Overview
Payload CMS v3 powers the bilingual EN/AR website for a four-property Omani hotel group. Rich room-description content types, seasonal-offer scheduler, and a direct-booking widget backed by a Supabase availability engine bypass OTA commissions. OTA dependency drops from 74% of bookings to 31% within 6 months; direct-booking ADR is AED 140 higher than OTA rate.
The challenge
Over 74% of bookings came through OTAs charging 18–22% commission, eroding margins. The group's website was a static Wix page with no booking capability and no Arabic support. Room descriptions were different across Booking.com, Expedia, and the old site, creating brand inconsistency. The marketing team needed seasonal offers published instantly without IT involvement.
The solution
We built the site on self-hosted Payload CMS v3 with a Room content type that enforces bilingual en/ar fields at the TypeScript type level, eliminating translation drift. A Supabase availability table updated by a nightly PMS sync drives the direct-booking widget. The seasonal-offer scheduler in Payload uses a publish-at field to auto-activate promotions on specific dates. Cloudinary handles responsive image variants for room photography. A Stripe checkout embedded in the widget collects direct bookings with a non-refundable deposit, cutting OTA exposure.
Outcomes
OTA booking share fell from 74% to 31% in 6 months
Direct-booking ADR is AED 140 higher than OTA net rate
Room description consistency achieved across all 4 properties
Marketing team publishes seasonal offers without IT in under 5 minutes
Key metrics
Tech stack
Services
Client testimonial
“Expedia was taking 22 cents of every dollar my guests spent. Now almost 70% of bookings come through our own site and we keep the full margin.”
— Saoud Al-Balushi, CEO — Nakhwa Hotel Group
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