Your most expensive guest — and how to win them back
December 3, 2025
In this latest episode of Hotel Moment, Brenna Turpin reveals your most expensive guest: the one who keeps booking through OTAs. With winback campaigns averaging 41% open rates and $5-6 revenue per email, discover how to redirect OTA bookers to your most profitable channel. Learn from industry leaders about investing in direct booking strategies, explore Voco Belfast's storytelling approach, and get holiday-specific tactics for capturing Christmas and New Year bookings before guests default to OTAs again.
In this strategic episode of Hotel Moment, Brenna Turpin, Marketing Coordinator at Revinate, challenges hoteliers to identify their most expensive guest. It's not the early check-in requester or the upgrade seeker — it's the guest who continuously books through OTAs, not because they prefer third-party channels, but because they're missing a compelling reason to book direct.
What you'll learn:
- Why OTA-dependent guests are your most expensive customers and how commission costs compound over time
- The power of OTA winback strategies: 41% average open rates and $5-6 revenue per email sent
- Kathleen Cullen's insight on redirecting OTA investment into your own direct booking infrastructure
- Marc Winchell's "turning off the faucet" metaphor: gradually reducing OTA dependency while incentivizing direct bookings
- Why direct bookings consistently deliver higher average revenue per reservation beyond just commission savings
- How to transform random "book direct" emails into strategic, data-driven winback campaigns
- Voco Belfast's successful approach: using segmentation, seasonal experiences, local storytelling, and brand voice without discounts
- The holiday opportunity: why Christmas and New Year represent the highest intent booking window for winback campaigns
- Strategic holiday messaging: festive experiences, family traditions, winter moments, early access, and nostalgic content
- Why personalization builds trust, trust drives bookings, and bookings drive lifetime value
- How to create always-on winback conversations that guide guests toward direct relationships
Discover how properties like Voco Belfast prove that connection and experience-led messaging converts OTA bookers far more effectively than discount tactics.
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Episode Highlights:
[00:38] Your most expensive guest - Brenna reveals the truth: "Your most expensive guest is the guest who books through an OTA and keeps doing it. Not because they honestly prefer OTAs and not because the offer is necessarily better with OTAs, but because guests are missing a compelling reason to book direct with you."
[01:35] Invest in direct, not commissions - Kathleen Cullen from PTG Consulting makes the business case clear: "Many times we're investing in the OTAs. Why not invest those same dollars that you're currently giving to third parties and shift that investment into your own website, into your own direct booking strategy."
[02:08] The faucet metaphor - Marc Winchell from Pacific Hospitality Group offers a perfect analogy: "It's so easy just to dial it up. We're slowly turning that faucet off and we're incentivizing guests to book direct." It's about controlling the flow, not shutting it off completely.
Chapters:
00:00 - Intro
00:38 - Your most expensive guest revealed
01:35 - Why direct bookings are critical
02:08 - OTA winback campaign performance
03:30 - Voco Belfast success story
04:45 - Holiday opportunity: Christmas and New Year strategy
06:15 - Direct Booking Mastery Certification overview
00:38 - Your most expensive guest revealed
01:35 - Why direct bookings are critical
02:08 - OTA winback campaign performance
03:30 - Voco Belfast success story
04:45 - Holiday opportunity: Christmas and New Year strategy
06:15 - Direct Booking Mastery Certification overview
If you enjoyed this episode, don’t forget to subscribe, rate and review it on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. Instructions on how to do this are here.
Hotel Moment Podcast is handcrafted by our friends over at: fame.so
Previous guests include: Shannon Knapp, CEO of Leading Hotels of the World (LHW), Patrick Norton of Brittain Resorts & Hotels, Shawn Jereb of Montage International, Carlo Del Mistro, Chief Digital Officer of Ennismore, Jason Pirock of Springboard Hospitality, and many more.
Are you a hospitality industry leader with insights to share? We're always looking for innovative voices to join our conversation about the future of hospitality technology.
If you'd like to be a guest on an upcoming episode of Hotel Moment, we'd love to hear from you! Our podcast reaches thousands of hospitality professionals worldwide, and we're particularly interested in perspectives on:
- Innovation in hospitality technology
- Guest experience transformation
- Revenue optimization strategies
- Emerging industry trends
Check out the three most downloaded episodes: