How hotels connect to DirectBooker
DirectBooker turns the hotel data you already produce into answers that search and AI platforms can use. You share standard feeds, we keep them ready for search and AI queries at scale, and every traveler who chooses your hotel is sent to your own direct channels to book.
Available in ChatGPT and Claude · ~1M properties · Built on Google Hotels feed formats · Up to 5x lower commission than OTAs
How it works
You share your hotel list. The properties in your inventory, matched to DirectBooker's global hotel database.
You share prices and availability. Rates, taxes and fees, room types, cancellation terms and member rates, delivered in a standard feed format.
We cache and prepare your data. DirectBooker keeps an up-to-date cache of your prices so search and AI platforms can query it at scale, without every search reaching your systems.
Platforms query DirectBooker. We serve structured data through the Model Context Protocol (MCP) or other price cache formats, depending on the platform.
Travelers book direct. Every result links to your official booking channels with dates and guests pre-filled, and your tracking codes intact.
What we need from you
A hotel list. For each property: an ID, name, address, country, latitude, longitude and phone number. Descriptions, photos, website, reservations email and brand codes make your listings richer.
Prices and availability. A full set of available rates for each hotel and stay, including base rate, taxes and fees, room and rate plan details, occupancy, and refundability. Member rates can be included alongside public rates, so travelers see both.
A few setup details. How to authenticate with your API, how to build booking links for each price, brand code mappings if you use them, and any batch-size or rate limits we should respect.
Supported formats
We use Google Hotels XML formats, so most partners can reuse feeds they already send to Google:
Hotel list: Google Hotel List XML
Prices: Google Transaction XML, with room and package details in the Property Data format
We support two of Google's pricing delivery modes:
Pull. DirectBooker calls your API on a regular schedule to collect prices for your hotels, using Google-style query messages.
Pull with Hints. DirectBooker checks your API frequently for itineraries whose prices have changed, using hint requests, then requests only those prices. This keeps rates fresher with fewer calls.
We can adapt to additional or different fields, and we also work with other metasearch formats and direct APIs. Partners receive our detailed technical documentation, with example requests and responses, once we've signed a mutual NDA.
How your data reaches travelers
The same feed reaches travelers wherever they search.
In AI assistants, a traveler asks something like "Find me a hotel near the river in Lyon next weekend," and the AI calls DirectBooker. We return matching hotels with your direct rates, member pricing where available, photos, amenities and booking links. The AI uses that data to write its answer.
On search platforms, we deliver the same direct rates in the price formats those platforms use, so your hotels can appear in comparison listings alongside other options, as an aggregated source of direct prices rather than an OTA.
Either way, every booking link sends the traveler to your own website.
If you run your own MCP server, DirectBooker can work alongside it: broad searches are answered from our cache, and questions about a specific property can be passed to your server for live details.
Try it yourself
The best way to see DirectBooker is to use it. Add it to the AI assistant you already use and search for a hotel you know:
Ready to integrate? Contact us for our full technical documentation.
.
Frequently Asked Questions
Partners frequently ask the following questions.
Through the Model Context Protocol (MCP), an open standard that lets AI assistants call external tools for live, structured data. Instead of relying on web pages or training data, the AI gets current rates and availability directly from DirectBooker. We're available in ChatGPT and Claude, with more AI platforms coming. For search platforms, we deliver the same data in the price feed formats they already use.
Google Hotel List XML for properties, and Google Transaction XML for prices, delivered via Pull or Pull with Hints. We can also work with other metasearch formats and direct APIs. If you currently send prices to Google only via Push, talk to us about options.
No more than a typical metasearch partner. Search and AI platforms send far more exploratory searches than bookings, and DirectBooker answers those from our cache rather than passing them to you. When we first build the cache, we plan the rollout with you to manage load, and we respect your rate limits.
With existing Google Hotels feeds in Pull or Pull with Hints format, typically a few weeks. New feed formats take a little longer.
Yes, and we recommend it. Member rates can sit alongside public rates in the same feed, and you choose how they're shown, from clearly labeled by default to described but not displayed. We believe a logged-in, one-to-one AI conversation works more like a closed user group than a public listing, so showing fenced rates there should not conflict with rate parity. Agreements vary, so we recommend reviewing this with your legal team.
You control the data: rates, content, photos and direct-booking benefits. We deliver it to search and AI platforms in a consistent, structured form, and give AI platforms clear guidance on presenting it, including labeling member rates. Each platform controls its own display, and AI assistants write their own responses, though, so we can't guarantee exact wording or order.
We format your content so search and AI platforms can use it well: structuring it, turning paragraphs into lists, summarizing long descriptions and resizing images. We never change facts, write descriptions that aren't based on your content, generate images with AI, create offers, change policies, alter reviews, or change your URLs.
Each booking link passes briefly through DirectBooker so we can log the click, then goes straight to your booking page with your UTM, affiliate or IATA codes intact for attribution. You're the source of record for every booking.
DirectBooker charges a commission only on completed stays, up to 5x lower than typical OTA commissions. There are no setup fees or subscriptions.
To give travelers complete answers, DirectBooker covers about 1 million hotels worldwide. Where a hotel or its connectivity provider hasn't yet integrated with us, we show publicly available direct rates and link to the hotel's own website. There's no commission without an agreement.
Without an integration, we can show only a single, lowest public rate. Integrating lets you show travelers your full range of options: member and loyalty rates, refundable and non-refundable rates, different room types, upgrades and packages, along with your own content and tracking codes.
