RateGain Travel Technologies Ltd, a global provider of AI-powered SaaS solutions for the travel and hospitality industry, has released its Direct Booking Friction Report 2026, warning that hotels across the APMEA region are losing direct revenue because of friction within their own digital booking experience.
The report highlighted that hotels are not losing bookings due to weak demand or pricing alone, but because of poor visibility, inconsistent pricing, slow booking journeys and trust gaps across their digital platforms.
According to the audit, the study mapped where and why hotels lose direct bookings even before guests reach checkout, while also revealing significant regional differences in digital maturity and booking readiness across APMEA markets.
Visibility gaps impacting bookings
The report found that 42% of hotels fail to appear on the first page for unbranded search queries, reducing visibility among high-intent travellers before the booking journey begins.
At the comparison stage, 63% of hotels were found listing higher rates on their own websites compared to online travel agencies (OTAs), pushing guests towards third-party booking platforms.
Slow booking experience raises abandonment risk
The audit also revealed that 72% of hotel websites fail to meet the three-second page load benchmark, with average mobile load times reaching 4.1 seconds.
Guests typically require four clicks to complete a reservation, compared to the global benchmark of three clicks, increasing the likelihood of booking abandonment.
The report further noted that 44% of hotels reveal taxes and fees only at the final payment stage, identified as the largest checkout abandonment trigger in the study.
Additionally, one in three hotels expose guests to a mismatch between the website URL and booking engine domain, creating security concerns at the final stage of booking.
AI search reshaping hotel visibility
RateGain Travel Technologies, Business Head – UNO Platforms, Ashish Sikka said, “The findings of this report highlight a growing gap between where guests are actually being lost. The direct booking journey has become too fragmented across search, pricing, booking engine, and guest experience, while travelers increasingly expect a seamless experience across every touchpoint.”
He added, “What makes this moment urgent is that AI search is changing the rules of visibility faster than most hotels realize. Brands moving to unified platforms to fix these systematic gaps are already seeing up to 5X growth in direct revenue within 90 days, while hotels operating disconnected systems risk becoming invisible before the booking journey even begins.”
Regional differences emerge
The report identified Singapore and Thailand as the strongest-performing markets in the region, with average load times of 2.9 seconds and better pricing parity discipline.
In contrast, the Maldives recorded the highest friction scores due to slower speeds, OTA bundle dominance and pricing opacity.