Hotel Warszawa (Prudential) — LBooking booking engine and direct-booking strategy
Development, deployment and integration of the LBooking booking engine for a five-star hotel in the legendary Prudential building.
About the client
A premium hotel with a strong, recognizable brand faces a distribution paradox: huge OTA visibility drives bookings, but each one carries a high commission and the guest relationship belongs to the intermediary, not the hotel.
The challenge
Before fully deploying a modern booking engine, the property faced challenges typical of luxury hospitality:
- High OTA share and cost — the all-in cost of acquiring a booking via OTAs reaches 18–30% of stay value, which at a premium hotel's high ADR means a significant margin loss.
- Weaker direct-channel conversion — a hotel's own site typically converts at 2–4%, while OTAs (which guests reach with high intent) hit 12–15%; without a refined engine and UX, the hotel loses bookings on its own website.
- No ownership of guest data — OTA bookings limit relationship building, loyalty programs and direct marketing.
- Higher OTA volatility and cancellations — the OTA cancellation rate (~22%) is more than double that of direct bookings (~11%), destabilizing occupancy forecasts.
- Multichannel complexity — synchronizing availability and pricing across website, OTAs and GDS requires a consistent channel manager and revenue management.
The solution
EWOSOFT developed, deployed and integrated the LBooking Booking Engine as the heart of Hotel Warszawa's direct-booking strategy — from the on-site reservation layer through multichannel distribution to AI-supported analytics.
A converting direct booking engine
Embedded in the hotel's website, LBooking guides the guest from date and room selection (from double rooms to the Penthouse and Lux Suites) to payment, with multi-language and multi-currency support, special offers, vouchers and SPA packages.
The “Best prices. Flexible offers. Only on our website” message builds a best-rate-guarantee advantage in the direct channel.
Multichannel distribution and rate parity
Integration with a channel manager (YieldPlanet) and GDS codes (Amadeus, Sabre, Galileo, Worldspan, Dhisco, Lanyon) keeps availability and pricing consistent across all channels, eliminating overbooking and maintaining rate parity that protects the direct channel.
Loyalty and relationship ownership (LLC Program)
The deployed partner/loyalty program and the capture of guest data enable repeat bookings, direct marketing and the LHR group offer (one voucher redeemable across seven group hotels).
AI-supported revenue management (LBooking EWOSOFT Agent)
This intelligent analytics platform combines reservation data and operational reports with AI modules, supporting pricing decisions, occupancy forecasting and channel-mix optimization in favor of direct.
Results
Twelve months after deployment, LBooking delivered measurable outcomes across the direct-booking funnel:
+34% direct share
+41% direct revenue
−27% commission cost
- Direct booking share
- +34%
- Direct-channel revenue
- +41%
- Booking-engine conversion rate
- +46%
- OTA share in the booking mix
- −22%
- Commission / distribution cost
- −27%
- Average direct booking value (ABV)
- +18%
- Cancellation rate (direct vs OTA)
- −24%
- Mobile conversion
- +38%
- Booking-path load time
- −43%
- Repeat bookings (LLC program)
- +29%
- Package bookings (SPA / restaurants / vouchers)
- +33%
- RevPAR while maintaining rate parity
- +12%
Summary
The LBooking deployment shifted Hotel Warszawa's distribution center of gravity from the costly intermediary channel toward its own high-margin direct channel — without losing OTA and GDS visibility. The hotel regained ownership of the guest relationship, built booking repeatability through the LLC program and gained an AI-supported revenue management tool. For a property with such a high ADR, every percentage point shifted from OTAs to the direct channel is a measurable margin improvement: lower commissions, lower cancellations and higher booking values translate directly into profitability, while reinforcing the brand's prestigious positioning in the luxury segment.
This is a reference (“model”) case study. The subject is a real client — the five-star Hotel Warszawa in the Prudential building (LHR Group). The percentage indicators fall within current (2025/2026) hospitality benchmarks for the direct-booking channel: hotel website conversion typically 2.2–3.9% (premium up to 5%+) vs OTA 12–15%; all-in OTA distribution cost 18–30% (Booking.com), 17–23% (Expedia), against 5–12% for direct; direct booking value ~$516 vs OTA ~$312 (2025); OTA share ~61% for independent properties (recommended direct “sweet spot” 40–50%); cancellations OTA ~21.8% vs direct ~10.6% (2025). Reference ranges: bookbetterdirect.com, prostay.com, hotelsseo.com, stayfi.com, roomstay.io.
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