Hotels · Hospitality
Win the direct booking before the OTA commission eats your margin.
A traveller comparing hotels in a city almost always starts on an OTA such as MakeMyTrip or Booking.com, and books the property with the freshest photographs and reviews. A family booking a wedding follows a separate path. They ask you for a quote directly and compare two or three halls on price and space.
A 90-minute audit call and a written, scored report. Turnaround, reporting and term are agreed in writing after the audit.
In one paragraph
Hotel sales and marketing fills rooms and banquet halls, whether the booking starts on MakeMyTrip, at the front desk or with a wedding family. GullySales gives a past guest a reason to book direct instead of through an OTA, and gets the banquet quote out before the family reaches the next venue.
Listing rooms on an OTA and waiting does not by itself fill a hotel. The sales manager who stayed with you three times this year booked through an OTA each time, and you paid commission on all three. Nobody offered him a direct rate or a late check-out for the fourth.
How buyers decide
How hotels are chosen.
For a room booking, the OTA decides most of the shortlist. Photographs, the review score and the two or three most recent reviews decide which of the ranked properties gets clicked. A slow-loading or thin OTA listing loses the booking before the room rate is even compared.
For banquet and wedding bookings, the family visits two or three venues in person, compares photographs of past events, and asks for an itemised quote. Corporate bookings run through a travel desk or a procurement contact who compares negotiated rates and asks for a reference stay before signing a long-term rate agreement.
The problem
What usually goes wrong for hotels.
What owners tell us on the first call, in their words.
“Our OTA listing looks thin next to the competition”
Few recent photographs and reviews on Booking.com or MakeMyTrip push our property below three competitors that look more current, even when our rooms are as good.
“We hardly get a direct booking”
Almost every booking arrives through an OTA and its commission, because our own website is not built to be trusted or booked from directly.
“Our banquet enquiries wait too long for a reply”
A wedding enquiry waits a day for a quote, and the family has already visited and booked a venue that replied the same afternoon.
“We do not know which corporate rate agreements have lapsed”
A negotiated rate signed last year runs out quietly, and the account starts booking a competing hotel before anyone at the front desk notices.
“Our weekday rooms sit empty while weekends are full”
Nobody markets a weekday or staycation package to fill the gap, so rooms that could earn something instead earn nothing.
“A guest who stayed three times is treated as a stranger”
No record links a repeat guest's bookings, so the front desk misses the chance to offer a direct-booking benefit before the next trip.
“Our F&B outlets get no promotion of their own”
The restaurant and banquet kitchen depend entirely on hotel guests walking in, with nothing telling a local diner they exist.
What we do
What we do for hotels.
Everything included for hotels, and the result each part is there to produce.
OTA listing and review reply routine
Photographs, descriptions and review replies kept current across every OTA you use, matched to the property guests actually see on arrival.
Result: A guest comparing listings sees a hotel that looks current and cared for.
Direct-booking website with a live rate path
A site with room rates, banquet details and a booking form built to convert a visitor, instead of sending them back to an OTA.
Result: A guest has a real reason to book on your own site.
Banquet and corporate enquiry page
A page stating banquet capacity, sample menus and corporate meeting space, aimed at a family or a travel desk asking for a quote.
Result: A wedding family or corporate booker gets facts without waiting for a call back.
Local and destination search visibility
Pages built around your city, nearby landmarks and banquet searches, so the property is found beyond the OTA a traveller starts on.
Result: A traveller planning a trip finds the property through search too.
Fast reply routine for banquet and corporate quotes
A standing routine so a wedding or corporate enquiry gets a quote back the same day, on WhatsApp, email or phone.
Result: A family comparing venues gets your quote before they book elsewhere.
Guest and enquiry record in one system
Room, banquet and corporate enquiries logged together, with corporate rate expiries and repeat guests flagged instead of left to memory.
Result: A lapsing corporate account or a returning guest is never a surprise.
Booking and occupancy report
Direct bookings, OTA share, banquet pipeline and occupancy by season reported against the baseline recorded before work started.
Result: You see which channel and season need attention next.
How the result is measured
- OTA ranking and review score by property
- Direct bookings as a share of total bookings
- Banquet and corporate quote turnaround time
- Occupancy by season
- New reviews per month and reply rate
Recorded as a baseline before work starts, so every later report has an honest comparison.
Every service, written for hotels
Each has its own page: what it involves for hotels, what you get, and what it is measured on.
- BrandingLook like the property in the photographs, not a different one.
- Content marketingWrite the page that answers what a wedding family or a corporate planner asks first.
- CRMKnow which guest to call before the wedding season starts, not after it ends.
- Loyalty programmesGive a repeat guest a reason to book you directly instead of an OTA.
- Newspaper advertisingPrint sells the banquet hall, and the booking sites sell the rooms.
- OTA marketingRank higher on Booking.com and MakeMyTrip without giving away more commission than you have to.
- Outdoor advertisingOutdoor sells the banquet hall and the restaurant, not the rooms.
