Last April, I needed to book a 5-night package to Maldives for a high-value client. I'd been building a relationship with a resort there, so I went direct. Got what seemed like a great rate, patted myself on the back for my negotiation skills.
Then one of my agent friends casually mentioned she'd just booked the same resort, same dates, through a B2B portal—at 18% less than I'd paid. Plus she got instant confirmation while I'd waited 36 hours.
That one booking cost me SGD 2,400 in margin I should've captured. Expensive lesson.
Why This Question Matters More Than You Think
Every time you book a hotel, transfer, or tour, you're making a channel decision. Most agents don't even realize they're making this choice—they just default to whatever's familiar.
But here's reality: the wrong channel costs you in three ways:
- Direct margin loss: Worse rates than you could've gotten elsewhere
- Time waste: Manual processes when instant confirmation exists
- Opportunity cost: Hours spent managing bookings instead of selling
Neither direct booking nor B2B portals is "better." They're tools with different use cases. Using the right one for each situation is what separates agents earning 15% margins from those struggling at 8%.
When B2B Portals Win
Let me start with when B2B platforms make the most sense, because this is where most agents leave money on the table.
Standard Destinations, Standard Requests
If you're booking a mid-range hotel in Singapore for 2 nights, going direct is inefficient. The portal likely has:
- Better contracted rates than you can negotiate individually
- Instant confirmation instead of waiting for email responses
- Consolidated invoicing across suppliers
- Standardized cancellation policies you already understand
I tested this systematically. For three months, I requested quotes both direct and through B2B portals for "standard" bookings in major Asian cities. Result: portals won on price 73% of the time, and won on convenience 100% of the time.
"Standard" means: established destinations, common hotel categories, typical lengths of stay, normal client requirements. Think Singapore city hotels, Bangkok transfers, Kuala Lumpur tour packages.
When You Need Speed
Client calls Friday afternoon: "Can you book me into a hotel in Dubai for tomorrow night?"
Going direct means emailing suppliers, waiting for responses (which might not come until Monday), following up, negotiating rates—while your client books elsewhere.
Portal approach: search, select, book, confirm. Done in 8 minutes.
Speed has value. I calculate that direct bookings take me an average of 47 minutes from initial request to confirmation. Portal bookings average 12 minutes. For rush requests or last-minute changes, portals win decisively.
Markets Where You Have No Relationships
I don't book Europe often—maybe 4-5 packages per year. Building direct relationships with European suppliers for that volume makes zero sense.
This is exactly what B2B portals solve. They aggregate supplier relationships across destinations you don't serve frequently enough to justify direct contracts.
When occasional requests come in for destinations outside your core focus, portals give you immediate access to competitive rates without relationship-building overhead.
When You're Testing New Suppliers
Before I commit to a direct relationship with a new DMC or hotel, I test them through a portal first if possible. Why?
- Lower risk if service quality disappoints
- No awkward "breaking up" conversation if it doesn't work out
- Easier to compare them against alternatives
- Portal handles payment disputes if needed
Once I've confirmed quality through 3-5 portal bookings, then I approach them about direct relationships. But I don't commit blind.
When Direct Booking Wins
Now here's where direct relationships become essential.
High-Value, Complex Bookings
Anything involving multiple services, custom requirements, or significant value needs direct handling.
Example: I recently booked a 12-day Southeast Asia tour for a family of six with specific dietary requirements, mobility concerns for the grandmother, and requests for private guides at several stops. This involved coordinating hotels, transfers, tours, and special arrangements across three countries.
No B2B portal handles this level of customization well. I needed direct contact with a DMC who could coordinate everything and make real-time adjustments. The human relationship made it possible.
General rule: If total booking value exceeds SGD 5,000 and involves multiple components or special requirements, go direct. The relationship value and service flexibility justifies the extra time.
Recurring Business in Core Destinations
If you're booking Singapore hotels 3-4 times per month, you should have direct relationships.
