Booking takes 15-18% from every reservation. Combining direct bookings with Booking lowers the average commission to ~9%, and a 360° virtual tour convinces the guest before they land on the portal. Website, interior tour, booking system, Business Profile, chatbot for night-time questions. Tatra Cottages case: +35% direct bookings after launch.
Services for lodging
A full set of services for lodging businesses. The 360° tour is our strong suit, a guesthouse has 5-15 rooms to show off. The booking system lowers the Booking commission. Google Business Profile, chatbot, QR, everything for a guest who picks a place to stay in 30 seconds on their phone.
A guesthouse has 5-15 rooms to show, that is your edge. Booking limits you to 5-10 photos, your website with a tour lets the guest „step into” the room, look out the window, check the bathroom layout. Standard 1 690 PLN (8 panoramas), Premium 2 990 PLN (15 panoramas, every room type).
360° tour for lodging →You combine both channels: Booking still attracts new guests, your own system keeps the profit with you. Stripe + Przelewy24 + BLIK payments, two-way iCal synchronisation with Booking and Airbnb (no double bookings). The Mini System 3 999 PLN is enough for a 5-15 room guesthouse and pays for itself in 4 months.
Online booking system →Showcase website 1 299 PLN for agritourism, Business website 2 499 PLN for a guesthouse with a restaurant and spa. Gallery of 30+ room photos, descriptions with strong points (view from the window, fireplace, bathtub), availability calendar, map with nearby attractions, very fast loading on the phone.
Websites →60% of guests search „guesthouse Tatras”, „boutique hotel Sopot” on Google and Maps. The first 3 results on the map get 80% of the clicks. Profile setup 490 PLN + Business Profile subscription 299 PLN/mo, Top-3 position in 4-6 months.
Google Business Profile →A guest asks about a free room at 11 p.m. Booking answers right away, you are asleep. An AI chatbot trained on your price list, house rules, breakfast hours, pet policy, parking. Setup 1 490 PLN + 99 PLN/mo. Recovers 5-15 bookings a month that would otherwise go to the competition.
AI chatbot →A QR code by the bed: Wi-Fi (one scan), house rules, room service order, attractions map, taxi call, a request for a Google review at check-out. QR set 790 PLN + holders 39 PLN each. The cheapest way to get a guest to leave a 5-star review (and not a 3-star one on Booking).
QR Lokal →Booking vs Lokal360
The most common question from guesthouse owners: „should I drop Booking?”. No. You combine both channels: Booking attracts new guests, and you collect direct bookings from returning and referred guests. The average commission drops from 18% to ~9%.
Booking only 18%
9,000 PLN a year
in commission to Booking.com
50,000 PLN turnover × 18% = 9,000 PLN / year
Lokal360 hybrid ~9%
5,600 PLN a year
less commission vs Booking-only
50,000 PLN × 30% × 18% + 70% × 2% = ~3,400 PLN / year
360° tour live
This is what our 360° tour looks like (project: YOI Ramen, Powiśle). We will show the rooms, reception, restaurant and common areas of your hotel or guesthouse to the same standard. Guests can view the property remotely before they book a stay.
Case studies
Beskids 12 rooms (32,000 PLN saved), Podhale with a tour (25,000 panorama views), a family hotel with a night chatbot. Each with a calculated return on investment.
Start: 5% direct bookings, 95% Booking, turnover 280,000 PLN/year. After 18 months: 35% direct, 65% Booking. The average portal commission dropped from 18% to 6.5%. Implementation: Business website + Standard System + Google Business Profile + 6 months of profile care. The package paid for itself in 4 months.
Premium tour, 15 panoramas (lobby, 4 room types, restaurant, sauna, terrace, exterior). Embedded on the website and Google Business Profile. 25,000 views in 6 months, average panorama viewing time 47 seconds. Direct bookings +40% versus the previous site without a tour. The 2,990 PLN paid back within 8 nights.
18-room hotel, the problem: 10 p.m.-8 a.m. no one answers the phone, guests book with the competition or on Booking in the meantime. An AI chatbot trained on the price list, availability, house rules, breakfast, parking. On average 11 extra direct bookings a month from night-time questions. Paid back in under 2 months.
Typical package
The most common package ordered by owners of mid-sized guesthouses. The 360° tour makes an impression, the booking system lowers the Booking commission, the website is the basis, the Google Business Profile is visibility. The chatbot is optional, for properties with heavy night traffic.
