Every booking that comes through Airbnb or Booking costs between 15% and 20% in commission.
In hospitality, those percentage points are the difference between a profitable business and one that works for the platform.
Sleep in Montpellier had eight well-located apartments, a good reputation, and satisfied guests. But the business depended almost entirely on external platforms. Every empty window was lost income and every booking was a ceded commission.
The goal was clear: build a direct channel that captured bookings without intermediaries.
The situation had three concrete problems: total dependence on Airbnb and Booking as acquisition channels, underutilized occupancy windows especially in periods without major events, and the absence of an owned digital presence generating trust and desire to book directly.
Montpellier has a calendar of university, cultural, and sports events generating predictable demand peaks. We developed specific content for each period — oriented to the type of visitor arriving for each event — with FOMO messaging and limited availability.
When someone searches for accommodation for the Montpellier festival or a university conference, Sleep in Montpellier's content appears with context and clear value proposition.
We developed partnerships with the university and the Montpellier Tourism Office. Two guest referral channels with very specific profiles: students on longer stays and tourists with institutional recommendations. Both profiles have a higher probability of booking directly when a trusted referral point sends them.
We updated the brand's physical and digital materials — what the guest sees when searching on Google, reading a recommendation, or receiving partnership information. A proposal that inspires trust before the first contact.
We developed content showing the apartments as more than a place to sleep: the experience of being in Montpellier, the neighborhood, the city, the moments. The type of content that makes someone save the profile "for next time."
Increased bookings in critical windows that previously went empty. Revenue generation from web booking commissions — an additional 10% on the price for each direct booking that previously went to the platform. Construction of a hybrid commercial ecosystem with owned channels working in parallel to Airbnb and Booking.
In local hospitality, growth doesn't depend only on digital marketing.
It depends on combining territorial presence — being in the places where your potential guest searches for information — with strategic content that generates the desire to book directly.
The platforms will keep existing. But the business that builds its own parallel channels doesn't hand over all its margins.
→ Book a strategic conversation and let's design the direct booking system together.