I ran this programme at scale inside Young’s across 230+ pubs. Here is what actually moves the number.

The direct booking problem most operators don’t measure

Most operators don’t know their direct booking percentage. They know total covers. They might know OTA covers if the platform sends a monthly summary. But they rarely have a single number that says: of all the bookings we took this month, what percentage came through our own channel?

That number matters because it tells you how dependent you are on a channel you don’t own and can’t control. OTA commission rates change. Platforms add competing restaurants to your listing page. Your guests see offers from your competitors before they confirm a booking with you. Every booking that goes through an OTA instead of your own system is a guest whose contact details you don’t have and who will be marketed to by the platform after they visit.

Step 1 — Fix your booking funnel

Before spending anything on marketing, audit the journey from search to confirmed booking on your own channel. Most restaurants and pubs have at least one significant drop-off point that is costing them direct bookings every day.

Step 2 — Own your guest data

Every booking taken through your own platform generates a guest record that belongs to you. Every booking taken through an OTA generates a guest record that belongs to them. Over time, an operator with a strong direct booking channel builds an owned database of thousands of guests they can market to without paying a platform. An operator dependent on OTAs builds nothing they own.

Choose a booking platform with a direct booking widget

ResDiary, SevenRooms, OpenTable Direct, and Tock all offer embeddable booking widgets that sit on your own website and route bookings through your own account — so the guest data flows to you, not to a marketplace. If you’re currently using a booking platform’s marketplace only, you’re giving away the relationship. Switch to a setup where the widget on your site is the primary booking channel and the marketplace listing is secondary discovery.

Send confirmation emails from your own domain

Many booking platforms send confirmation emails from their own domain — “@resdiary.com” or “@opentable.com” — rather than from yours. Where the platform allows it, configure confirmation emails to come from your own domain (e.g. bookings@thecrown.co.uk). This reinforces your brand at the moment of highest engagement and starts the relationship under your name rather than the platform’s.

Capture email at every touchpoint

Walk-ins, phone bookings, event enquiries — every guest interaction is an opportunity to capture an email address. A simple “can I take your email for booking confirmation?” at the point of taking a phone reservation costs nothing and builds your database one record at a time. Add this to your team’s standard process and review it quarterly.

Step 3 — Google Ads for direct booking capture

The highest-value Google Ads tactic for increasing direct bookings is also the one most restaurants miss: bidding on your own brand name.

Brand protection campaigns

When a guest searches your restaurant’s name on Google, OTAs like OpenTable and DesignMyNight often appear above your own website in the paid results — bidding on your brand name to capture the booking and charge you commission. A brand protection campaign costs pennies per click on your own name and ensures that guests searching specifically for you land on your booking page, not an OTA.

Run a brand campaign. Set the destination as your booking page directly. Keep bids low — these are high-intent searches with minimal competition once you’re bidding on your own name. The cost is almost always significantly lower than the commission you’d pay the OTA on the same booking.

Local search campaigns for high-intent queries

Beyond brand terms, campaigns targeting “restaurants [area]”, “book a table [area]”, and occasion-based searches (“birthday dinner [area]”, “anniversary restaurant [area]”) capture guests at the point of decision. These guests are ready to book — they need to land on a page that makes it easy to do so. A dedicated landing page with the booking widget above the fold, strong photography, your Google review rating, and a single CTA converts significantly better than your homepage.

We cover the mechanics of Google Ads for restaurants in detail in our restaurant marketing engagement — it is consistently one of the highest-ROI channels for direct bookings when set up correctly.

Step 4 — CRM and email for repeat bookings

The most cost-effective direct booking channel you have is your existing guest database. A guest who has already dined with you, has a positive experience, and is on your mailing list is significantly more likely to book again than a cold prospect — and they cost nothing to reach via email.

Most restaurants have a database. Most do nothing systematic with it. The gap between having a database and using it properly is almost always one of structure rather than budget.

