Everything compounds, because nothing gets reset.
The reason independent properties are the most straightforward segment we work with is not that the search problem is easier. It is that the work accumulates on something permanent.
A page you publish stays published. A term you win stays won until somebody takes it from you. A link that points at your domain keeps pointing at it. None of that is true for a property whose visibility lives on a corporate domain that can be restructured without consulting anyone at the hotel.
The practical effect is that an independent gets compounding returns from a steady, unspectacular program, while a flagged property has to work much harder for a smaller ceiling. The trade is that you have nobody else doing any of it for you.
- You control the domain, so authority built points at something you keep permanently
- You control the pages, so a structural fix takes days rather than a brand approval cycle
- You control the booking path, so a direct booking can actually be made once demand arrives
- You control the rates and the offers, which decides whether the direct path is worth taking
Time, not permission.
At an independent property the general manager, the revenue lead and the marketing lead are frequently the same person, and that person is also handling a broken lift and a group booking that has changed its dates.
This is the actual reason independent properties under-invest in search: not scepticism, and not budget, but that the work never reaches the top of anyone’s list. It is important and never urgent, which in a hotel means it does not happen.
So the arrangement has to survive that. Content is posted directly to your site rather than sent to you for someone to upload. Links arrive as a list of addresses you can spot check in a few minutes rather than a report requiring interpretation. Your realistic involvement is an hour or two a month, and the program should still work in a month when you give it none.
If a proposal requires significant ongoing effort from someone at the property, it will fail at an independent hotel. Not because the plan was wrong, but because nobody had the hours.
What commission costs a property your size.
Preset to a 45-room independent at 68% occupancy. Change every figure to your own. Nothing is sent anywhere.
You pay roughly
a year in OTA commission, in your currency.
Moving 15% of that volume to direct would keep
a year, in your currency.
The Platinum program is $325 USD a month, or $3,900 USD a year. At these numbers that is 19.8% of what you would keep.
These are illustrative projections based on figures you entered. They are not a forecast or a guarantee. Commission rates and channel mix vary by property and contract.
Five searches an independent should own.
- 01
Your own property name
You probably rank for it already, but check whether a listing ranks above you. If it does, you are paying commission on guests who had already chosen you, which is the most expensive traffic you buy.
- 02
The neighborhood, not just the city
City terms are contested by aggregators with enormous budgets. Neighborhood terms are frequently winnable by a single property and attract guests who have already narrowed their choice.
- 03
One page per room type
A guest searching for a specific kind of room is close to booking. A rooms page listing five types competes badly against five pages each about one.
- 04
The amenities that are genuinely unusual
Not a list of nine facilities on one page. A page for the two or three that would make somebody choose you, written properly.
- 05
The occasion
Anniversaries, quiet working stays, a particular kind of weekend. These searches happen well before a name search and are rarely claimed by anyone.
What it costs.
Month to month, cancel anytime, setup fee waived, dedicated account manager on every plan. Available as a monthly subscription or a one-time order. All prices in US dollars.
| Basic | Silver | Golden | Platinum Best value | Titanium | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Monthly | $65 USD | $125 USD | $235 USD | $325 USD | $575 USD |
| One-time | $75 USD | $140 USD | $260 USD | $380 USD | $620 USD |
| Domains | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 4 |
| Keywords | 5 | 10 | 20 | 40 | 100 |
| Guest posts (DA 20+) | 5 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 50 |
| Web 2.0s (DA 50+) | 5 | 10 | 20 | 30 | 50 |
| Amplification links | 1,500 | 3,000 | 5,000 | 10,000 | 20,000 |
| Keyword research | Standard | Standard | In-depth | In-depth | In-depth |
| Premium indexing | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| On-page technical audit | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Content gap analysis | No | No | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Competitor traffic spy | No | No | No | Yes | Yes |
| Toxic link check with disavow | No | No | No | No | Yes |
| Turnaround | 8-10 days | 10-12 days | 12-14 days | 14-16 days | 16-18 days |
Our recommendation Platinum at $325 USD a month suits most single independent properties, because a destination, several neighborhoods, your room types and your amenities together exceed the 20 keywords Golden covers. If your commission figure is small, the calculator above will tell you to start with Golden, and it is right.
- Dedicated account manager
- Month-to-month, cancel anytime
- Setup fee waived
- Every link delivered with a live, clickable URL
- You own the assets forever
- Available as a monthly subscription or a one-time order
Build the exact program in the builder, or send us the property and we will tell you what we would target and what we would not bother doing.
Questions.
What makes an independent property different to work with?
You can act. There is no brand team to consult, no template you cannot change and no booking path decided elsewhere, which means every improvement is available to you immediately and every gain accrues to an asset you own permanently. The constraint on an independent is almost never permission, it is the number of hours anyone at the property has spare.
We are a single property with a small team. Is this too much to manage?
Managing it is our job rather than yours. Every plan includes a dedicated account manager, content is posted directly to your site with author-level access rather than emailed to you, and the reporting is a list of live URLs you can check in a few minutes. The realistic time commitment at the property is an hour or two a month.
Which plan suits an independent hotel?
Platinum at $325 USD a month in most cases. A single independent property typically needs to cover a destination term, several neighborhood terms, one term per room type and a set of amenity terms, which is more than the 20 keywords Golden provides. If your commission figure is modest, start with Golden and move up when the numbers justify it.
How much of our OTA volume could realistically move?
We will not give you a figure, because anyone who does is guessing about your market. The calculator on this page lets you set the shift yourself between 5 and 40 percent so the assumption stays yours. What is reliably true is that independents have the shortest path from decision to execution, because nothing needs approving.
We tried an agency before and nothing happened. Why is this different?
The most common failure is work that cannot be verified. If a previous agency reported activity without giving you addresses you could open, there was no way to tell whether anything existed. Every link here is delivered with a live, clickable URL, so you can check the work yourself rather than trusting a summary.
What makes this different.
Every link comes with a live URL
You get a clickable address for every placement, so you can open it and confirm the work exists. That is the whole reporting standard, and it is rarer than it should be.
You own the assets forever
Placements do not disappear if you stop paying us. What we build stays yours.
Month to month, no contract
There is no minimum term and no cancellation penalty. If the work is not worth the fee, you stop.
We say no to the wrong plan
If your numbers do not justify a larger program, we will tell you to start smaller. The calculator on this site does that automatically.
No guarantees on rankings
We do not guarantee rankings, occupancy, booking volume or revenue, because no agency controls them. Be careful with anyone who does.
Delivered remotely, worldwide
We do not claim offices or staff in your market, because we do not have them. Search work has always been delivered remotely and our published results include clients outside the United States.
Where to go next.
Start with the arithmetic.
Send us the property and we will come back with what we would target, what it costs and what we would not bother doing. We reply within 24 hours on business days.