UK-based hotel booking platform BestBookDirect has reported robust growth in the first half of 2025, with average booking volumes rising by 6% across all partner brands. In response to this upward trend, the platform has announced a series of new brand partnerships.
New hotel brands this year now being promoted on BestBookDirect include Resident Hotels, Malmaison and its sister group Hotel du Vin, QHotels and Thistle Hotels in London (Clermont Hotel Group).
BestBookDirect continues to focus on promoting direct hotel bookings across the UK, offering a cost-effective alternative to major third-party online travel agents (OTAs). With commission rates typically between 1–5% of the booking value, the platform presents a significant saving when compared to OTAs, which charge 10–25%.
Many of their longstanding partners now favour direct only bookings which can work well for established brands, such as Premier Inn (Whitbread) who have largely adopted this approach backed up with a strong media advertising budget. For smaller, less known brands, a hybrid approach is often required in which direct bookings alongside the use of OTA’s is employed.
Chris Cottam, head of digital at BestBookDirect said: “We have seen strong interest from several key UK hotel brands this year, motivated by a desire to increase both direct bookings and then capture repeat bookings through guest loyalty.
“There is no doubt that the vast advertising budgets of the large OTA’s can easily out compete smaller brands in the online marketplace where simply having a good hotel website is not enough to achieve a first page ranking on search engines without a significant spend on paid ads. This can be especially important for new, or less well known brands as they seek to increase their general public awareness whilst simultaneously building up loyalty value in its guests with the aim of generating repeat bookings.
“Key to any partner that we work with has to be a guarantee that the room rate guests pay by booking directly with the hotel is guaranteed to be the lowest rate available online. A typical example would be Macdonald Hotels and Resorts who operate over thirty four-star hotels throughout England and Scotland. They are a well established respected brand offering guests who book directly not only the guaranteed lowest room rate, but also some notable inducements including free room upgrades and a late check-out time.”
One of the most valuable spin-offs from increasing direct bookings is establishing guest loyalty which ultimately delivers repeat bookings without any marketing spend. Key to this has to be a compelling offer for guests who book directly. Chris Cottam added: “The non-negotiable is the lowest room rate by booking direct and then additional ‘sweeteners’ are preferable. Guests booking at the brands BestBookDirect promote typically benefit from any combination of free room upgrades, extended check-out times, room discounts of up to 25%, free breakfasts or even complimentary bottles of wine.”
BestBookDirect is currently seeking additional hotel and holiday brands who wish to increase direct bookings to feature on their website and interested parties are invited to get in touch.
