How to Increase Your OTA Conversion Rates

Did you know that two out of three travelers use OTAs to plan or research their trips?

That’s a huge chunk of potential guests! So, if your listings aren’t converting, you’re missing out on a massive opportunity to boost your OTA’s revenue.

But here’s the good news. Optimizing your OTA conversions doesn’t have to be complicated.

With a few smart adjustments to your pricing and listings, you can turn those lookers into bookers and see a serious impact on your bottom line.

Ready to learn the simple strategies that’ll help increase your OTA conversions and drive more revenue.?

Let’s get started!

1. Optimize OTA Ranking to Get Seen First

How do you get more potential travellers to visit your site over a competitor’s? It’s all about being seen where it matters most on Google. 

Let’s explore two key strategies to help your OTA rank higher and attract visitors with a high likelihood of converting.

Paid Advertising: Want to grab the attention of travelers quickly when they’re searching for accommodations? Running paid ads on Google puts your OTA at the top of search results and helps increase traffic to your site. This paid advertising method is known as Pay-Per-Click. You only have to pay when someone visits your website. Apart from these, you can also run social media ads, these ads will allow you to reach to your potential customers in the form of a video or an image, and you can lure them to book from your OTA by offering them some irresistible offers. 

This is particularly effective for high-demand periods, like holiday seasons, where travelers are ready to book. The investment in paid ads helps you to easily target people actively searching to book which makes it a fast-track solution for higher conversions.

SEO for OTAs: Beyond paid efforts, building a strong organic presence on Google is crucial for sustainable growth. To achieve higher rankings on organic search. You need to focus on creating valuable, keyword-optimized content that travellers are searching for. 

This could be destination guides, travel tips, or curated property lists. When your OTA ranks highly on relevant searches like “best hotels in New York” or “affordable family vacations,” you’re attracting users who are closer to booking. 

Studies have shown that organic searches are 8.5x more likely to be clicked, while paid search results are 1.5x more likely to convert through the search engine. Hence, engaging, SEO-friendly content helps build authority and trust with search engines which results in drowning in visitors with a higher intent to convert. 

By combining strategic paid advertising with effective SEO, your OTA can boost visibility, attract more qualified visitors, and increase conversion rates. 

2. Implement a Smart Pricing Strategy

A smart pricing strategy is essential to boosting OTA conversion rates and maximizing revenue. By frequently adjusting your rates to match market demand helps your OTA to remain competitive.

If your listed prices are too high compared to competitors, your OTA may lose visibility in search rankings. If they’re too low, you risk lowering overall revenue potential. During peak demand periods, adjusting displayed rates strategically can maximize bookings and commission, but it’s important to maintain competitiveness so travellers don’t abandon your platform for another.

To figure out the best possible prices, you can use Hotel Price Comparison API by Makcorps. This API provides real-time hotel price comparison data from 200+ OTAs which allows you to optimize your OTA’s pricing strategy

To know more about Makcorps API and how you can use it, watch the following video:

The best thing about the Makcorps API is that you don’t always have to rely on a developer to use it. It can be easily integrated with Google Spreadsheets, Make.com (a no-code automation tool), and even tools like Lovable.app (AI-powered platform to create websites and apps). With these, you can extract prices, create email alerts, and build your own custom apps.

We’ve already created a few articles that can be really useful. Each one includes a step-by-step blueprint to make it easier for you to get started:

• Extract hotel prices from multiple vendors using Google Sheets API
• Extract Booking.com hotel prices into Google Sheets
• Track the cheapest hotel prices across vendors using Google Sheets
• Track hotel deals under budget using Hotel Price API

3. Enhance Your Property’s Visual Appeal

When it comes to grabbing attention and increasing your OTA conversion rates, visuals are essential. Make sure your platform supports high-quality images from property partners and displays them in a clear, engaging way.

Travelers are drawn to listings that spark an emotional response, and nothing does that better than stunning visuals that help them imagine the experience of staying there.

