Built To Book: OTAs or Direct Booking, Which is Best?
Most hosts think they understand how channels like Booking.com work. You list your property, set your prices, and wait for the reservations to roll in. But the platform is constantly monitoring your response rate, pricing behavior, and cancellation history. It ranks you against thousands of other properties based on signals you might not even know exist.
In episode two of our Built to Book series, James Farley sits down with Christin Schmidt, Smoobu’s Head of Global Partnerships. Having spent almost 20 years inside Booking.com, Christin knows exactly how these algorithms work.
She breaks down what hosts misunderstand about OTA visibility and shares the exact levers you can pull to improve your ranking today. Without giving too much away, James and Christin cover:
- How to rethink channel commission as a powerful marketing expense.
- The truth about whether algorithms favor hosts in Preferred Partner and Genius programs.
- A counterintuitive trick to instantly improve your ranking by adjusting your calendar availability.
Catch this episode of "Built to Book" today. You can watch the full video on YouTube or listen on the go via Spotify. Make sure to subscribe to Host Planet so you do not miss our upcoming deep dives into the industry over the upcoming months.
