YouTube video by Mark Simpson (uploaded Feb 4, 2023) offering practical marketing tips to increase direct bookings by manipulating availability on online travel agencies (OTAs). This chunk explains a tactic: temporarily closing select dates to OTAs so if OTA bookings cancel, the host can reopen dates exclusively for direct bookings — potentially increasing direct bookings/profit by ~5–10% during busy months.
For example, it's the 1st of August. You've got three or four nights in August that are available, or you've got a full calendar, but you're going to close all of them off to the OTAs, just in case they cancel. Say it's the 1st and 2nd and 3rd of August. Just as an example of this, those dates get cancelled, say in the middle of July. You can open them up and the only place that people can book is direct through you. So that's a direct booking. It may be the difference between an extra 5 or 10% of direct bookings or profit over the course of these next busy three to four months.
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