Why? Because that volume gives you negotiating leverage portals can't match. I send 40-50 room nights per quarter to two Singapore hotel partners. In return, I get:
- Rates 10-15% better than portal pricing
- Guaranteed allocation during peak season (F1 weekend, New Year)
- Flexible cancellation terms
- Complimentary upgrades for my VIP clients
- Direct contact for resolving issues instantly
None of these benefits exist on portals. They're relationship-earned perks that come from consistent, concentrated volume.
When You Need Flexibility
Portal bookings typically have rigid cancellation policies. Need to change dates? That's a cancellation fee. Client wants a different room category? Might need to cancel and rebook.
Direct relationships allow flexibility:
- "Can we push checkout from noon to 4 PM?" (Often yes, if occupancy allows)
- "Client's flight delayed, can you hold the room?" (Usually accommodated)
- "Can we swap the garden view to pool view?" (No extra charge if available)
I had a client whose mother fell ill two days before their Thailand trip. My direct hotel contacts let me postpone the entire 6-night booking by three weeks with zero penalty. Try getting that from a portal.
Building Long-Term Strategic Value
Here's what nobody tells new agents: your business's real value isn't your client list—it's your supplier relationships.
If I decided to sell my agency tomorrow, buyers would pay a premium for my established direct relationships with DMCs and hotels in Southeast Asia. Those relationships took years to build and represent guaranteed capacity, negotiated rates, and operational efficiency.
Portal access has zero equity value. Anyone can sign up for a B2B platform. Not anyone can call a DMC director and get immediate allocation at a sold-out resort.
Strategic destinations where you want to build real business value? Go direct, invest in relationships, create competitive moats.
The Hybrid Approach That Actually Works
Here's my current breakdown:
- 65% of bookings through direct relationships: Core destinations, regular suppliers, high-value clients
- 30% through B2B portals: Standard requests, new destinations, speed-critical bookings
- 5% hybrid: Using portals to price-check direct quotes, or using direct relationships to negotiate better terms than portal pricing
That 5% hybrid category is interesting. Sometimes I'll get a direct quote that seems high. I'll check portal pricing, then go back to my direct contact: "Your competitor portals are showing 15% less. Can you match?" Often they will, because they'd rather keep my business than lose it to a platform.
Other times, I'll use portal bookings to supplement direct allocations. During peak season, my direct partners might be sold out. Portals provide overflow capacity without scrambling for last-minute suppliers.
The Real Cost Comparison
Let's get specific. I track detailed metrics on both channels. Here's what one year of bookings showed:
Direct Relationships
- Average rate advantage: 12% better than portal pricing (on like-for-like comparisons)
- Time cost: 45 minutes average per booking
- Confirmation speed: 18 hours average
- Modification success rate: 87% (most changes accommodated)
- Problem resolution time: 3 hours average
B2B Portals
- Rate comparison: Baseline (what I compare direct pricing against)
- Time cost: 12 minutes average per booking
- Confirmation speed: Instant
- Modification success rate: 34% (most require cancellation/rebooking)
- Problem resolution time: 24 hours average
See the trade-offs? Direct wins on rates and flexibility. Portals win on speed and efficiency. Your channel choice should match what your specific booking prioritizes.
Decision Framework I Use Daily
I literally have this checklist saved on my computer. Before any booking, I run through it:
Go Direct If:
- Total booking value exceeds SGD 5,000
- Destination is one of my core markets (75%+ of volume)
- Booking involves 3+ components (hotel + tours + transfers, etc.)
- Special requirements or customization needed
- Client is VIP/high-value (wants white-glove service)
- Dates include peak season when allocation is critical
- I have an established relationship with suitable supplier
Use Portal If:
- Standard request in established destination
- Need confirmation within 2 hours
- Destination where I lack direct relationships
- Low-margin booking where time efficiency matters
- Testing new destination/supplier before committing to relationship
- Off-season booking with no special requirements
- Backup needed when direct contacts can't accommodate
If multiple factors from both lists apply, I prioritize based on what matters most for that specific client and booking.
