Beyond Booking.com: why Swiss hotels need a strong digital presence

May 20, 2025

Author: ewm

Beyond Booking.com: why Swiss hotels need a strong digital presence

Swiss hotels lose up to 30% of their revenue in commissions paid to booking platforms like Booking.com. Nearly 44% of establishments rely on these platforms for over 30% of their bookings, and this dependence directly impacts their margins, image, and control over customer data.

To regain control, here are the key solutions:

Direct bookings: Increase margins by 9% to 20%.
Multilingual website: Adapted to local languages (French, English), with localized content.
Local SEO strategy: and hreflang tags.
Direct booking system: Simple, secure, and tailored to the Swiss market (CHF, local standards).
Data protection: Compliance with the new LPD and GDPR.

Issue	Solution	Advantage
High commissions	Direct bookings	Higher margins
Lack of control over image	Clean website	Brand management
Standardization of services	Personalization	Increased customer satisfaction

Swiss hotels need to invest in a strong to reduce their dependence on OTAs, improve profitability, and offer a unique customer experience.

Issues related to third-party booking platforms

High commission costs

Commissions charged by OTAs (Online Travel Agencies), ranging from 15% to 30%, significantly impact hoteliers' margins. In 2019, these platforms accounted for 52% of online hotel bookings. In Switzerland, three giants dominate the market: Booking.com, Expedia, and HRS. Together, they control 93% of online bookings, generating approximately CHF 1 billion in revenue.

This concentration has drawn the attention of the Swiss Price Supervisor, who launched an investigation into the commission levels charged by Booking.com. Stefan Meierhans, Federal Price Supervisor, stated:

"even though the commission paid by hoteliers would necessarily have a ripple effect on the final price"

In addition to these costs, hotels must deal with a loss of control over their own image.

Limited brand image control

Using OTAs is not just about high fees; it also reduces hotels' ability to manage their image. A survey reveals that six out of ten hotels in Switzerland believe that OTAs are not transparent in their ranking methods. The criteria used remain unclear, complicating any efforts to improve a property's visibility.

Standardized customer experience

Booking platforms impose standardization that no longer meets today's travelers' expectations. The numbers speak for themselves:

79% of travelers seek personalized experiences
71% of customers want interactions tailored to their needs
Personalized recommendations increase satisfaction by 32%

Impact of personalization	Result
Customer satisfaction	+32%
Additional revenue	+23%
Email open rate	+29%
Conversion rate	+41%

These statistics clearly show that personalization is a key lever to meet customer expectations and improve performance. However, constraints imposed by OTAs limit this approach, highlighting the importance of more tailored digital solutions.

Creating a bilingual French-English hotel website

Setting up a multilingual CMS

In Switzerland, where linguistic diversity is a daily reality, a well-designed multilingual CMS is essential for a hotel website. To provide smooth and user-friendly navigation, the CMS should include:

A separate content structure for each language.
Localized URLs with appropriate hreflang tags.
An intuitive admin interface with real-time previews of the French and English versions.

These elements ensure a and a experience.

Quality standards for translation

Translation plays a key role in the credibility of your establishment. In Switzerland, translation costs typically range from CHF 0.10 to CHF 0.30 per word. It is also important to note that translating from English to French often results in a 15 to 20% increase in text length.

Translation method	Advantages	Disadvantages
Professional translation	Respects linguistic and terminological nuances	Higher cost
Machine translation	Speed and reduced cost	Inconsistent quality
Hybrid approach	Good compromise between quality and price	Requires human revision

"Your website sells an experience. If a user's first interaction is faulty or confusing, it can create expectations of a poor experience. A well-designed mobile experience is not just a nice-to-have; savvy users will turn away at the first sign of trouble."

These translation best practices provide a solid foundation for a design tailored to the Swiss market.

Design adapted to the Swiss market

To meet the expectations of travelers in Switzerland, the website design should include:

Information on local transportation.
Display of prices in CHF, using the Swiss format (10'000.00).
Highlighting relevant Swiss certifications.
Professional photos showcasing the establishment.

Moreover, user behaviors show that about 50% of travelers compare prices on a computer after researching on mobile. Thus, a responsive design is essential to:

Integrate a price comparison tool directly on the site.
Add subtitles to videos for better accessibility.
Display verified customer reviews to enhance trust.
Ensure smooth navigation to the booking system.

Finally, the design should respect French typographic specificities, such as the use of quotation marks « » and accents, while maintaining visual consistency between language versions. This ensures a neat and professional presentation for each audience.

SEO Guide for Swiss Hotels

Implementation of language tags

To maximize your multilingual visibility, it is crucial to correctly add hreflang tags in the <head> section of your site. Let's take the example of a Swiss hotel site with content in French and English:

<link rel="alternate" hreflang="fr-ch" href="https://www.hotel-example.ch/fr/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="en-ch" href="https://www.hotel-example.ch/en/" />
<link rel="alternate" hreflang="x-default" href="https://www.hotel-example.ch/" />

Each language version should link to its equivalents in other languages. As highlighted by Google's John Mueller:

"TBH hreflang is one of the most complex aspects of SEO (if not the most complex one). Feels as easy as a meta-tag, but it gets really hard quickly."