Three sequences that drive repeat bookings

Step 5 — Give guests a reason to book direct

Direct booking incentives are one of the most underused tools in hospitality marketing. The assumption is that incentives mean discounts — which eat into margin and train guests to expect reduced prices. That is the wrong approach.

The most effective direct booking incentives add perceived value without significant cost:

• Priority table selection. Guests who book direct can choose their preferred table or section. OTA bookings get standard allocation. This costs nothing and makes direct booking feel premium rather than transactional.
• A complimentary welcome drink or amuse-bouche. A glass of house wine or a small bite costs £2–£4. OTA commission on the same booking costs significantly more. The incentive pays for itself on the first cover.
• Early access to events and seasonal menus. Direct booking list gets advance notice of Christmas bookings, Valentine’s Day menus, chef’s table evenings. This creates genuine urgency and trains your most loyal guests to stay connected to your direct channel.
• A loyalty point or stamp per direct booking. Simple stamp card mechanics — book direct five times, get a complimentary dish — create a habit loop. Low cost, measurable impact on repeat visit frequency.

The principle behind all of these is the same: reward the behaviour you want. Guests who book direct should feel the difference. Over time, the direct channel becomes the default because it consistently delivers a better experience — not because you’ve discounted them into it.

How to measure your direct booking rate

Track one number monthly: the percentage of total confirmed covers that came through your own booking channel (your website widget, phone, or walk-in) versus a third-party OTA.

Your booking platform should provide this breakdown. If it doesn’t, cross-reference your total booking platform covers against your OTA invoices each month. The gap is your direct booking rate.

Set a target and track it quarterly. For most independent operators with 1–3 venues, a realistic 12-month target is moving from 40–50% direct to 60–70% direct. For multi-site groups, the improvement is often faster once the CRM sequences are running, because the repeat booking volume is higher.

We track this as a core metric in the scorecard for every restaurant marketing engagement — alongside cost per acquired booking by channel, Google Ads cost per conversion, and CRM email click-to-book rate. If you can see those four numbers monthly, you have the data to make commercial decisions about where to allocate effort.

FAQ

How can restaurants reduce OTA commission and increase direct bookings?

Combine three things: own your booking funnel (a fast, mobile-friendly booking page with a direct booking engine), capture and retain guest data through your own CRM, and run Google Ads on branded search terms to intercept guests before they reach an OTA. Direct booking incentives — priority tables, a welcome drink, early event access — help train regular guests to come to you first.

What percentage of restaurant bookings should be direct?

Well-run independent restaurants and pub groups typically achieve 60–80% direct bookings once their CRM, Google presence and booking funnel are working correctly. OTA dependency above 40% is a sign the direct channel is underdeveloped. The benchmark varies by venue type — destination restaurants with strong brand recognition can achieve 80%+ direct; neighbourhood venues in competitive areas often sit at 50–60%.

Should restaurants use OpenTable, ResDiary or their own booking system?

Most operators benefit from using a booking platform with both a direct booking widget on their own site and a marketplace listing for discovery. The key is ensuring your direct booking widget is prominent on your website and that post-booking guest data flows into your own CRM — not just the platform’s database. The OTA marketplace listing is useful for discovery; the goal is to capture that guest’s data and bring them back direct next time.

How much does OTA commission cost a restaurant?

OTA commission rates typically range from 1.5% to 5% of booking value, sometimes plus a per-cover fee. On a £45 average spend per cover at 3% commission, that is £1.35 per cover. For 500 OTA-sourced covers per month, that is £675/month — £8,100/year — on a channel you don’t own and whose guests you can’t market to directly.

What is the best way to get repeat bookings from restaurant guests?

Automated CRM sequences are the most reliable mechanism. A post-visit email 48 hours after the visit, a win-back email at 90 days of inactivity, and a birthday or anniversary trigger are the three highest-performing sequences. Combined with a consistent Google review programme, these two activities drive more repeat covers than any amount of social media posting.

Daniel Turner
Founder & Strategy Director, Insourced. Ex-Head of Digital at Young’s and Brakspear. 15+ years inside UK hospitality.