The OTA alternative
You don’t have to leave the OTAs to stop depending on them.
Booking.com and Airbnb bring real reach — that’s the upside. The problem is dependence: 15–20% of every booking, plus the guest relationship, handed away. Steward keeps you listed everywhere while making your own site your best-margin channel.
Side by side
OTA dependence vs. owning your demand.
Staying dependent on OTAs
On Steward
Commission per booking
15–20% of every stay, forever
0% on direct bookings — you keep the margin
The guest relationship
Owned by the OTA — they hold the email
Yours — every guest lands in your CRM
Your brand
One listing among thousands
A conversion-built site that's unmistakably yours
High-value events
Not supported — no weddings, groups or hire
Configurators, quotes and exclusive-hire built in
Pricing control
Rate parity rules and their algorithm
Almanac dynamic pricing, within your own rules
Follow-up & nurture
None — you can't even contact the guest
Automated email & SMS sequences with AI drafting
Payments
Their schedule, their payout timing
Deposits, milestones and split-the-bill, automated
Your data
On their platform, not yours
Always yours — bookings, guests and revenue
Reach
Genuinely wide — that's the upside
Stay listed via channel sync — reach without dependence
Steward isn’t anti-OTA — the channels are useful reach. It’s anti-dependence. Two-way channel sync keeps you listed everywhere while your own site does the highest-margin selling.
Ready when you are
Keep the reach. Lose the dependence.
Book a demo and we'll show you how estates shift the balance toward direct — and what it did for Ballinderry.