Booking Sources
Configure booking sources, track where reservations come from, and analyze your distribution mix.
Every reservation arrives from somewhere — a phone call, your website, an OTA, a travel agent, a corporate portal, or a walk-in at the front desk. Booking sources track this origin, attaching a source tag to every reservation so you can answer the question that drives distribution strategy: "Where are our guests coming from?"
Without booking sources, all reservations look the same in your data. With them, you can calculate the cost of acquisition for each channel, identify which sources produce the highest-value guests, spot trends in booking behavior, and make informed decisions about where to invest your marketing budget.
Configuring booking sources
Booking sources are managed in Property > Booking Sources. Each source has a name and an optional category for grouping in reports.
Property Owner access required
Adding, editing, or removing booking sources requires the Property Owner role. Changes to booking sources affect how reservations are categorized going forward. Existing reservations retain their original source tag even if a source is renamed or deactivated.
To add a new booking source:
Navigate to Property > Booking Sources and click Add Source.
Enter the source name — use a clear, consistent naming convention (e.g., "Booking.com" rather than "BDC" or "booking").
Select a category: Direct, OTA, Corporate, Travel Agent, GDS, or Other. Categories are used for grouping in distribution reports.
Optionally, enter a commission rate if applicable. This is used in analytics to calculate net revenue by channel.
Click Save. The new source appears in the booking source dropdown when creating reservations.
Recommended booking sources
Most properties benefit from starting with a standard set of sources and adding more as needed:
| Source Name | Category | Commission |
|---|---|---|
| Direct — Website | Direct | 0% |
| Direct — Phone | Direct | 0% |
| Direct — Walk-In | Direct | 0% |
| Direct — Email | Direct | 0% |
| Booking.com | OTA | 15% |
| Expedia | OTA | 18% |
| Airbnb | OTA | 3% |
| Google Hotels | OTA | 12% |
| GDS — Amadeus | GDS | 10% |
| GDS — Sabre | GDS | 10% |
| Corporate — [Company Name] | Corporate | 0% |
| Travel Agent — [Agency Name] | Travel Agent | 10% |
You can add more specific sources as your distribution evolves. The important thing is consistency — if everyone uses the same source names, your reports will be reliable.
Channel manager integration
When you connect a channel through the channel manager, Veridien automatically creates a booking source for that channel if one does not already exist. Reservations arriving through the channel manager are tagged with the correct source automatically. You do not need to create sources for connected channels manually, but you may want to verify the names and commission rates.
Using booking sources during reservation creation
When a front desk agent or reservations agent creates a new reservation, the Booking Source field is a required part of the booking form. It appears after the guest, dates, and room type have been selected.
For reservations created through the channel manager, the source is set automatically. For manual reservations, the agent selects the source from the dropdown:
- A phone reservation uses Direct — Phone.
- A guest walking up to the desk uses Direct — Walk-In.
- A reservation requested via email uses Direct — Email.
- A booking forwarded by a travel agent uses the specific agent's source.
Training your team to select the correct source consistently is one of the highest-value habits you can establish. It costs nothing during the booking process but provides enormous analytical value over time.
Analyzing your distribution mix
Booking source data feeds into several analytical views:
Reservations > Search — Filter reservations by booking source to see all bookings from a specific channel or category. Useful for reviewing OTA bookings or corporate account activity.
Finance > Reports — The Booking Sources report card shows reservation volume, room nights, revenue, and average rate by booking source and category. This report is the foundation of distribution strategy discussions.
Key metrics to monitor:
- Channel mix (by room nights) — What percentage of your room nights come from each source category? A heavy OTA dependency (above 40-50%) may indicate an opportunity to invest in direct booking strategies.
- Average rate by channel — Are OTA bookings coming in at the same rate as direct bookings? If OTA rates are lower (after commission), the net revenue difference could be significant.
- Net revenue per channel — Revenue minus commission. A channel that produces high gross revenue but pays a 20% commission may contribute less net revenue than a lower-volume direct channel.
- Booking lead time by channel — How far in advance do bookings arrive from each source? OTA bookings often have shorter lead times than direct bookings, which affects forecasting.
Scenario: quarterly distribution report and "Book Direct" campaign
The Lakewood Inn has been open for 18 months. The general manager, Claudia, asks the revenue manager, James, to prepare a quarterly distribution report and recommend strategies to reduce OTA dependency.
Pulling the data: James navigates to Finance > Reports and opens the Booking Sources report card, selecting the last quarter (Q4). The report shows:
| Source Category | Room Nights | Revenue | Avg Rate | Commission | Net Revenue |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct (all) | 820 | $143,500 | $175 | $0 | $143,500 |
| OTA (all) | 1,240 | $198,400 | $160 | $31,744 | $166,656 |
| Corporate | 340 | $54,400 | $160 | $0 | $54,400 |
| Travel Agent | 180 | $27,000 | $150 | $2,700 | $24,300 |
| Total | 2,580 | $423,300 | $164 | $34,444 | $388,856 |
Analysis: OTAs account for 48% of room nights but contribute only 43% of net revenue due to commissions averaging 16%. Direct bookings produce a higher average rate ($175 vs. $160) and zero commission. Every room night shifted from OTA to direct saves approximately $25.60 in commission on average.
Trend observation: James compares Q4 to Q3 and sees that the OTA share has grown from 42% to 48%, while direct bookings dropped from 38% to 32%. The trend is moving in the wrong direction.
Recommendation — "Book Direct" campaign: James proposes a campaign to shift 10% of OTA bookings to direct channels over the next quarter. The plan includes:
-
Create a new booking source — James adds "Direct — Book Direct Promo" in Property > Booking Sources so that reservations from this campaign can be tracked separately.
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Exclusive direct rate — A new rate plan offering 5% off the best available rate, available only on the property's website. At $175/night, the 5% discount ($8.75) is far less than the average OTA commission ($25.60), so the property still comes out ahead on every shifted booking.
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Website messaging — Prominent "Best Rate Guaranteed" messaging on the booking engine, highlighting the direct-only discount and benefits (flexible cancellation, room preference, early check-in when available).
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Front desk training — When guests who booked through an OTA check in, front desk agents mention the direct booking benefits and encourage booking direct for their next stay. The agents use a printed card with a QR code linking to the property's booking page.
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Monthly tracking — James sets a calendar reminder to pull the distribution report monthly and track progress. The new "Direct — Book Direct Promo" source will show exactly how many bookings the campaign generates.
Three months later: James pulls the Q1 report. Direct bookings have increased from 32% to 37% of room nights. The "Book Direct Promo" source accounts for 4% of total room nights — these are guests who would likely have booked through an OTA otherwise. The OTA share has dropped from 48% to 43%. Commission savings for the quarter: approximately $8,200. The 5% direct discount cost approximately $3,100, for a net savings of $5,100.
Claudia approves continuing the campaign, and James adjusts the strategy based on which direct channels showed the most growth. The booking source data made the entire analysis possible — without it, they would have no way to measure whether the campaign was working.