Dear AST friend,

This week, we bring you the key highlights of the recent AST Webinar, “Own the Guest, Own the Revenue: Advanced Strategies for Direct Bookings.”

ICYMI: the next AST Webinar is scheduled for 19 March 2026, 4-5 PM (UTC+8). Sign-up link below.

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Direct Bookings Done Right:
A Sustainable Strategy for Hoteliers

In 2025, 69% of hotel bookings in ASEAN were made through online travel agencies (OTAs). That means, when you rely primarily on third-party booking channels, you’re giving away up to 30% of your revenue on every booking. The scale of lost profit is staggering. It’s time to take back control.

Hospitality is about creating meaningful connections—a relationship built on trust and shared value.

But for years, OTAs have turned the guest-hotel relationship into a transaction focused only on price and availability instead of highlighting what makes your property special. 

OTAs can help you reach more guests, but this means paying high commissions and losing your most valuable asset: your direct connection with your guests.

Relying on OTAs and other third-party channels makes it harder to achieve real profitability and keep your property's unique story alive.

To regain control and build a commercially resilient business, focus on strengthening your direct relationships with guests. Reclaim your narrative, protect your margins and brand identity, and make sure your hotel is at the center of every booking, not the intermediaries.

Last week, we brought together industry leaders  during the Asia Sustainable Travel (AST) Webinar, “Own the Guest, Own the Revenue: Advanced Strategies for Direct Bookings.”

Speakers included:

• Blessy Townes, Vice President & Head of Digital Marketing and Branding at Discovery Hospitality 

• Ivan Cintado, the APAC Director for The Hotels Network, now a Lighthouse company

• Madhavan “Maddy” Nair, Founder of Hoffero 

• Eduard Ruppel, Founder of Leppur Marketing and a hotel SEO expert. 

This article offers a comprehensive look at the strategies, tactics, and mindset shifts our speakers recommend—and how to avoid common pitfalls.

In this Feature Story:

• Marketing must shift from being seen as a cost center to becoming your primary engine for generating revenue, building guest relationships, and brand differentiation.

• “Book Direct” is not a short-term tactic but a long-term commitment that requires consistent investment and belief in your own brand.

• Discovery Hospitality proved what’s possible, achieving 60% direct bookings group-wide and 83% at Discovery Boracay—roughly double the Philippine and ASEAN averages.

• “Shoppable” video turns inspiration into instant action, keeping direct channels at the center of the booking decision.

• Direct bookings can generate 9–20% higher profit margins, but results depend on disciplined strategy and execution.

• Reclaiming your direct bookings is not a quick fix—it’s a strategic reset that determines whether you own the guest relationship or rent it from an OTA.

If your tourism or hospitality business is moving from volume-driven growth to value-driven resilience, location and inventory are no longer enough.

The real differentiator is your people.

Climate risk is intensifying. Guest expectations are rising. ESG scrutiny is becoming more demanding.

Yet high turnover, widening skills gaps, and sustainability efforts confined to a single department continue to undermine even the most ambitious strategies.

Because no matter how strong your decarbonization roadmap, regenerative design plan, or AI-powered booking system may be, none of it works without a capable, committed workforce to execute it.

Your impact strategy will only go as far as your people can carry it. Don’t let workforce fragility become your limiting factor.

What you’ll learn:

• Learn from Inge De Lathauwer how building education-to-employment ecosystems can transform local youth into long-term drivers of destination resilience.

• Hear from Shyn Yee Ho-Strangas how integrated business models can align commercial performance with measurable social impact at scale.

• Discover from Patrick Farrell why people-first leadership is the competitive edge luxury hospitality needs to deliver purpose without sacrificing profit.

📅 Thursday, 19 March 2026
⏰ 4:00–5:00 PM (UTC+8)
📍 Live session free to all — registration required. Recording available for AST Trailblazers

Since we launched Sustainability Solution Connect a few weeks ago, we’ve continued refining it based on ongoing conversations with hotel owners, GMs, sustainability leads, and solution providers across Asia.

When we hear that the platform resonates, it reinforces our commitment to making it work—reducing friction and accelerating sustainability adoption across the region’s travel sector.

We’re already seeing stronger alignment, warmer conversations, and clearer intent on both sides.

For hotels and travel companies, Sustainability Solution Connect offers faster access to vetted, best-fit partners, without the research burden and at no cost.

→ Find a solution.

For sustainability solution providers, we’ve developed three bespoke partnership tracks designed to elevate visibility, deepen engagement, and open doors at the executive level.

→ List your business, or schedule a chat with our team.

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