BestBookDirect.com, a UK-based travel website specialising in direct bookings for hotels and holiday companies, has reported significant growth in its business during the first half of the year.
Originally launched to promote the Premier Inn brand for Whitbread over 15 years ago, the group has since expanded to include a wide range of hotel and holiday partners across the UK. The current portfolio features Warner Hotels, Travelodge, Haven Holiday Parks, Macdonald Hotels, and the Best Western group.
The website was established as an alternative to the dominant, primarily American-owned Online Travel Agents (OTAs) like Tripadvisor and Booking.com. These OTAs leverage massive marketing budgets to dominate Google search results while demanding high commissions on bookings they facilitate. Hotels and holiday providers not using OTAs often struggle to secure consistent top positions in Google’s organic search results if they rely solely on their own websites, as they lack the financial resources needed for significant investment in search engine optimisation.
BestBookDirect.com focuses on securing first-page organic search results for its partner travel affiliates using a ‘only-pay-on-sales-driven’ business model. This model involves taking a small percentage, typically less than 5%, of the total booking cost, in contrast to the average 15-30% commission charged by OTAs. This approach consistently generates higher direct bookings for partner companies, boosting both profitability and overall financial performance.
Chris Cottam, Head of Digital Operations at BestBookDirect.com, stated, “In our twelfth year, the business has reached a significant milestone in which we have seen an incredible 200% year-on-year growth in our delivery of direct bookings for Warner Hotels alongside an increase in bookings across all 38 Haven Holiday Parks throughout the UK. This has been achieved by a keen focus on promoting late/last-minute deals on unsold rooms, which are a priority for all hospitality operators as they strive for maximum room occupancy levels. With dedicated high-quality web pages featuring both Warner’s last-minute room deals and Haven Holiday Parks, we aim to fill unsold capacity in the most cost-effective manner. We now aim to replicate this success with our other travel and hospitality partners.”
The company also places a strong emphasis on supporting UK charities. BestBookDirect’s parent company, Uedit Limited, raised over £100,000 to support disadvantaged children in the UK by sharing its technology platform with the school fundraising charity School Angel.
For more information, visit www.bestbookdirect.com
