Compare my booking channel costs and plan a shift to direct bookings
Calculates net revenue by distribution channel and gives a realistic plan to grow direct bookings.
The prompt
Help me analyze my distribution channel costs and grow direct bookings.
Room nights and revenue by channel (last 12 months): [DIRECT WEB, PHONE/EMAIL, BOOKING.COM, EXPEDIA, GDS, WHOLESALE, GROUPS]
Cost per channel: [OTA COMMISSION %, GDS AND SWITCH FEES, WHOLESALER MARKUP, BOOKING ENGINE FEE, PAYMENT FEES, METASEARCH SPEND, LOYALTY OR CRS FEES]
Average length of stay and cancellation rate by channel: [IF AVAILABLE]
Ancillary spend by channel: [F&B, PARKING, SPA - if available]
Rate parity commitments: [WHAT MY CONTRACTS REQUIRE - or "unsure"]
Marketing budget available: [AMOUNT]
Steps:
1. Calculate net ADR and net room revenue per channel after all distribution costs; rank channels by net contribution, not gross.
2. Factor in cancellation rates and length of stay, which change the real value of each channel.
3. Estimate the billboard effect (guests who find us on an OTA but book direct) and identify repeat guests who keep rebooking through an OTA, then estimate how many could realistically be shifted direct.
4. Propose direct booking tactics with estimated cost per booking: member rates, booking engine fixes, metasearch, email to past guests, and value-adds instead of price undercutting.
5. Check each tactic against my parity commitments and flag anything to check in my contracts.
Return a channel table (room nights, gross ADR, cost %, net ADR, net revenue), the 3 tactics with the best return, a target channel mix for next year, and the risks of pulling back from OTAs too fast. Use only my figures and label estimates.
Highlighted [brackets] are blanks to replace with your own details.
Fill in the blanks and use this promptMore Finance & Accounting prompts
What to fill in
- IF AVAILABLE
- F&B, PARKING, SPA - if available
- WHAT MY CONTRACTS REQUIRE - or "unsure"
- AMOUNT
How this prompt is built
This prompt follows the RTF structure (Role, Task, Format). RTF tells the model who to be, what to do and what shape the answer should take. It is the quickest structure that still gives noticeably better results than a bare request.
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