Common Mistakes Agents Make
I see these channel selection errors constantly:
Going Direct for Everything
Some agents pride themselves on "never using portals." This is ego, not strategy.
I know an agent who manually emails hotels for every Singapore booking—even single-night stays in standard hotels. She spends 3-4 hours per day managing confirmations that could be instant. Meanwhile, her competitors using portals for routine bookings spend those hours selling.
Direct relationships are valuable. Wasting them on bookings that don't require human relationships is inefficient.
Using Portals for Everything
Opposite mistake: agents who treat B2B portals as their entire supplier strategy.
These agents wonder why they can't get allocation during peak season, why they have no pricing leverage, why their margins are thin. It's because they've outsourced their entire supplier relationship to platforms.
Portals are tools, not strategies. Your business needs direct relationships in your core destinations to build real competitive advantage.
Not Tracking Performance by Channel
Most agents guess about which channel performs better. I track it systematically:
- Average margin by channel
- Client satisfaction scores by booking source
- Issue resolution speed and success rate
- Time investment per booking
- Cancellation and modification rates
This data tells me exactly when each channel makes sense. Without it, you're making expensive guesses.
The Role of Technology Platforms
Modern B2B platforms like DMCQuote are blurring the lines between "portal" and "relationship."
These platforms aggregate multiple DMC relationships, giving you benefits of both approaches:
- Portal convenience (instant search, comparison, booking)
- Relationship benefits (access to pre-negotiated DMC rates)
- Transparency (see exactly which DMC you're booking through)
- Flexibility (contact DMC directly through platform for special requests)
I use platforms like this as a middle ground—faster than going fully direct, but with better rates and service than generic portals.
The key is understanding what you're getting: Are you accessing a platform's contracted rates, or multiple DMCs' negotiated rates through one interface? The latter is significantly more valuable.
Building Your Channel Strategy
Here's how to optimize your direct-vs-portal mix:
- Identify your top 3 destinations by revenue: Build direct relationships here
- Map your booking patterns: What percentage are standard vs complex?
- Calculate your time cost: What's your hourly rate? Direct booking time x hourly rate = direct booking cost
- Compare total costs: Portal price + time savings vs direct price + relationship benefits
- Test systematically: For 2-3 months, deliberately split similar bookings between channels and track results
After this analysis, you'll have a clear picture of where each channel wins for your specific business model.
What I'd Do Differently Starting Over
If I launched my agency today, here's exactly how I'd build my channel strategy:
Year 1: Use portals for 90% of bookings. Focus on sales and client acquisition, not relationship building. Learn the destinations and identify where my business naturally concentrates.
Year 2: Build direct relationships in my top 2 destinations. Shift 40% of volume there while maintaining portal access for everything else.
Year 3: Expand direct relationships to 4-5 core suppliers across 3-4 destinations. Hit 60% direct, 40% portal split.
Year 4+: Maintain hybrid approach, with direct relationships for strategic destinations and portal access for flexibility and coverage.
Starting with portals lets you build volume and revenue quickly. Gradually adding direct relationships creates competitive moats in your strongest markets. Trying to build direct relationships everywhere from day one is exhausting and inefficient.
The Real Answer
Should you book direct or use B2B portals? Both.
The question isn't which is "better"—it's which is better for each specific booking. Standard Singapore hotel for two nights? Portal wins on speed and efficiency. Complex multi-destination package with VIP client? Direct relationships deliver value portals can't match.
Stop thinking about channels as competitors. Think of them as complementary tools in your operations toolkit. Use portals for efficiency at scale. Use direct relationships for differentiation and strategic value.
The agents earning the best margins aren't the ones married to one approach. They're the ones who know exactly when to use each channel—and have the discipline to choose based on data, not habit.
