Direct bookings
How to Reduce Your Dependence on Viator and GetYourGuide
· Tourbo
Reducing your dependence on Viator and GetYourGuide does not mean quitting them. It means treating OTAs as a paid acquisition channel for first-time guests while you systematically convert repeat visits, referrals, and brand-driven searches into direct bookings. The operators who do this well keep their OTA listings live, but watch their direct share climb season after season because they own the guest relationship after the tour ends.
Here is how the economics actually work, and the specific levers that move the needle.
What does OTA dependence actually cost you?
The commission is the visible cost. OTAs commonly charge 20–30% per booking, which on most tours is a larger slice than your guide wages or your fuel. But the commission is arguably the smaller problem. The bigger one is that the OTA owns the customer relationship: the guest’s email, their booking history, and the channel they will use to book next time. You delivered the experience; the platform keeps the asset.
There is also rate parity. Most OTA agreements include clauses preventing you from publishing a lower price on your own site than on theirs. That removes the most obvious lever — undercutting the middleman — and forces you to compete on things other than the headline price.
| OTA booking | Direct booking | |
|---|---|---|
| Commission | Commonly 20–30% | Payment processing only (low single digits) |
| Guest email and phone | Held by the platform | Yours |
| Remarketing to past guests | Not possible | Email, SMS, retargeting |
| Pricing control | Constrained by parity clauses | Full control over perks and bundles |
| Cancellation terms | Set largely by the platform | Yours to design |
| Review destination | The OTA’s listing | Google, your site, or both |
One booking shifted from OTA to direct is not just commission saved once. A guest who books direct, joins your email list, and refers two friends is worth a multiple of that first transaction — and none of it flows through a platform.
Why “just quit the OTAs” is bad advice
Viator and GetYourGuide spend enormously on search ads, app installs, and brand marketing. For a traveler planning a trip to a city they have never visited, the OTA is often the only place they will discover you. Walking away from that demand usually means a quieter calendar, not a more profitable one.
The realistic frame: OTAs are your top-of-funnel. The commission is your customer acquisition cost for a stranger. Your job is to make sure that the second booking — the repeat visit, the friend they bring, the colleague they recommend — happens on your website. Acquisition rented, relationship owned.
How do you convert OTA guests into direct bookers?
Make your brand findable
An OTA guest who loved your tour will often search your business name before recommending you. If that search lands on your Viator listing instead of your own site, you have lost the conversion at the last step. The basics matter: a fast website with online booking, a complete Google Business Profile, and your brand name printed where guests will see it — on vans, signage, guide shirts, and confirmation emails. If you are a tour operator, brand recall after the tour is your cheapest marketing channel.
Build a social presence from guest content
Travelers increasingly research experiences on Instagram and TikTok before they book, and they trust footage shot by real guests far more than polished promos. The problem has always been supply: getting photos and videos out of guests’ phones consistently. A QR code on the bus or at the meeting point solves it — guests scan, upload their shots, and you build a content library from every departure. Tourbo handles this end to end: guest photo collection via QR scan, then edited reels ready for Instagram and TikTok. Collection is free; turning uploads into reels uses prepaid credits. A steady stream of authentic guest footage is what makes your brand discoverable to the next traveler before they ever open an OTA app.
Capture contact details at the experience
This is the highest-leverage move on this list. The OTA will not give you the guest’s real email, but the guest will — if you give them a reason during the tour. Photo sharing is the most natural one: when guests scan a QR code to receive the group’s photos, you have a legitimate, welcomed exchange of contact information. (We cover the mechanics in how to collect photos from tour guests.) From that point forward, every future booking conversation happens on your channel, not the platform’s.
Important caveat: do this within the rules. Soliciting contact details on-tour for photo delivery is standard practice; messaging guests through the OTA’s platform to divert the current booking is usually a terms-of-service violation. Convert the next booking, not this one.
Win the review battle where it counts
OTA reviews strengthen the OTA’s listing. Google reviews strengthen you — they power your map ranking and your brand search results, which is exactly where direct bookings come from. Build a simple post-tour flow that asks happy guests for a Google review; tools like Tourbo’s review collection can fold this into the same QR moment as photo sharing, so guests do one scan, not three.
Give guests a reason to rebook direct
Rate parity restricts the published price, not the offer. Perks you can legally reserve for direct bookings typically include:
- A returning-guest discount code delivered by email after the tour
- Free upgrades, extended time, or a welcome drink for direct bookers
- More generous cancellation or rebooking terms than your OTA listing
- Bundles and multi-tour packages that simply do not exist on the OTA
- A referral reward when a past guest sends a friend who books direct
None of these violate parity, because none of them touch the like-for-like listed rate. Always check your specific OTA agreement, but perks, bundles, and loyalty pricing are the standard playbook.
Follow up like you mean it
Most operators send nothing after the tour ends. A simple sequence — photos and reel the next day, a review ask two days later, a referral code a week on, a seasonal “come back” email months later — keeps you in the guest’s inbox while the OTA fades from memory. Pair it with retargeting ads to website visitors and you have a direct channel that compounds.
What does progress look like?
Track one number monthly: direct bookings as a percentage of total bookings. Operators who execute the levers above usually see it move within a season or two, driven first by repeat guests and referrals, then by brand searches as the social presence builds. You will likely never get to zero OTA — and you should not want to. The goal is a business where Viator and GetYourGuide fill gaps in your calendar, instead of one where they own it.