Yesterday morning, while preparing breakfast for my guests, I overheard a conversation between a couple from Belgium and a couple from France and it inspired this post.The couples were speaking French and assumed I didn’t understand; but for the first time, those five years of studying French actually served a purpose.

The Belgian couple were contrasting their last year’s holiday spent in a famous tourist resort and were complaining that Blu B&B wasn’t on the beach and that the home was a heritage building. They recalled with nostalgia that apartment last year on the 10th floor overlooking the sea, with a bar and restaurants below. The French couple, instead, were excited about Blu’s historical location and the fact that spending their vacation immersed in a tranquil, medieval atmosphereoffered a unique and pleasurable experience. They lived in a modern city, so vacationing in the medieval town of Bosa brought a dimension of authenticity, making them feel “at home” rather than tourists. I silently served the cappuccini and let them chat undisturbed, while stretching my ears to listen  to their conversation minute by minute.

Booking directly on website VS OTA

That “unfiltered”conversation was very important for me as it provided information that no market research could, because survey questions often describe situations that respondents don’t relate to and therefore they find it difficult to respond. As the conversation progressed, the two points of view increasingly diverged: if the couple from Belgium found the streets too narrow and winding because they couldn’t drive their car up to Blu, the couple from France loved being able to get lost among the colourful cobblestone lanes. Apart from personal tastes, I asked myself: why did the Belgian couple come to Bosa, a place so incompatible with their needs, and above all, why did they choose my b&b? Reviewing their booking, I found the first answer.These guests had booked through Booking,com, a very efficient and clear site but one that lacks the essential information to understand the personality and soul of the lodging and location. If we go to the description of my b&b on Booking.com, we see that the details and services are presented in a very abbreviated and schematic format, with no description of the structure, the owner or the location. The French couple instead, had booked through my site, and before booking had contacted me with their specific questions. Re-reading our email exchange, I understood immediately that when this couple chose Blu, they had a clear picture of the nature of our B&B and the type of tourism experience that Bosa offers.

The time had arrived to intervene and confirm both the facts and my intuitions. The French couple greeted me as they returned to their room, and I approached the Belgian couple with a smile and asked if they’d like another coffee. I started by asking how they enjoyed Bosa and if our B&B was as they had imagined. A little embarrassed, the woman replied that everything was going well but her husband then added that everything was nice but they had expected something different. I asked them what criteria they used to choose this b&b and they replied that it was based on the pictures and description of services on the Booking.com site, that reflected accurately the characteristics of the room but did not give them an understanding of the context of Bosa. They did not realize that Bosa was a medieval town, instead they thought it was a fishing village. This made me smile, because I knew from personal experience when I had an office job in northern Italy, that the idea of spending a vacation in a fishing village is everyone’s dream. I used to imagine the sun-lined faces of fishermen selling their morning catch, and eager vacationers buying fresh fish to grill on the beach at sunset with a cold glass of white wine.

Towards evening, I found the French couple soaking in the final rays of sunshine on the terrazzo, and with my usual excuse of offering a coffee, I continued my research. The French couple had chosen Bosa after having read about it in a well-known French travellers’ guide, and then doing a further Internet search. Once they had decided on the location, they looked for accommodations. They began by reading travellers’ reviews on the web, and then “googled” Blu to arrive at my site. They were thrilled with both Bosa and Blu B&B.

From this story I would like to summarize several fundamental reasons that booking directly with an accommodation is always more convenient and effective than through a portal.

5 good reasons to book directly on your accomodation’s site

Information:The information on the accomodation’s website almost always provides very important information that you will not find on a portal (in technical terms, an OTA). If we look at two of the major portals, Booking.com and Airbnb, we find that the descriptions generally follow a standardized format that is insufficient to get a sense of the personality of the accommodation. Airbnb does provide for a brief description of the structure and location but in a very limited way. By viewing the accomodation’s site that you are considering booking you can avoid unwanted surprises.

1. Price: Almost all accommodations guarantee a lower price, generally from 10% – 20%,  if you book directly and the reason is very simple. Portals charge a significant commission that is generally borne by the guest.
2. Direct contact with the owner:The opportunity to communicate directly with the owner helps a guest to picture accurately the details of the location and the accommodation and make an informed decision about whether this is the right place for to enjoy their vacation. Portals don’t provide the opportunity to speak directly with the owner before finalizing a booking.
3. Best service:Owners are always happy to welcome guests who book directly and collaborate to do their best to make their stay a success.
4. Ethical choice: From an ethical perspective, booking directly helps a small business succeed in the face of large multinational business and monopolies that often charge exorbitant commissions.

Be Smart! Book directly through the owner’s website

In conclusion, I offer two further simple but useful suggestions. I often ask my guests why they book through a portal and not directly through my site.There are two main reasons: one, a portal gives them a sense of security that a small owner cannot; and two, they couldn’t manage to find the owner’s site because it was poorly positioned on Google. I understand tourists’ reticence when they live hundreds or thousands of miles away, but I offer this perspective: let’s become travellers, not just tourists. Let’s learn to research, ask, make contact and not trust only in the pictures. Let’s avoid surprises and enjoy real satisfaction. B&B owners aren’t hotel porters, they are eager and ready to help you and give you all the information necessary to make you feel confident and secure about your choice. And regarding finding an accomodation’s website, here is a simple but effective hint: go to Booking.com or Airbnb, find the listing that you like, then go to Google and search the name of the accommodation. Easy, right? Now that you have this information, I recommend – book directly through the owner’s site and avoid the middle man!