Once this step is completed, focus on optimizing your .

Google Business profile setup

Ensure that your information follows Swiss formats to enhance user trust and improve your :

Phone number: +41 XX XXX XX XX
Address: in compliance with Swiss postal format
Prices: displayed in CHF (e.g., 1'234.50)

These well-configured details allow your establishment to stand out in local searches. To go further, adapt your content to regional specificities.

Local content strategy

To reduce your dependence on OTAs, focus on a . For example, a hotel in Geneva could enrich its site with articles or pages dedicated to:

Local events (festivals, conferences, trade shows)
Key attractions like the Jet d'Eau or the Old Town
Seasonal experiences (skiing in the Alps, cruises on Lake Geneva)

"Local SEO makes your hotel more visible to travelers searching for accommodations in your specific area. It also involves optimizing Google My Business profiles, using location-specific keywords, and finally ensuring NAP consistency across directories."

Also, create specific landing pages to meet visitors' needs. Here are some examples of optimized URLs:

/fr/seminaires-entreprises-geneve
/fr/hotel-proche-palexpo
/en/geneva-lakeside-hotel

These pages, combined with relevant and well-structured content, will improve your ranking in local searches and attract more qualified visitors.

Direct booking system

Reservation software selection

Choosing the right reservation software for a hotel in Switzerland requires special attention to local needs. It is essential to opt for a solution that natively handles Swiss Francs (CHF) and complies with Swiss regulations.

Here are the essential features to look for:

Secure payment processing, compliant with PCI DSS and PSD2 standards.
Multilingual management, including at least French and English.
Seamless integration with the PMS (Property Management System).
Detailed analytical reports to track performance.

These features form the basis of an efficient system that improves the customer experience while facilitating internal management.

Reservation page optimization

A well-thought-out can transform the user experience and increase direct revenue. Take the example of the Golden Phoenix hotel: after optimizing its booking system, this establishment saw a 20% increase in direct revenue.

Here are the essential elements for a high-performing booking page:

Clear price display, following the Swiss format.
Simplified process, limited to a maximum of three steps.
Always visible booking button, regardless of the section.
Ultra-fast mobile interface, essential for capturing bookings from users on the go.

Element	Recommended location
Booking button	Top right corner
Phone number	Site header
Language selector	Main menu
Security guarantees	Near the payment form

Clear booking policies

Once the interface is optimized, it is crucial to present transparent and reassuring booking policies. Ensure that this information is available in both French and English, taking into account local sensitivities.

Key points to include:

Detailed cancellation terms.
Check-in and check-out times clearly indicated.
Accepted payment methods, with an exhaustive list.
Best price guarantee, enhancing trust.

To encourage direct bookings, display a clear comparison between your direct rates and those of third-party platforms. Hotels adopting this strategy see conversion rates increase by up to 20%.

Implementing a robust direct booking system represents a significant step towards more autonomous and profitable reservation management. It also strengthens the relationship with customers while increasing margins.

Swiss data protection requirements

Analytical compliance

Since the entry into force of the new Federal Data Protection Act (nLPD) on September 1, 2023, hotel websites must comply with strict rules regarding the collection and use of analytical data. To avoid fines of up to CHF 250,000, it is crucial to implement a compliant analytics system. Here are some key actions to consider: prioritize privacy-respecting analytics tools, anonymize visitor IP addresses, ensure data is stored only in Switzerland, and rigorously document data processing processes.

Swiss cookie rules

Cookie management must comply with both the nLPD and the GDPR, especially for hotels catering to a European clientele. This means that only strictly necessary cookies can be activated by default. Analytical, marketing, or preference cookies require explicit user consent. These provisions are part of a broader compliance approach, which also includes specific requirements related to data hosting, as explained further.

Data hosting in Switzerland

“As stated by Yasin Kücükkaya, Data Protection Officer, 'organizations operating in Switzerland and the EU must be vigilant: although the new LPD aligns with the GDPR, some differences remain, particularly in terms of sanctions'”

To ensure optimal compliance, opt for a . Also, ensure data encryption, implement strict access controls, and perform regular backups.

While these measures may represent a significant investment, they enhance customer trust and significantly reduce legal risks. This underscores the strategic importance of data protection in the Swiss hotel sector.

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How to Drive More Direct Bookings for Hotels in 2025

Website Performance Monitoring

Monitoring your website's performance is a crucial step to strengthen your hotel's digital presence and improve the user experience.

Language analysis

Did you know that 65% of users prefer to browse in their native language and 40% refuse to book if it's not possible? These figures highlight the importance of adapting your site to different languages. Here are some actions to consider:

Set up language segments in Google Analytics to track visitors by language.
Analyze conversion rates by language using custom dashboards.
Identify performance differences between language versions to address any discrepancies.