Aggregator platforms have trained customers to search there first, which means every booking arrives with a commission attached. For hotels and resorts that is around 20% of the room rate. For real estate, portal leads can run to roughly ₹2,500 per enquiry.

The reason customers book through aggregators is trust and convenience, not loyalty. They trust the aggregator to show them prices, availability, and reviews in one place, and they have no particular attachment to the platform itself.

That distinction matters, because trust and convenience are things you can rebuild on your own property. Loyalty would be much harder to win back.

A resort near Chennai that ranks on the first page for searches like weekend getaway from Chennai or resorts near Mahabalipuram captures high-intent visitors before they open MakeMyTrip. The customer is still deciding where to go, not yet comparing where to book.

The investment in ranking for these searches is a one-time SEO investment with ongoing returns, compared to the perpetual commission model of OTA dependence. The maths turns in your favour quickly once the pages hold their position.

The third move is your own data. Every guest who has stayed at your property or every buyer who has enquired about your development is a future opportunity — and reaching them costs a fraction of acquiring a stranger through a platform.