Free 12 Months of SEO Strategy to Help Your Business Grow – No Strings Attached. Claim it now
Free 12 Months of SEO Strategy to Help Your Business Grow – No Strings Attached. Claim it now
Serenity Hostels runs a group of hostels across several Indian travel destinations, with a strong reputation among backpackers and long-stay travellers. Occupancy was healthy — but most of it arrived through online travel agencies, which took a significant commission on every booking. Guests were finding the hostels. They just weren’t finding them on Serenity’s own site.
direct bookings
avg. position, destination terms
AI itinerary citations
Every booking that came through a platform cost the same room a meaningful share of its revenue.
OTAs outranked the brand
Searching a Serenity property by name returned booking platforms above the hostel's own site. Guests who specifically wanted Serenity still booked through an intermediary, and the commission came out of the same room.
Absent from trip planning
Travellers start with 'where to stay in' and 'things to do in' searches long before they book. That planning stage was owned entirely by travel blogs and aggregators, so Serenity only entered the picture once a platform had already framed the choice.
No reason to book direct
The site listed rooms and a booking form, with nothing a platform couldn't offer. Guests had no reason to switch, and the site made no case for why they should.
The shift from platform bookings to direct bookings changed the economics of every room.
Bookings made on Serenity's own site rather than through a travel platform.
Across destination, neighbourhood and property search terms.
Serenity now appears inside Gemini, ChatGPT and Perplexity travel itineraries for its destinations.
Proportion of total bookings paying platform commission, down over the engagement.