to use massive, unoptimised images. That hero shot of your infinity pool? If it's a 4MB JPEG, it's costing you bookings.
The fix: WebP format, lazy loading, proper sizing. Your images should look stunning AND load in under a second.
The booking button problem
Visit any hotel website and try to book a room. Count the clicks. If it's more than 2, you have a problem. The booking engine should be accessible from every single page — not buried under a 'Reservations' menu item.
Better: a sticky 'Book Now' button that follows the user. Best: a booking widget embedded directly into room description pages.
Mobile isn't optional
72% of last-minute hotel bookings happen on mobile. If your booking flow isn't seamless on a phone screen, you're invisible to a massive segment of high-intent customers.
This means: thumb-friendly buttons, simplified forms, tap-to-call, and a checkout process that works with Apple Pay and Google Pay.
Photography matters more than you think
Stock photography is the fastest way to look generic. A study by Cornell found that properties with professional, authentic photography saw 15% higher booking rates than those using stock or amateur images.
Invest in real photography of your property. Show the morning light in the rooms. The textures. The details that make your place unique.
If your hotel website isn't pulling its weight, let's talk about what a redesign could do for your direct bookings.
Ramiro Morales
Founder, irving.studio
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