Jul 1, 2026 · 35 min · 12 segments
In this episode Conrad and Paul dive into the ACTUAL costs of being OTA-focused and compare that to your direct booking marketing costs and expenses. They get real... Enjoy! ⭐️ Links & Show Notes…
Conrad O'ConnellHost
Paul ManzeyHost
So that's a nice segue in today's topic, which is kind of, you know, this title might change by the time I publish it, but in our notes, at least for today, it's kind of this idea of you're probably under investing in your direct marketing.
And as a result, your company is probably growing very slowly because of it.
I've just had a hard time articulating it, putting all my thoughts into one place, working on this.
But maybe this episode will serve as a little bit of a, I'm going to send this out to people a few times down the road in terms of what I think they should be doing.
Because it's actually been informed a little bit of a conversation I've had with a few different people.
One more like an external advisor type person who's dealing with one of my clients.
around the concept of here's what it costs to get a booking from this channel, that channel, this channel, that channel.
When we're getting direct bookings at this rate, why are we spending so little? Why are we under investing into those for direct booking marketing? And I'm like in the back of the meeting, like nodding my head aggressively, you know, as the as the clients listening to this, you know, from this external consultant.
But the opposite of other external consultant experience I've had before, which is, no, let's be more efficient.
This individual that I'm working with is more like, nah, like this is working.
So how much money did Airbnb take from your guest payments last month? Which is a little bit of a reframe.
I know some people have asked recently on LinkedIn, like, how much did you pay Airbnb last month? Which is fair.
How much did Airbnb take from your guest payments last month? This was your money.
So that's a nice segue in today's topic, which is kind of, you know, this title might change by the time I publish it, but in our notes, at least for today, it's kind of this idea of you're probably under investing in your direct marketing.
And as a result, your company is probably growing very slowly because of it.
I've just had a hard time articulating it, putting all my thoughts into one place, working on this.
But maybe this episode will serve as a little bit of a, I'm going to send this out to people a few times down the road in terms of what I think they should be doing.
Because it's actually been informed a little bit of a conversation I've had with a few different people.
One more like an external advisor type person who's dealing with one of my clients.
around the concept of here's what it costs to get a booking from this channel, that channel, this channel, that channel.
When we're getting direct bookings at this rate, why are we spending so little? Why are we under investing into those for direct booking marketing? And I'm like in the back of the meeting, like nodding my head aggressively, you know, as the as the clients listening to this, you know, from this external consultant.
But the opposite of other external consultant experience I've had before, which is, no, let's be more efficient.
This individual that I'm working with is more like, nah, like this is working.
So how much money did Airbnb take from your guest payments last month? Which is a little bit of a reframe.
I know some people have asked recently on LinkedIn, like, how much did you pay Airbnb last month? Which is fair.
How much did Airbnb take from your guest payments last month? This was your money.
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