One-off (implementation)
Monthly (subscription)
For guesthouses > 15 rooms or boutique hotels with several services at once (restaurant + spa + events) I recommend the Pro System 8 999 PLN and the Premium Tour 2 990 PLN instead of Mini/Standard. I prepare a specific calculation after you fill in the form below.
Online payments
You can accept deposits and full payments straight on your site. The operator account is yours, money goes directly to you, I only do the integration. I am not a party to the transaction and I do not hold your funds.
You open an operator account
Przelewy24 or Stripe, in your company name. Zero subscription, you pay only a percentage per transaction.
I plug it into the site
BLIK, cards and instant transfers at checkout on your site. The guest pays in seconds, without a detour to an external service with commission.
Money lands with you
Straight from the operator to your bank account. No middleman, no booking platform commission.
Przelewy24default for PL
Stripecards and abroad
Why it's worth it: Booking takes 15-18% of every reservation, Booksy charges a monthly subscription. A payment gateway takes about 1.2-1.5% per transaction and nothing more. On a PLN 600 payment that is the difference between over PLN 100 going to the platform and about PLN 8 in operator fees. The rest stays with you.
You are the seller, so the terms, returns and GDPR are on your side. I help complete them during implementation.
Industry FAQ
Questions typical of the lodging industry. Booking, channel manager, tour, chatbot, implementation schedule. If you have a question outside the list, add it in the form below.
„Will direct bookings beat Booking.com? Booking has a 100x bigger marketing budget.”
You will not beat Booking and we are not trying to. You combine both channels: Booking still attracts new guests (reach you could not get otherwise), and your own system keeps returning and referred guests. A returning guest who knows your rooms goes straight to you on their second booking (saves you 18%), because they know what they will get. Realistic goal: 30% Booking / 70% direct in 18 months, so the average commission drops from 18% to ~9%.
„Does a 360° tour actually affect bookings, or is it just a gimmick?”
Concrete data from our guesthouses: direct bookings grow by 20-40% compared with a site without a tour, average time on the site rises from 1:20 to 3:50, and the number of people who leave immediately drops by ~25%. For lodging a tour is not a gadget, the guest is buying a stay in an unfamiliar place and wants to see the bathroom, the layout, the view from the window. Booking will not show that (5-10 generic photos). Full calculation of the return on a tour here.
„What about a Channel Manager? I already have Octorate / MyAllocator.”
The Standard System has built-in two-way iCal synchronisation, it works with Booking, Airbnb, Slowhop, Hotels.com. For properties > 15 rooms or with 4+ channels we connect to your Channel Manager (Octorate, MyAllocator, Yieldplanet), which stays the main one. Your new direct booking system becomes one of the channels. You lose nothing, you add your own channel with 0% commission.
„Do I need a chatbot? The phone and Messenger are enough for me.”
The phone and Messenger are fine during business hours. The problem starts after 10 p.m. and before 8 a.m., when a guest asks about a free room, a spot for a dog, parking. Booking answers right away, you are asleep, and the guest books with the competition. An AI chatbot trained on your price list and house rules answers in 5 seconds. On average 5-15 extra bookings a month from night-time questions. Paid back in under 3 months.
„How long will the full package implementation take?”
A standard schedule: week 1, gathering information, copy, page layout. Week 2, photo session + 360° tour at your place (1 day of shooting). Week 3, building the website + galleries + tour. Week 4, booking system, iCal connection with Booking, payment tests. Week 5, Google Business Profile setup, posts, fine-tuning. In total: 4-5 weeks from the first conversation to launch. Chatbot optional + 1-2 weeks.
„And if my agritourism has only 4 rooms? Is that not too big an investment?”
For 4-6 rooms a smaller scope is enough: Showcase website 1 299 PLN + Mini Tour 890 PLN + Google Business Profile setup 490 PLN = 2 679 PLN for implementation. Without your own booking system. A Booking reservation widget embedded on the site 699 PLN. Direct bookings will start once you have returning guests.
Guesthouse revenue audit in 30 minutes
After you fill it in I will calculate: how much goes to Booking each year (based on turnover and rooms), how much stays after switching to a 9% hybrid, how long the package takes to pay back. Concrete numbers for your property, within 24h.