Research shows that 60% of travelers consider room and bathroom images critical factors in their booking decision. That means OTAs should prioritize surfacing these visuals prominently.

Beyond rooms, clean and inviting photos of top amenities like pools, restaurants, or spas can strongly influence traveller choices. The more effectively your OTA showcases these details, the more likely you are to inspire confidence, build trust, and drive that all-important booking decision.

4. Create Clear & Engaging Descriptions

Want to make listings on your OTA stand out? How they’re described matters. Travelers don’t just care about a property’s features. In fact, they want to know what kind of experience they’ll have. Encourage your partners to go beyond basic checklists like “free Wi-Fi” or “breakfast included” and focus on benefits that spark imagination.

For example, a description could highlight the feeling of sipping morning coffee on a serene balcony or unwinding in a spacious room after a day of exploring. Your OTA platform should present these descriptions in a clear, engaging way that avoids fluff and keeps traveller’s attention.

Simple, benefit-driven copy makes listings more appealing and increases the likelihood of conversion. Consider providing guidelines or access to professional copywriting support so property partners can craft descriptions that blend valuable details with persuasive storytelling that turns information into experiences that captivate and convert.

5. Leverage Your Best Amenities to Stand Out

Amenities are powerful decision drivers for travellers, and your OTA can leverage them to boost conversions. Reviews often highlight specific perks like fast Wi-Fi, a central location, or free parking, so make sure your platform brings these details to the forefront.

The key is to ensure property listings on your OTA clearly showcase their unique selling points. Instead of letting these features get buried, present them in ways that help travelers quickly see why a property stands out.

Whether it’s a rooftop view that impresses or a pool perfect for relaxation, surfacing these details prominently on your OTA helps travellers make faster, more confident booking decisions and drives higher conversion rates for your platform.

6. Engage with Guest Reviews

Guest reviews directly impact booking decisions. According to TripAdvisor, 93% of travellers book hotels online after reading reviews on OTAs, with 70% of people checking at least 6–12 reviews before making their decision. Clearly, reviews hold immense sway over whether a traveller chooses a property and this is where OTAs can step in to make a real difference.

Even more importantly, 89% of travellers are more likely to book with a property that responds to reviews. Whether it’s a simple thank-you for praise or a thoughtful reply to a concern.

For OTAs, this creates a big opportunity:

• Provide tools and prompts that encourage properties to actively engage with guest reviews.
• Offer an easy-to-use interface for review management and make it simple for partners to respond quickly.
• Highlight responsiveness as a trust signal on your platform to reassure travelers.

When properties engage with reviews through your OTA, travelers gain confidence not only in the property but also in your platform as a whole. The result: stronger trust, improved guest satisfaction, and higher conversion rates for your OTA.

7. Plan Availability in Advance

A strong long-term inventory strategy is essential for OTAs to maximize visibility and capture early demand. Ensuring your platform supports and promotes advanced availability (up to 12 months ahead) helps attract travellers who prefer booking well in advance, especially for peak seasons, holidays, or major events.

Keeping availability open further out also signals reliability to travellers and positions your OTA as a platform with more choices when key travel dates approach. Even during slower booking periods, maintaining inventory visibility builds consistency and strengthens traveller trust.

By making advance availability a standard feature, your OTA not only supports property partners but also improves traveler confidence, drives higher conversions, and boosts overall booking volume.

Conclusion:

To effectively boost your OTA conversion rates, focus on three crucial elements: smart pricing, strategic inventory management, and engaging content.

By ensuring competitive pricing, maintaining advance availability on your platform, and presenting property listings with clear, benefit-driven details, you create the conditions for increased traveler trust and higher booking conversions.

To access accurate pricing data across multiple OTAs, start a free trial of the MakCorps Hotel Price API today. It will help your OTA benchmark rates in real time, optimize competitiveness, and ultimately improve both visibility and profitability.