A direct channel of distribution is the means by which a guest books a room at your hotel directly, without going through any third parties. This could be online, like a hotel website or the hotel’s social media page, or offline, like phone or walk-in.  


Direct channels are important, as it allows you to capture bookings and travelers, particularly from your most loyal or potentially loyal guests. A good portion of travelers will try to book directly, or will look for your property online for validation and/or comparison. For many consumers, if they cannot find your hotel website, pictures and reviews of your hotel, your hotel does not exist! 


Key components of a direct channel

Direct channels are usually a combination of a few critical blocks, the most important are: 

  • A website, 

  • Booking engine, 

  • Payment gateway, and 

  • The marketing tools and strategies that support the above


1. A Hotel Website serves the purpose of providing information about the property to travellers. Commonly included are an overview of selling points, list of facilities and amenities, location details and directions, photo gallery, room descriptions and list prices for hotel rooms. It might also include a call to action to contact the hotel via email or phone to make a booking.  


2. A hotel Booking Engine is an application to capture and process online reservations, it:

  • Displays real-time room availability and prices,

  • Allows travellers to select their preferred room type and rate plan on specific travel dates, and

  • Confirms reservations and integrates with other systems, like HMS


3. Some booking engines also have a Payment Gateway integrated within them. A payment gateway processes payments for hotel rooms from customers securely, and accepts several payment methods, including credit/debit cards and wallets, among others. 


4. After setting up all of the above, the use of Marketing Channels is essential to drive traffic to and conversions on your website. 



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Tags: Direct channels, direct bookings, online bookings, hotel website, booking engine, offline bookings, phone, walk-in, payment gateway,