554 Moana Court Motel cuts OTA bookings reliance from 41% to 22% with help from SiteMinder

Key facts — 554 Moana Court Motel

Primary outcomeOTA share of bookings fell from 41% (2024/25) to 30% (2025/26) to 22% (2026/27 YTD) as direct bookings grew

Revenue & profitTotal revenue up year-on-year, with profit holding steady despite rising input costs

Demand generationDemand Plus places the motel’s own rates in front of travellers on Google, Tripadvisor and Trivago, supporting the shift to direct booking

Operational impactChannels Plus manages additional booking channels from a single contract, cutting the admin and channel set-up load for a small team

Property type10-unit motel, Invercargill, New Zealand — serving families, sports teams, corporate travellers and tradies

554 Moana Court Motel is a 10-unit motel in Invercargill, New Zealand, offering well-presented rooms at a fair price. Families, sports teams, corporate travellers and tradies are all amongst the guest segments that enjoy the hospitality on offer.

The location suits both business and leisure stays, with Invercargill just two hours’ drive from Queenstown and Fiordland, a short hop by plane or ferry from Stewart Island, and about an hour from the Catlins.

We spoke with Paul Calvert, the Manager, who runs the motel and has been closely involved in distribution and pricing since partnering with SiteMinder.

Commission fees taking too much of a toll

For a small motel, every booking that arrives through an online travel agency (OTA) carries a commission. Before SiteMinder, 554 Moana Court Motel was relying heavily on those channels. That was a risk for a 10-unit property where margins matter, especially as the cost of running a motel kept climbing.

A website redevelopment gave the team a natural moment to rethink how guests find and book the property.

“We were getting a disproportionately high percentage of our bookings from OTAs. When we redeveloped our website, we thought it would be a good opportunity to try something new to help drive more direct bookings,” Paul says.

A new website needed the right platform behind it

With a fresh website in place, the motel wanted a platform that could support its push for direct business.

That led the team to SiteMinder’s platform, which brings distribution, revenue and reporting together in one central control hub. A key feature is SiteMinder’s channel manager, which lets a property manage its rates and availability across all its online sales channels automatically and in real-time.

Getting started was refreshingly simple. “The basics were quite straightforward,” Paul explains.

Winning back control of the booking mix

Since going live, the motel has been steadily shifting its business toward direct channels. The team believes it is now receiving more direct bookings through its own website. SiteMinder’s Demand Plus supports this by placing the motel’s own rates in front of travellers on metasearch sites such as Google, Tripadvisor and Trivago. Guests can then book directly rather than through a third-party.

Behind the scenes, SiteMinder’s Channels Plus has taken care of connecting to and managing additional booking channels from a single contract. For a small team, that has meant less time spent on admin and channel set-up. “I rarely look at it now,” Paul mentions.

Pricing remains a judgement call but SiteMinder’s Insights gives the team a reliable reference point, showing them where they sit against local competitors without dictating what to charge.

“It’s a useful tool to check where we are at in relation to our competitors, however we like setting rates based on what we believe our rooms are worth too,” Paul shares.

“It’s a useful tool to check where we are at in relation to our competitors, however we like setting rates based on what we believe our rooms are worth too,” Paul shares.

This discipline protects the guest experience. Raising rates as supply drops and demand climbs is a good way to boost revenue but a balance must be struck at all times.

“If I charge $300 for my last studio just because it’s one of the few rooms left in town, the guest that books it expects a $300 room and not the $170-200 room that it actually is. Unrealistic expectations lead to poor reviews,” Paul adds.

A healthier mix of bookings

Since implementing SiteMinder, 554 Moana Court Motel has seen a clear shift in where its guests come from, in a period of rising costs.

• OTA share of bookings: 41% in 2024/25, 30% in 2025/26 and 22% in the 2026/27 year to date.
• Total revenue: Up year on year, with profit holding steady.

The motel’s input costs have risen significantly over the past two years. Shifting bookings away from OTAs whilst maintaining occupancy rates has reduced the commission it pays, which has kept room rates competitive without passing the full cost increases on to guests.

Together, these changes have given 554 Moana Court Motel a business that depends less on third-party channels and keeps more of every booking it earns, while it stays true to its promise of quality rooms at a fair price.