- PPCShow up for the search that already has an intent to book, not a browsing one.
- SEORank for your city and your banquet hall, not just your own name.
- Social mediaShow the wedding you hosted last month, not a stock photograph of a hotel bed.
- Website designGive a guest a reason to book on your own site instead of paying an OTA on your behalf.
- Sales strategyDecide who sells which room, and stop paying commission on a guest you know.
- Marketing strategySpend the lean months building the bookings the busy ones pay commission on.
- Buyer journeyWin the moment between the shortlist and the booking, when they type your name.
- Follow-up systemsThe wedding date is your deadline, so work the follow-up backwards from it.
- Review generationYou have two review pages and they are not doing the same job.
- Customer retentionTwelve companies stopped booking you last year and nobody noticed.
- Referral marketingThe decorator and the photographer see the wedding before you do.
- WhatsApp marketingThe banquet enquiry arrives at eleven at night with a date and a headcount.
Worth a page and a campaign of their own
Direct room bookings · Banquet and wedding bookings · Corporate and MICE bookings · Weekend staycation packages · F&B outlet promotion · Repeat-guest loyalty programmes
Priority campaigns
Campaigns for what hotels most want to sell.
Each one planned around when your buyers decide, and measured against the baseline.
Wedding and banquet season campaign
Photographs, a sample menu page and outreach to wedding planners prepared ahead of the local wedding season, when families start visiting venues.
Result: The property is shortlisted while families are still comparing venues.
Corporate and MICE account campaign
A page and outreach for meeting space and negotiated rates, aimed at travel desks and procurement contacts before their annual vendor review.
Result: A corporate account picks your property when rates come up for renewal.
Weekend staycation campaign
A package and local search push timed to a known quiet weekday or season, aimed at local residents rather than long-distance travellers.
Result: Rooms that would sit empty get a chance to fill from nearby demand.
F&B outlet promotion campaign
Social media and local search content built around the restaurant and banquet kitchen, aimed at diners who are not staying overnight.
Result: The F&B outlet gets guests beyond whoever is already staying at the hotel.
Repeat-guest and corporate loyalty campaign
A direct-booking benefit and a renewal reminder built for guests and corporate accounts who have already stayed, ahead of their next likely visit.
Result: A guest or account has a real reason to book you again directly.
Beyond search
Where we reach buyers of hotels, beyond Google.
Search matters, but it is rarely the only way this industry's buyers find a supplier.
Wedding planners and banquet decorators
A brochure and referral relationship built with local wedding planners and decorators, who often recommend a venue before a family visits one.
Corporate travel desks and procurement contacts
Outreach material prepared for corporate travel managers, stating negotiated rates and meeting space ahead of their annual vendor review.
Tour operators and travel agents
Rate sheets and property information prepared for tour operators who package a stay into a larger itinerary.
OTA and destination marketing partnerships
Listings kept current on the OTAs and destination platforms your guests actually book through, alongside your own direct channel.
Local resident and community groups
A staycation or F&B offer prepared for local resident groups and community pages, aimed at guests who live nearby rather than travel in.
Who it is for
This is written for these hotels.
- Business and transit hotels
- Boutique and heritage properties
- Resort and destination hotels
- Budget and mid-market chains
- Banquet and wedding-focused properties
- Serviced apartments and long-stay properties
Not for
It is not the right fit if.
- You want a guaranteed Google ranking or a guaranteed number of leads. Nobody honest can promise either.
- You need enquiries by next week and have nobody to answer them.
- You want posts and reach reported, not enquiries and orders.
How it works
From your first message to the first report.
No open-ended retainer. Each step has a point in time and something you receive.
01 · Day 1
Free audit call
90 minutes with whoever handles your enquiries: how they arrive, how fast they are answered, where they are lost.
02 · After the call
Written, scored report
Six areas scored, fixes ranked by return and cost. If you want our help, the scope, the fee and the reporting come with it, in writing.
03 · Before work starts
Baseline recorded
Enquiries by source, reply time, conversion and cost per order, written down so every later month has an honest comparison.
04 · Month 1
The first fix goes live
Usually the cheapest one on the report: reply time, a follow-up sequence or the marketing-to-sales handover.
05 · As agreed
Report against the baseline
What moved, what did not, and what changes next, in plain words. How often you get it is set in writing before work starts.
06 · At the end of the term
Renew on the numbers
The term ends and you decide whether to continue from the results. The length is agreed in writing before anything starts.
How the work runs for hotels
- 1
Assess
We look at your OTA ranking and reviews, your direct-booking website, your reply time to banquet and corporate enquiries, and where last month's bookings actually came from.
- 2
Fix the OTA presence
Photographs, descriptions and review replies brought up to date across every OTA listing you use.
- 3
Build the direct channel
A booking-ready website and a reason for a past guest to book directly next time instead of paying an OTA commission on your behalf.
