Channels & demand
Section titled “Channels & demand”Direct booking
Section titled “Direct booking”A reservation made through a route the hotel controls — its website, a booking link, a QR code, a storefront, a partner route or an AI handoff — rather than through an OTA that owns the guest relationship. The transaction itself.
Direct distribution
Section titled “Direct distribution”The whole system that creates direct bookings: content, links, partner routes, storefronts, campaigns, rate and availability, booking engine, attribution and confirmation. Broader than “the hotel website.” See Direct Hotel Distribution.
OTA (Online Travel Agency)
Section titled “OTA (Online Travel Agency)”A third-party marketplace (e.g. the large booking platforms) that lists hotels and sells rooms, usually for a commission of 15–25%. Useful for reach; costly for margin and guest ownership. See Direct Bookings vs OTA Economics.
Metasearch
Section titled “Metasearch”A price-comparison surface (including Google’s hotel results) that aggregates rates from OTAs and direct sources so travelers can compare and click through to book.
Free booking links
Section titled “Free booking links”Unpaid slots in Google’s hotel results that let a hotel show its own rate and send the traveler to its booking page — no click cost. See Google Free Booking Links.
Partner channel
Section titled “Partner channel”A measurable demand route created by an agency, KOL, event organiser, DMC, community, publisher, bank, loyalty program or platform that influences where travelers stay. See Hotel Partner Channel.
Social commerce
Section titled “Social commerce”Turning social attention — posts, bio links, QR codes, partner recommendations — into measurable, bookable paths. See Hotel Social Commerce.
Economics & payment
Section titled “Economics & payment”Commission
Section titled “Commission”A percentage of a booking paid to the channel that produced it. OTA commissions commonly sit in the 15–25% range; Wink’s all-in cost on a confirmed direct booking is 5.5%. See Pricing.
All-in cost
Section titled “All-in cost”The total cost of a confirmed booking including payment processing. On Wink, 5.5% = 1.5% Wink platform fee + 4.0% payment fee, with no separate processor contract.
Attribution
Section titled “Attribution”Knowing which source, campaign, link, storefront, partner or agent created a booking. Wink preserves attribution for 6 months per click — credited to the booking, not just the session.
Merchant of record
Section titled “Merchant of record”The party legally responsible for the transaction and funds. Under Wink’s standard model, Wink acts as merchant of record; licensed travel agencies can instead act as merchant of record themselves. See Pricing.
Payment
Section titled “Payment”Wink handles booking payment as the merchant of record — checkout, cancellation-policy logic, tokenized cards, 3DS, multi-currency, split payouts and settlement. Funds release to the hotel at guest check-in, after Wink’s fee. Bundled into the 5.5% all-in; no separate processor contract.
Average booking value (ABV)
Section titled “Average booking value (ABV)”The average total value of a booking. It rises when a booking engine sells the whole stay — packages, add-ons, dining, spa, experiences — not just the room.
Supply & connectivity
Section titled “Supply & connectivity”ARI (Availability, Rates and Inventory)
Section titled “ARI (Availability, Rates and Inventory)”The live data a hotel must provide before a guest can book: what’s available, at what price, with what restrictions. See Connectivity.
Channel manager
Section titled “Channel manager”Software that distributes a hotel’s ARI to connected channels and syncs bookings back. Wink connects with 11 channel managers including SiteMinder, Cloudbeds, RateGain and D-EDGE.
PMS (Property Management System)
Section titled “PMS (Property Management System)”The hotel’s operational system of record for reservations, rooms and guests. Bookings can sync to it through connectivity.
CRS (Central Reservation System)
Section titled “CRS (Central Reservation System)”A system that centralizes rates, availability and reservations across a hotel or group; Wink supports SynXis as a CRS.
Extranet
Section titled “Extranet”A hotel’s control layer for supply: profile, rooms, rates, availability, policies, promotions, channels and booking-engine configuration. On Wink, the single source of truth. See Extranet.
Booking Engine
Section titled “Booking Engine”The fulfillment layer that turns approved supply into a confirmed booking — loading the right room, rate and add-ons, taking payment, and confirming across every route. See Booking Engine.
AI, content & developers
Section titled “AI, content & developers”AI discovery
Section titled “AI discovery”How travelers increasingly find hotels through AI assistants and answer engines instead of scanning links. See AI Discovery for Hotels.
Answer engine
Section titled “Answer engine”An AI system that responds with a direct answer rather than a list of links (AI Overviews, ChatGPT search, assistants). Hotels need structured, current content to be understood. See Hotel Content for Answer Engines.
AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)
Section titled “AEO (Answer Engine Optimization)”Structuring hotel content — facts, rooms, policies, offers, booking routes — so answer engines can understand, compare and cite it. The AI-era companion to SEO.
Agentic commerce
Section titled “Agentic commerce”AI agents that don’t just recommend a hotel but transact — reading live rates, creating bookings, taking payment and reacting to events. See AI Agents Booking Hotels and Agentic AI.
MCP (Model Context Protocol)
Section titled “MCP (Model Context Protocol)”A standard that lets AI agents read a system’s live API contracts. Wink hosts an MCP server so agents can discover operations and build working integrations without guessing at endpoints.
Web Components
Section titled “Web Components”Embeddable, bookable hotel modules — cards, maps, grids — that drop live inventory into any website or product, with Booking Engine handling the booking.
Webhooks
Section titled “Webhooks”Event notifications a system sends when something happens (e.g. booking.created). Wink exposes 64+ webhook events so products can react in real time.
Wink products in one line
Section titled “Wink products in one line”Studio
Section titled “Studio”Creates bookable assets — Shareable Links, QR codes, cards, maps, grids and Web Components — from hotel supply. See Studio.
Social
Section titled “Social”Plans, generates, approves, schedules and publishes hotel content with bookable links attached. See Social.
WinkLinks
Section titled “WinkLinks”A free, mobile-first Travel Storefront under one i.trvl.as link. See WinkLinks and Link in Bio for Hotels.
Traveliko
Section titled “Traveliko”A Wink-operated “Hotels with Benefits” consumer discovery channel, fulfilled by Booking Engine at the same 5.5% as direct. See Traveliko.