Why direct booking is better for you

3 reasons to book directly with us

Please spend a few minutes reading this – it’s important for you and for us

When we opened Tings Kathmandu we had almost full house from day one by guests who had followed the creation of Tings online. Because of our blogging and the correspondence prior to their bookings the guests not only knew what to expect – they felt they knew our place, our staff and us.

They still do! And they still book directly with us – via mail or phone only.

Today – 10 years later – things are completely different.

A few OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) dominates the travel industry. To reach Booking.com’s >500 million monthly visitors you have to list your hotel.

Your Lisbon visit stay gets better!

Before we opened Tings Kathmandu our ‘only’ experience with hotels was as guests in 2,000+ hotels we had stayed in around the world.

Only 10 of all these hotels are on our places-that-inspire-us. The other 1,990. are the ones Booking.com and similar OTA’s are tailor made for. Hotels with lots of identical rooms in standard, de-lux and suites categories.

Our 16 rooms are completely different in 3 different categories based on ambiance and coziness that don’t fit into the OTA’s AI controlled formats.

Same with our visions, ideas & attitude that we generously share from our website and blog. That’s also impossible to communicate to Booking.com’s +500 million monthly visitors through their standardized platform.

For travelers who base their booking on our information on Booking.com alone, it’s a kind of lucky draw.

Opposite guests who book directly they don’t know that we don’t have elevator, only have A/C in our rooms on the top floor, that we have cats, a triangular bed in one rooms and strange art in some rooms. And opposite Booking who’s ‘robot’ automatically recommends a Metro if it’s closer than 400, they don’t get the mail where we tell our guests to take an Uber or taxi because the 400 meter are almost vertical to the top Lisbon’s highest hill.

We are NOT in control of the kind of information you read on Booking. We have a lot of things that are only possible to communicate personally which is possible because we only have 16 rooms and love communicating with people.

Travelers who book via booking online platforms don’t get the information we find important and relevant. Some of them arrive get disappointed when they arrive – and some wrongly blame us for the wrong information which the gladly share in their reviews.

If possible we spoil people who book directly with us.

Booking.com is a business that focus on profit for their shareholders.

A fast way to improve the profit is to reduce the costs – and as people is a major cost (and difficult to deal with). So AI has taken over the most important interaction between you dear traveler and your future host. You can’t call them if you want additional services, have questions or just want to ‘know’.

You may be able to send a message – but only after reading the Frequently Asked Section – and don’t expect an answer from a human being… 🙂

Tings is about giving our guests a good stay, give them what they expect and a little more. That’s only possible through communication. We love to talk and/or mail with you to make sure that you get the room that will be best for you.

We only have a few rooms available on Booking.com. So when booking directly, don’t be surprised if we recommend other rooms that are more suitable for you.

It's cheaper to book directly with us

It is NEVER cheaper to book our rooms through Booking.com compared to booking directly with us! It’s actually cheaper because we pay the tourist tax for you.

And when possible we often try to upgrade our direct booking guests to a better/bigger room. And we love spoiling our guests, if we find out that there are special occasions behind their stay (anniversaries etc).

Booking.com is a fantastic platform.

We love Booking.com and use it ourselves.

It's a very good tool to get an overview of the accommodations at your destinations.
But as we know the platform's limitations we always go to the hotel's own websites to get an idea about what kind of place they are. And we almost always call or mail them because we almost always have questions and/because it's a good way to get the 'feel' of the place.

Most of the time we get better options that the ones listed on Booking.com. And almost always we get the same price as the one Booking.com - sometimes cheaper or upgrades.
And as we are in the hotel business ourselves and know how happy the hotel gets, we book the room directly. Happy people creates a happy ambiance - and we love to stay in happy places.

Love & Compassion