Inventory
Every system, account and access mapped. Security locked down. Baseline numbers captured before anything changes. A starting point is created, so every claim made later can be checked against it.
Ongoing technical management
Make the OTAs optional.
You already have the demand, but it leaks on the way to your booking page. Then the platforms charge you 20–30% to hand it back. Direct Booking Control runs the technical side of your direct channel until the OTAs are a choice instead of a dependency.
€5,250 / month
One fee. No separate build invoice.
The real problem
You are not short of bookings. You are short of answers.
The tours run, the guests are happy and leave positive reviews, yet the money does not stick. A fifth to a third of every OTA booking goes to a platform you cannot negotiate with. You spend on ads without ever being certain what came back. Your advisors are torn between a budget raise or a cut, but both feel like a guess.
Most operators think the answer is more: more reach, more ads, more listings. However, it is usually the opposite! The demand already exists, but it is leaking on the way to the booking. Tracking that reports the wrong numbers, leads to the ad platform optimising against fiction.
Operators then lean harder on the OTAs, which means renting growth from a competitor. The platform keeps the customer, uses the reviews, wins the search result on your own tour, and outranks you using your own words. The commission is the visible cost. The invisible one is that you never build a channel that you fully own.
What we actually do
Six stages, run continuously
Analysis
A read-only audit across infrastructure, tracking, ads, SEO, distribution, reviews, email and pricing. Measurement is verified before anything else. Budget decisions will not be made based on inaccurate data anymore.
Market & positioning research
Which search terms actually produce revenue, who actually buys, and rewriting ads, headers, meta and schema to speak to them. You will then pay less per click and get shown more often, because in paid search relevance sets both.
Prioritisation
Every problem ranked by impact and speed, in real numbers, with dependencies mapped. Some fixes offer little value until an earlier one is in place. Instead, the work starts where the money is, not where it is easiest.
Action & iteration
Every change is implemented based on priority, then dated and logged. When something moves, you know what caused it, and how to repeat it.
Monitor & compound
Monthly reporting in plain language, a seasonal rhythm, and proactive monitoring of platforms changes that erode results without warning. This ensures gains hold, instead of quietly leaking back out the month after they are won.
What this looks like in practice
A leak that ran for eight months
A tracking change made in June went unnoticed until the following February. For eight months the ad platform optimised against corrupted data while everyone assumed it was working. Nothing looked broken, and the operator was even told to spend more. They did, but then nothing moved.
That is what a leak looks like from the inside. Not a problem you are ignoring, but a problem you cannot see.
That leak was found and fixed. Over the months that followed, alongside the rest of the work, the numbers moved:
- 5.5x return on ad spend, achieved while cutting the ad budget
- Direct website revenue up 22% compared to the previous year
- Website share of total turnover up from 60% to 70%
- Organic bookings up 27%, paid bookings up 20%, on less spend
- On one tour, we changed how it appeared in Google search results and retitled the page. Sales on that tour came close to doubling, at a higher price
What it is worth
Do the arithmetic on your own data
Take what came through the OTAs last month, then multiply it by 0.25.
That is what the platforms charged you to hand you customers. Many of whom already knew your name, had already seen your tours, and some of whom had already been on one. You will pay it again next month, and the month after, for as long as the arrangement lasts.
Direct Booking Control is €5,250 a month. For an operator doing real volume, that comparison usually answers itself before the call.
What you actually get
- A full technical and tracking audit, followed by a rebuild of whatever it finds broken
- Measurement you can trust: GA4, tracking and attribution rebuilt, so every booking traces back to what actually caused it
- Your booking system wired into that measurement, so what happens between "view tour" and "paid" stops being guesswork
- Google Ads restructured, then managed month to month
- Structured data built into the site itself, so a routine software update cannot silently switch it off
- Research into who actually buys and which searches actually produce revenue, then your pages rewritten to match them
- A long-term traffic plan across paid, organic and content, built around that same buyer
- Speed, usability and booking-flow work along the whole path from first click to confirmed booking
- A monthly report in plain language: what each channel cost, what it brought back, and what changes next
- Proactive monitoring to signal rule changes by Google or the booking platforms in time, so your results do not slip away unnoticed
- One named person accountable for all of it
One invoice, one named person accountable for the outcome, and no build bill to approve before the work can start.
