If you run a resort or homestay around Jim Corbett National Park, a large share of your bookings probably arrives through online travel agencies (OTAs). OTAs are genuinely useful — they put your property in front of travellers who would never find you otherwise. But every OTA booking carries a commission, and a property that depends entirely on OTAs has no direct relationship with its own guests.
The goal is not to abandon OTAs. It is to build direct channels alongside them, so that over time a growing share of your bookings — especially repeat guests, referrals and people searching for your property by name — come straight to you. Here is how that works in practice.
1. Win the searches for your own property name
When a traveller sees your resort on an OTA and then Googles your property name to check reviews or photos, the results they see decide where the booking happens. If an OTA ad sits above your own website for your own name, you pay commission on a guest who was already looking for you.
Two fixes matter most. First, make sure your own website exists, loads fast and clearly shows rooms, tariffs and a way to enquire or book. Second, consider a small Google Ads campaign on your own property name — bidding on your brand is usually inexpensive, and it keeps the top result yours.
2. Treat your Google Business Profile as a booking channel
For Corbett properties, the Google Maps listing is often the first thing a traveller compares. A complete profile — accurate category, current photos of every room type, amenities, meal plans and distance from safari gates — directly influences whether someone calls you or scrolls to the next property.
Keep photos fresh, post seasonal offers through Google posts, and reply to every review. Guests regularly mention in their reviews whether they booked directly, and a well-managed profile gives them the confidence to call you instead of booking through a middleman.
3. Make booking direct genuinely attractive
Guests book through OTAs because it feels easy and safe. To win the direct booking, your direct channel has to be at least as easy and slightly more rewarding. That means a website where checking availability or sending an enquiry takes under a minute, a phone number and WhatsApp button that someone actually answers, and a clear reason to book direct — a better rate, a complimentary meal, a free safari-gate drop, or flexible cancellation.
Whatever you choose as your direct-booking benefit, state it plainly on your website and in your Google posts. 'Book direct for the best rate' only works if it is visibly true.
4. Capture the planning window before the season
Corbett trips are planned. Families from Delhi-NCR, Punjab and beyond decide on their November or winter-weekend trip weeks or months in advance, and safari permits for popular zones sell out early. Marketing that starts when the season starts is too late.
Plan campaigns six to eight weeks ahead of each demand window: the main safari season, summer school holidays, long weekends, and the wedding season for riverside venues. Useful content — a guide to safari zones, what to pack, how to reach your property from Ramnagar station — also brings in planners early through Google search, and positions your property as the helpful local choice.
5. Turn past guests into future direct bookings
The cheapest direct booking is a returning guest or their referral. Collect phone numbers and permission to stay in touch at checkout, send a simple WhatsApp greeting on festivals and before the season opens, and give past guests a reason to book with you directly next time.
Social media supports this quietly: a resort that posts real, current content — the lawn in winter mist, this week's safari sightings, a wedding setup — stays in the minds of past guests and their friends far better than one that posts nothing between seasons.
Where to start
If you do only three things this quarter: get your Google Business Profile complete and actively managed, make sure your website answers the questions guests actually ask (rooms, tariffs, location, safari distance) with a fast way to enquire, and claim the top spot for searches on your own name. Everything else builds on those.