Worked example
Worked example: a six-room B&B paying commission on nine bookings in ten, and the direct-booking page that moves three of them
A worked example, labelled as one: no B&B client is published here yet. The property is a composite of the B&B sites we audited for the B&B page on this site; the plan is what we would do; the results are expectations, marked as such.
The starting point: six rooms by the sea, full from May to September, nine bookings in ten arriving through an agency at commission, and a website whose \u201cbook now\u201d button opens Booking.com. The owner knows the commission figure to the pound and has never seen the Google free booking link that would send a guest to her own site.
By Daniel Stoychev, Webso Digital · 6 October 2026
9 in 10
bookings through an agency, illustrative
3 in 10
the share we would aim to move direct in a season, expectation
1
button on the site that sends guests to the agency
0
free booking links claimed on Google
Before and after
What the site does today and what it would do
Today
- \u201cBook now\u201d opens Booking.com, at commission
- No rate on the page; the guest leaves to find one
- No reason given to book direct
- The Google listing shows only agency rates
- Reviews live on the agency, not on Google
After
- A booking engine or a form on the site, with the rate shown
- The direct rate stated, and the two things direct guests get: the room they asked for, breakfast time of their choosing
- The Google free booking link claimed, so the listing shows the direct rate next to the agencies\u2019
- A review asked for at checkout, on Google, with the room named
- The agency kept for the shoulder months, where it earns its commission
The order of the work
Rate first, then the link, then the reasons
- 1
The rate goes on the page
A guest who cannot see a price on the B&B\u2019s own site assumes it is higher than the agency\u2019s and books there. The direct rate, by room, by season, on the rooms page.
- 2
The free booking link is claimed
Google shows a hotel\u2019s own rate next to the agencies\u2019 at no commission when the link is set up through the listing. For a six-room B&B it is the single largest lever and almost nobody has done it.
- 3
The reasons to book direct are written
Not \u201cbest rate guaranteed\u201d, which every agency page also says. The specific things: the room they asked for, breakfast at the time they choose, a late checkout on a quiet day, a reply from the owner.
- 4
The reviews move to Google
Asked for at checkout, with the request to name the room. Agency reviews earn the agency; Google reviews earn the listing and the free booking link.
- 5
The agency stays, for the months it earns
The shoulder season and the empty midweek are what the agency is for. The summer, when the B&B is full anyway, is where the commission is a cost and nothing else.
What we would expect, labelled as expectation
A measurable share of summer bookings moving direct
On accounts elsewhere the reviews routine has taken a profile from one review to twenty-one in ten weeks (a Cheshire garage we run, published on our garage site; a different trade, quoted for the mechanism). For the B&B the measure is simpler than any ranking: the share of summer bookings that arrive direct, which the owner already counts. Moving three in ten in a season would be a good year, and the free booking link is the part that does most of it.
Your property, the same way
The free audit runs these measurements before we quote
Search Console, the coverage sweep, the booking-link check and a page-by-page crawl are free to repeat on any hotel's site. We run them before quoting, and you get the numbers whether or not you hire us.
How to read this page
- The property is a composite; no hotel, B&B, inn or holiday let is named, described or implied.
- The plan is the one we would run, in the order we would run it. Figures about the property are illustrative.
- Every reference figure is from a real account elsewhere and is marked where it appears; results are expectations, labelled as such.
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