Case Study

How Lerch Genusswelten Cut OTA Revenue by €500K and Added €738K in Direct Bookings with Smart Host

Mara

Smart Host GmbH · سبتمبر 07, 2026

German hotel group Lerch Genusswelten turned its email marketing into a genuine revenue channel in 2025. Panoramahotel Oberjoch, a hotel of the group, cut OTA and tour-operator revenue by €500,000 while adding €738,000 in direct offer revenue through Smart Host campaigns — with only a 3% rate increase.

Why it matters: Most hotel groups still send newsletters the way they always have to everyone, without a clear audience or revenue target growing more dependent on OTAs with every booking. Lerch Genusswelten shows what happens when a hotel group treats its newsletter as a distribution channel instead of a marketing formality.

Smart Host's segmentation and campaign tools let Lerch Genusswelten's revenue team split guest data from its PMS into six dimensions: target group, status, behavior, occasion, season and lead time and run targeted, multi-step offer campaigns across all seven properties instead of one generic monthly newsletter.

Top 3 Core Objectives: After years of sending a single, unsegmented monthly newsletter via Mailchimp with lists pulled manually from the PMS, Lerch Genusswelten set out to:

Segment Guest Data: Move from manually pulled, unsegmented PMS lists to systematic segmentation by guest type, behavior, season and booking lead time across all seven properties.
Systemize Campaign Strategy: Replace one monthly blast with a repeatable, four-stage annual process — idea, planning, execution and evaluation — running four campaign types (inspiration, special, retention, offer) in parallel.
Shift the Distribution Mix: Reduce reliance on OTAs and tour operators by turning direct email campaigns into a measurable revenue channel rather than a marketing formality.

"It's not about always being cheaper. It's about showing the right guest the right offer at the right moment."

Kassandra Weber

Head of Sales & Marketing

👍 Head of Sales & Marketing Kassandra Weber said that On what actually drives bookings — not discounts, but relevance:

"It's not about always being cheaper. It's about showing the right guest the right offer at the right moment."

⚖️ The selection process: During their research process, Kassandra Weber evaluated Smart Host GmbH's product differentiators, customer support, and holistic value as a strategic partner and ultimately decided that Smart Host GmbH was the best fit solution:

Head of Sales & Marketing Kassandra Weber said, about their decision: "–"

📈 The results: In 2025, Lerch Genusswelten's Smart Host campaigns generated €7.06 million in revenue across the group and drove a clear shift away from OTA dependency — cutting OTA/tour-operator revenue by €500,000 while adding €738,000 in direct offer revenue, with only a 3% rate increase.

−€500,000 in OTA and tour-operator revenue, offset by +€738,000 in direct revenue from Smart Host offer campaigns
120 Smart Host campaigns group-wide generated €7.06M in revenue at a 36.5% average open rate and 7.8% average click rate (8,697 inquiries, 4,563 reservations)
A 3-step offer campaign ("Alpenfrühling") generated €211,620 from a single audience — the final "last call" send alone drove 55.3% (€117,116) of that revenue