Pembroke Inn: From OTA-Dependent to 80

MARKETING

Pembroke Inn: From OTA-Dependent to 80–90% Direct Bookings

Pembroke Inn is a 52-room independent boutique hotel in downtown Toronto, built around a willingness to question traditional hotel practices. With Cloudbeds connecting its website, booking engine, marketing, distribution, and guest experience, the hotel transformed a period of OTA disruption into a significantly stronger direct booking strategy.

Why it matters: After previously relying on OTAs for almost all reservations, Pembroke Inn shifted to approximately 80–90% direct booking activity while maintaining close to 100% occupancy during peak season. Cloudbeds digital marketing also attributed approximately $263,000 in booked revenue to its campaigns over six months.

Cloudbeds replaced Pembroke Inn’s disconnected PMS and website with a unified platform for reservations, distribution, direct bookings, digital marketing, and guest communication — giving the team clearer visibility into marketing ROI while reducing its dependence on third-party channels.

Top 3 Core Objectives: Pembroke Inn wanted greater control over how it operated, distributed rooms, and invested in its property. After leaving its franchise and moving away from an inexpensive but limiting PMS, the team needed connected technology that could strengthen direct bookings while simplifying both staff and guest experiences.

Connect the booking journey: The previous PMS operated separately from Pembroke Inn’s website, requiring staff to manually transfer direct reservations while dealing with slow rate updates and frequent double bookings. The hotel wanted its website, booking engine, PMS, and distribution connected in one system.
Reduce OTA dependence: When a regulatory issue temporarily restricted access to certain OTAs, Pembroke Inn needed another way to generate demand. The team turned to metasearch, retargeting, and Hotel PMAX to drive more travelers directly to its Cloudbeds-powered website and booking engine.
Measure what drives revenue: Previous advertising efforts generated traffic but gave Kevin little visibility into whether clicks became reservations. Pembroke Inn wanted to connect marketing spend directly to booked revenue and understand which campaigns were delivering returns.

Innovators Mentioned

Cloudbeds

Kevin Sit

Co-Owner

Pembroke Inn

"Our occupancy is still up, and our RevPAR is still up to where it would typically be. I’m doing exactly the same business right now, but I don’t pay OTA commissions."

Kevin Sit

Co-Owner

👍 Co-Owner Kevin Sit said that The shift toward direct bookings allowed Pembroke Inn to maintain performance while dramatically changing the economics behind each reservation.:

"Our occupancy is still up, and our RevPAR is still up to where it would typically be. I’m doing exactly the same business right now, but I don’t pay OTA commissions."

⚖️ The selection process: During their research process, Kevin Sit evaluated Cloudbeds's product differentiators, customer support, and holistic value as a strategic partner and ultimately decided that Cloudbeds was the best fit solution:

Co-Owner Kevin Sit said, about their decision: "Cloudbeds is really, really good. We’re really happy with it. This is one of those cases where it’s actually exceeding our expectations. I would recommend the software to another hotelier, just not a competitor that’s around the corner from me."

📈 The results: What began as a response to temporary OTA restrictions reshaped Pembroke Inn’s distribution strategy. The hotel maintained strong peak-season performance while shifting the vast majority of bookings direct, significantly reducing commission costs and gaining measurable returns from its digital marketing investment.