How to get more direct bookings in NZ:
the operator’s playbook
Direct bookings are the ones made on your own website or booking page — you keep 100% of the price, minus only card processing. Marketplace bookings trade commission — commonly 15% and up in NZ — for reach. The playbook: know your channel costs, work the free channels, win marketplace guests back, and make direct the easiest way to book.
Written for NZ activity operators. All prices in NZD.
Know what each channel really costs
You can’t fix a channel mix you haven’t priced. Here’s what a NZ$100 booking actually leaves you on each of the main NZ channels.
| Channel | What it takes | Worth knowing |
|---|---|---|
| Your own site, via GoodKeen | 0% commission, 0% booking fees, on every plan including Free. | Payments land in your own Stripe account. The only card cost is Stripe’s standard processing fee — which goes to Stripe, not to us. |
| Bookme | Commission not published — operators typically report 20%+, on top of the deal discount you fund. | The discount comes out of your price before the commission does. Our full guide to Bookme and direct bookings walks through the maths. |
| See and Do NZ | A newer local marketplace that self-reports a flat 15%. | Simpler than deal-site pricing — there’s no discount to fund, just the commission. |
| BookIt (BookNZ) | Its BookNZ marketplace takes 15% commission (per bookit.co.nz operator pages). | A long-running NZ channel — same trade as the others: reach in exchange for a slice. |
| ClassBento | 20% of payments on orders from its website, and 3.9% + NZ$0.30 on orders through your own widget. | Those are alternative rates — one or the other depending on where the order comes from, never both on the same order. |
Rates per each provider’s operator-facing pages, checked Aug 2026 — check each provider for current rates. Bookme’s commission is not published; the figure is what operators typically report. Card processing is charged separately by your payment provider on any channel.
Work the zero-commission channels most operators skip
Before paying 15–20% for reach, take the reach that’s free. Three listings, none of which take a cut, and most NZ operators have set up at most one of them.
Tourism NZ’s Business Database
A free listing in Tourism New Zealand’s Tourism Business Database puts your operation on newzealand.com — Tourism New Zealand reports tens of millions of visits and millions of zero-commission referrals to operators a year. It costs nothing but the form-filling.
Your Google Business Profile
The map panel is where “things to do near me” searches land, and the booking link on it is yours to set. Point it at your own booking page — not a marketplace listing that takes a cut of the guests Google sent you for free.
Your regional tourism organisation
Every region’s RTO maintains operator listings on its visitor site, and the i-SITE network leans on them. Most list local operators free or near-free — a quick email to yours is often all it takes to get on the page visitors actually read.
Turn marketplace guests into direct regulars
You paid commission to meet them once. Whether you pay it again is up to what happens in the thirty seconds after their session ends.
A comeback code at the thank-you moment
While they’re still buzzing at the front desk, hand over a card: “book direct next time with COMEBACK10.” In GoodKeen that’s a promo code — percentage or fixed, and you can mark it first-booking-only so it fires exactly once, on their first booking with you rather than through a marketplace. Ten percent off is a fraction of the commission you were paying to reach them.
Gift vouchers as your direct-channel product
A voucher is a full-price booking that hasn’t picked a date yet — no discount to fund, no commission to share, and the recipient books on your page when they redeem it online. Issue them from your admin for the guest who asks “can I get one of these for my brother?” on the way out. Gift vouchers in GoodKeen carry the NZ-law 3-year minimum expiry automatically and support partial redemption.
Consent at checkout, then own the relationship
A marketplace guards its guest list; your own checkout builds yours. GoodKeen collects marketing consent at checkout and keeps every guest in your customer database with notes and tags — export the list to CSV and send your spring news from whatever email tool you already use. The list is yours, and it compounds every season.
Make direct the easiest way to book you
None of the above works if “book direct” means ringing you between trips. Marketplaces win when they’re the only place you’re bookable at 9pm — so be bookable at 9pm. A hosted booking page plus a widget to add booking to your own website means the guest who found you on Google or newzealand.com can pay and be confirmed while you’re asleep, waivers signed before anyone turns up.
And an honest note: marketplaces genuinely earn their keep for spare and off-peak capacity. A commissioned Tuesday seat beats an empty one, every time. The goal isn’t purity — it’s a mix where full-price weekend demand books direct at 0%, and the marketplace mops up what’s left.
GoodKeen’s free booking system plan covers up to 25 bookings a month with every feature included, and paid plans from NZ$39/mo simply lift the cap. 0% commission on every plan.
- Hosted booking page live, and the widget on your own website — bookable 24/7.
- Google Business Profile and Tourism Business Database listings pointing at your page, not a commissioned one.
- A comeback promo code printed and sitting at the front desk.
- Waivers signed at booking, payments straight into your own Stripe account.
Frequently asked questions
Your next direct booking keeps the whole price
Booking page, widget, waivers, promo codes and gift vouchers — 0% commission on every plan. Free forever up to 25 bookings a month.