Hotels & Resorts

Cut OTA fees. Fill rooms directly. Automate the rest.

We build direct booking engines, revenue management tools, and AI concierge systems for hotels and resorts. Most clients see 20-35% growth in direct bookings within the first quarter.

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35%

Direct booking lift

70%

Front desk queries automated

12 wks

Typical delivery

Overview

Where hotels lose money - and the software that fixes it

Hotel software development at RaftLabs focuses on the three levers that move revenue directly: direct booking conversion, dynamic pricing, and check-in automation. We connect to your existing PMS and channel manager, build around your current operations, and ship a working pilot in 12 weeks.

Hotels lose money in three predictable places - OTA commissions, underpriced rooms, and manual check-in. Most hotel tech vendors sell point solutions. We build connected systems that fix all three.

Our direct booking engines match OTA conversion rates while keeping 15-25% commission in-house. Dynamic pricing replaces spreadsheet revenue management with automated rate rules. AI concierge handles 70% of routine guest requests without staff.

Every system we ship connects to your existing PMS, channel manager, and payment provider. We integrate - we don't replace.

Experience Signal

18+ hospitality products shipped including direct booking engines, AI concierge systems, and revenue management tools for hotel groups and independent properties. 12 weeks is our default, not our stretch goal.

35%

Direct booking lift

70%

Front desk queries automated

See case study

Industry Pain Points

What's broken in hotels & resorts

01

OTAs take 15-25% commission on bookings that guests would make direct if the experience were as good

02

Revenue managers set rates using last month's data and gut feel instead of real-time demand signals

03

Front desk staff spend most of their shift answering the same check-in, check-out, and amenity questions

04

Guest preferences and stay history live in the PMS but never get used for personalization or upsell

05

Key handover requires a staff member on-site for every arrival, including midnight check-ins

06

Reviews on TripAdvisor and Booking.com accumulate but no one aggregates them into actionable insight

Solutions

Problems we solve in hotels & resorts

Each solution is built from patterns we've validated across 100+ products. No experiments on your budget.

01

Direct booking engine

A booking flow that matches OTA conversion - flexible dates, dynamic upsells, room comparison, and abandoned booking recovery via email and SMS. Cuts OTA dependency without sacrificing volume.

02

Dynamic pricing engine

Rates adjust automatically based on occupancy, competitor pricing, event calendars, and booking velocity. Your revenue manager sets the rules and guardrails - the system executes within them.

03

AI guest concierge

Handles check-in prep, amenity questions, room service requests, and local recommendations via WhatsApp and SMS. Escalates to staff only when genuinely needed.

04

Digital and keyless check-in

Mobile check-in with digital key delivery to guests' phones. Eliminates front desk queues at peak arrival times and lets guests arrive at any hour without added staffing.

05

PMS and channel manager integration

Bidirectional sync with Opera, Mews, Cloudbeds, and all major channel managers. Inventory, rates, and reservations stay in sync across every OTA, GDS, and your direct site.

06

Guest sentiment dashboard

Pulls reviews from TripAdvisor, Google, and Booking.com into a single feed. Surfaces recurring complaints and service wins so ops teams act on patterns, not individual reviews.

Use Cases

Real-world use cases

Direct booking lift for a boutique hotel chain

Problem

A 9-property boutique chain paid 22% OTA commission on 68% of bookings. Their direct site converted at 1.4% versus the OTA average of 3.8%.

What we built

We rebuilt the booking flow with AI-assisted date flexibility, room comparison, and dynamic packaging. Added abandoned booking recovery via WhatsApp and email. Integrated with their existing Mews PMS.

Result

Direct booking share climbed from 32% to 51% within 5 months. OTA commission savings hit $380K in the first year. Conversion rate reached 3.6%.

Keyless check-in for a city hotel group

Problem

A 4-property city hotel processed 2,800 check-ins monthly. Front desk was overwhelmed during the 3-6pm peak window. Night arrivals required a paid agent on standby.

What we built

We built mobile check-in with digital key delivery integrated into their Opera PMS. Guests received check-in links 2 hours before arrival. Staff shifted from queue management to concierge roles.

Result

Front desk load during peak hours dropped 65%. Night staffing costs fell by $90K annually. Guest satisfaction for check-in climbed from 3.8 to 4.7 out of 5.

Dynamic pricing for a resort

Problem

A 180-room resort used static seasonal pricing. Shoulder-season occupancy averaged 48%. They had no visibility into how competitor rates affected their booking pace.

What we built

We built a demand-responsive pricing engine that monitored competitor rates, booking velocity, and local event calendars. Rate rules were set by the revenue manager - the system executed automatically within those bounds.

Result

Shoulder-season occupancy improved to 67%. RevPAR lifted 22% in the first two quarters. Revenue manager freed from 12 hours a week of manual rate-setting.

Proof

Hotels & ResortsServiced apartment booking platform
3x

Booking conversion

25%

Direct revenue increase

“Direct booking revenue climbed while OTA commission shrank to a rounding error.”

Read case study

Our Approach

How we approach hotels & resorts projects

1
Phase 1· Week 1-2

Revenue and ops audit

We map OTA dependency, direct booking drop-off, pricing gaps, and check-in friction. Every opportunity gets a dollar value attached before we write a line of code.

Deliverables

  • OTA commission analysis with direct booking opportunity sizing
  • Direct site conversion audit with specific friction points identified
  • Prioritized roadmap with ROI estimates for each item
2
Phase 2· Week 2-4

System design and integration spec

We design the product architecture and spec every integration - PMS, channel manager, payment gateway, keyless entry hardware if needed. No surprises during build.

Deliverables

  • Technical architecture with integration specifications
  • PMS and channel manager connection plan
  • Phased delivery roadmap with go-live criteria
3
Phase 3· Week 4-10

Build and property pilot

We build in sprints and run a live pilot at one property. Real bookings validate the system before wider rollout.

Deliverables

  • Working booking engine and integrations live at pilot property
  • Booking conversion data from real guest traffic
  • Iteration list from pilot learnings
4
Phase 4· Week 10-12

Multi-property rollout

We roll out to remaining properties with per-property pricing rules and configuration. Revenue dashboard goes live for management visibility.

Deliverables

  • Full multi-property deployment with per-location tuning
  • Revenue management dashboard
  • Quarterly optimization schedule tied to revenue targets

Outcomes

Measurable outcomes

20-35% increase in direct booking revenue through better conversion and reduced OTA reliance
15-25% RevPAR improvement from dynamic pricing and demand optimization
60-70% of routine front desk queries handled without staff involvement
$80K-$150K annual savings from reduced OTA commission for a 50-150 room property
2-3 point improvement in check-in satisfaction scores within the first quarter
10-15 hours a week freed for revenue managers through automated pricing and reporting

Free Tools

Free tools for hotels & resorts

Calculators and assessments built from real project data. No signup required.

See all free tools

Pattern Transfer

The demand-responsive pricing engine we built for retail clients - adjusting product prices based on inventory levels and competitor moves - is the same pattern that powers hotel revenue management. Hotels and e-commerce share the same fundamental math - fixed capacity, variable demand, time-sensitive inventory. The code patterns transfer directly.

Services

Services for hotels & resorts

Frequently asked questions

A focused direct booking engine with PMS integration ships in 8-10 weeks. Adding dynamic pricing runs 10-12 weeks. We scope every project with a fixed estimate before work starts.

Next Step

Every OTA booking costs you 20% that should stay in-house.

One call with a founder. No sales team, no follow-up sequence. If we can't help, we'll say so.

Get a hotel tech assessment
View hospitality case studies