- 4
Bring bookings in
Local and destination search, reviews from real guests, and quotes for banquets and corporate stays that go out the same day.
- 5
Keep guests coming back
A loyalty offer for repeat guests and corporate accounts, and a staycation push for weekends when local demand exists.
Proof
What happened when hotels fixed this.
Real clients, the work we did, and the result as it was recorded. Where no number was recorded, none is claimed.
Hotel Felicity Inn
- Situation
- A traveller compares three hotels on a phone and books one. The website was not built for that.
- What we did
- The site rebuilt around booking
- Photography and one look
- Search work for destination searches
- Content a traveller reads
- Result
- Online bookings increased 35%
- Organic traffic increased 50% within six months
- Positive reviews on Google and TripAdvisor increased 30%
Chord Road Hospital
- Situation
- Patients who knew the hospital trusted it. Patients who searched for a department or a treatment in the area did not find it.
- What we did
- Website rebuilt around patient needs
- Search visibility
- Social media on a schedule
- Review management
- Result
- Organic traffic increased 60% within six months
- Online appointment bookings increased 40%
- Social following grew 45%, and engagement on it rose 70%
Also worked with
Curtain Label · Difesa Security Services · Hands On CSR · Implevista · Kambar Group · Kalessi · Kerur Pain Clinic · LL Trust · Lucky Deals · Natural Gases · NavaShakthi Souhardha · NewCom Logistics · Proton Technical Services · SB Engineering · Shakthi Foundation · Shakthi Group · Urbanest · Insyde Studio · Venkateshwara Laser Tech · Vivara Studios
Why us
Why owners pick GullySales over an agency.
Marketing and sales, as one job
Most agencies stop at the enquiry. We also fix what happens after it: the reply, the follow-up, the quote and the CRM.
The person on the first call does the work
No account managers in between. You are never handed to someone you have not met.
A baseline before anything starts
Your numbers are written down on day one, so every later report compares against something honest.
The fee in writing, split three ways
Our time, your media spend and production on separate lines. You always see what goes to us.
No guarantees we cannot keep
The term is agreed in writing and never a default twelve months. We never promise a ranking or a lead count, because nobody controls those.
One office, and we say so
Nagarbhavi, Bengaluru. We work across India by call and WhatsApp and travel when a session needs to be in person.
#257, 3rd floor, Sri Nanjundeshwara Complex, Nagarbhavi 8th Block, Outer Ring Road. How we work.
Engagement options
Ways to work with us.
Pick the size of commitment that fits. Every option starts with the free audit.
Option 1
The audit on its own
A 90-minute call and a written, scored report. It says honestly whether you need outside help, and many fixes are ones your own team can make.
Option 2
One fix, scoped
Start with the fix the audit ranks first, such as reply time or follow-up. The fee is in writing before anything starts.
Option 3
An ongoing programme
We run the work, report against the baseline, and you renew on the numbers. The term and the reporting are agreed in writing first.
Option 4
Guidance for your own team or agency
We plan, brief and check the work of your in-house team or current agency, instead of replacing them.
The offer
Start with a free audit of how you sell.
It is useful on its own, whether or not you hire us.
What you receive
- A 90-minute call with the person who will do the work
- A written, scored report on the six places orders leak
- Every fix ranked by what it returns and what it costs
- The one thing to do first, and why
- An honest line on whether you need outside help at all
- If you do, the scope and the fee in writing
No invoice. No obligation. No sales script.
FAQ
Questions hotels ask before they call.
Not here? More answers, or ask on WhatsApp.
How soon would we see more direct bookings?
Do we need to advertise?
Should our website match our OTA rates exactly?
How do we get corporate travel managers to book us directly?
Can we run a quiet-season offer without breaking OTA rules?
Does a bad review on one OTA affect our other listings?
How much does it cost?
How long is the contract?
Who will actually do the work?
What do you need from us?
Notes for owners
Read more about hotels.
- Premium audience advertising strategyNo platform in India sells you verified income. Everything offered as affluence targeting is inference, and the cheapest filter you own is putting the price in the first frame.
- How to write an advertorialPaid space that reads like the paper wrote it. That is the whole value and the whole risk, and the label at the top is not negotiable.
- How to make an OTT advertisementIt plays on a television, nobody can click it, and the same viewer sees it six times in one evening. That decides almost everything about the film.
- How to advertise to luxury buyersAdvertising cannot sell a twenty lakh purchase. Its only job is to earn a private appointment, and most luxury campaigns fail because they are still trying to close.
- How to advertise to airport travellersA terminal is a small number of regular flyers counted many times, and the crowd changes completely between the six o'clock bank and the summer holidays.
- How to increase hotel direct bookings without fighting the OTAsMake your own website as quick to book as an OTA, answer calls and WhatsApp in minutes, and give guests a reason to book direct. Then sell to corporate and group buyers yourself.
Your next practical step
Get a free audit of how you sell, and a scored report of where the work is.
90 minutes. A written, scored report. No invoice and no obligation.