The guarantee
A monthly report, or you do not pay for that month.
A plain-language account of what every channel cost you and what it returned. A document that tells you where your money went and what came back.
That includes the first month. Month one delivers a written baseline: what each of your channels is returning today, and exactly where your current numbers are telling you something untrue. You do not wait for a rebuild before you get something you can hold.
It is a promise about measurement, not about revenue. Nobody honest can guarantee bookings, because bookings depend on your traffic, your offer, your pricing, your season and your operations, and most of that sits on your side of the table.
It is deliberately narrow, and it is the one that matters. Every operator who has been burned by an agency was burned in the same place. They could never tell whether it was working.
Fit
Who this is for, and who it is not for
This fits if: you have real traffic and real bookings; you spend on advertising without being sure what returns; a meaningful share of your revenue arrives through OTA commission; and you want to own the customer relationship rather than rent it.
This does not fit if: you want more OTA listings and nothing else; you want a redesign with no measurement behind it; you want a guaranteed revenue figure by a fixed date; or you are looking for the cheapest option available.
We work with one operator per type, per market. A kayak operator and a bus-tour operator in the same port are not competitors. Two kayak operators are.
FAQ
The questions operators actually ask
What actually happens in the first month?
You get a document. Every system and account is mapped, access and security are locked down, and your baseline numbers are captured before anything is changed. What lands on your desk is a written baseline of what each channel is returning today. This also includes the findings ranked by impact, in real numbers, with the dependencies between them mapped. That is also what the guarantee covers, so month one is not a setup fee you pay on faith. Nothing is rebuilt before it is measured, because a change you cannot attribute is a change you cannot repeat.
We already have a website that works. Why do we need this?
A site that loads is not the same as a site that sells. Most of what costs operators direct bookings is not visible on the page: measurement that reports the wrong numbers, targeting that pays to show the wrong tour to the wrong country, missing review signals in search, and booking friction that loses people who had already decided.
If we reduce our OTA listings, will we lose the bookings they bring?
Yes, if you cut them first. Start with building the direct channel first until reducing OTA dependency becomes a choice rather than a risk. Only take that choice when the numbers say you can afford it.
The big platforms outspend us. How can we compete for visibility?
You do not compete on budget. You compete where they are weak: your own brand searches, your own reviews, and your own tour pages, where the platform is paying to rank for a product you operate.
It is high season. Can this wait?
High season is for protecting what is already running. The audit and restructuring work belongs in low season, which is exactly when it should be planned rather than postponed.
Now that we know what is wrong, can we fix it ourselves?
Some operators do. It is worth knowing that a broken tracking setup can run for months without a single visible symptom while ad platforms optimise against the wrong data. This is why these problems usually persist even when someone technical is already involved.
Could we buy these pieces separately?
Yes. At the conservative end of published agency rates, the build work alone runs around €23,300 before anything is live. Then roughly €3,200 a month for advertising management and reporting, spread across suppliers who each report on their own piece. Over a year that lands close to what Direct Booking Control costs, so the difference is not the price. It is one invoice and one named partner accountable when the numbers disagree. TheTechDodo has got your back.
Do you guarantee more revenue?
No. Revenue depends on traffic quality, offer, pricing, seasonality and operations. What is guaranteed is measurement: every month, including the first, you get a written account of what each channel cost and what it returned. If it does not arrive, you do not pay for that month.
Book a call
Start by finding out what your own numbers actually say.
Tell us about your site and your booking setup. TheTechDodo will personally reach out within 2 business days. If Direct Booking Control is not the right next step, we will let you know.