For years, Shahdag Mountain Resort’s bookings came mostly through online travel agencies. They brought visibility, but at a cost: high commissions and no control over customer relationships. The resort’s own website generated little direct revenue despite healthy traffic.
When we began analyzing behavior with Hotjar, it became clear that visitors wanted to book directly, they just couldn’t find an easy way to do it. Scroll maps showed that most users never reached the bottom of the homepage where the booking widget was hidden. Recordings revealed people clicking around the top of the page, clearly expecting to find booking options there.
It wasn’t a marketing problem or lack of interest - it was friction. The most important action on the site, booking a room, wasn’t immediately visible. The data told a simple story: people arrived ready to book, got frustrated and left to complete their reservation on an OTA instead.
The insight was obvious once we saw it: bring the booking action where users expect it, right at the top. At the same time, make it unmistakably clear that booking direct is the best option.
Within one winter season, results were undeniable:
The growth didn’t fade after that season. The change reshaped user behavior for good. Direct bookings continued to dominate in the following years, proving that the improvement was structural, not seasonal.