Major OTA offering free websites for hoteliers
Online travel giant Booking.com is taking a novel approach to attracting more small hoteliers by offering to build a website free of charge.
The new service is named BookingSuite and creates new websites with no upfront costs but will take a 10% cut of any bookings made direct through the new website.
Booking.com says it has been beta testing the service for several months and is ready to go live soon.
The company says the service is focused on independent hotels and guest houses without the funds or know-how to build their own site.
Several thousand lodging owners have already signed up said Brian Saab, Booking.com’s global head of marketing.
"Some have no web presence at all and some you just need to improve it."
BookingSuite is a separate entity from the main Booking.com website and hoteliers can use the service to create a website without listing on the main Booking.com platform.
The 10% it charges for each booking is less than the commission it takes from listed hotels on booking.com, which starts at 15%.
However the company hopes to make money through added fees for upgraded web design packages and search engine marketing.
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