Built where tourism is the economy.Trusted by 40+ travel & hospitality brands.
The independent growth partner for the whole travel economy, in the age of AI trip planning
Travellers discover, compare and book online and increasingly through AI, and OTAs take a cut of every stay they win. Wise Pirates helps you own your demand instead of renting it, own your guest with first-party data and loyalty, and get found when travellers ask AI where to go and stay. We do not sell you a booking engine, we make your whole stack perform. Founded in Portugal, one of Europe's top destinations.
What we do for travel and hospitality, in one minute.
The rest of this page goes deep. If you read only one part, read this: we help travel and hospitality brands win more direct demand, own the guest relationship, and be found in the AI-era trip, on the stack you already run.
Direct bookings over OTA commission
Grow the direct channel with SEO, GEO, metasearch and a booking path that converts, so more revenue arrives without the OTA commission tax. OTAs stay a source, not your only one.
First-party data, CRM and loyalty
Unify guest data across your booking engine, PMS and CRM, and turn one-time bookers into a returning, higher-value base with loyalty and lifecycle marketing.
Be the answer in the AI-era trip
Travellers ask AI where to go and stay. We make your hotel, destination or product the answer, with GEO and AI visibility, so the OTA is not cited instead of you.
In one line: we win the direct demand, own the guest and get you found in the AI-era trip, for hotels, travel, destinations and traveltech, as an independent, platform-neutral partner that makes the stack you already run perform.
One partner across travel, tourism and hospitality.
The jobs to be done rhyme across the sector: capture direct demand, own the guest, and be found in AI-era discovery. What differs is the model. We are one of the few partners that credibly spans all four, and stays independent of any platform.
Our primary focus is hotels, resorts and hospitality groups, tour operators and travel brands, where owning demand and the guest matters most. We are also a strong fit for destinations and DMOs, traveltech and marketplaces, who share the same discovery and first-party-data challenges.
Hotels, resorts & rentals
Chains and independents, resorts, short-term rental and hostels that need direct bookings, loyalty and less OTA dependence.
OTAs, operators & agencies
OTAs and marketplaces, tour operators, DMCs, travel agencies and experiences that need demand and distribution.
Tourism boards & DMOs
Destinations and regions that need to grow arrivals and visitor spend, spread demand across the season, and be chosen in the AI-era trip.
Products & marketplaces
Digital products, marketplaces and apps for travellers that need activation, retention and healthy unit economics, and marketplace liquidity, not just downloads.
Whether you sell rooms, seats, tours or a travel app, the throughline is the same: own your demand, own your guest, and be found first.
The KPIs we move change with your model.
We do not stretch a single hotel plan across the sector. Success looks different for each segment, so we set targets and report against the metrics that matter to yours, agreed with you up front.
Own the guest, lift the rate
Efficient, repeatable bookings
Grow and spread demand
Healthy unit economics
Same disciplines, a different scoreboard for each model. We agree the KPIs with you first, then report on them honestly, not on platform vanity metrics.
Deep experience, from one of Europe's top destinations.
We have worked with more than 40 travel, tourism and hospitality brands, including the largest hospitality group in Portugal and the largest travel agency, among many different clients of all sizes and challenges: independent properties, OTAs and travel marketplaces, tour operators and agencies, destination projects and digital products built for travellers. This is not a sector we entered last year. It is one we have grown in.
And we are founded in Portugal, one of Europe's most tourism-intensive economies and top destinations, so we know this market from the inside: the seasonality, the source markets, the OTA pressure and the AI-era traveller. We bring that read, and a method that travels, to operators anywhere.
From the sector, for the sector
Hotels, travel, destinations and traveltech. We have run the direct-booking, guest-data and discovery playbook across the whole travel economy, not read about it.
A top-destination read
We know a market where tourism is a fifth of the economy, at record revenue but softening growth and heavy OTA exposure. The exact market our playbook is built for.
Experience you can feel in the work. The range is the proof: a national chain and a boutique independent, an OTA and a tour operator, a destination and a traveller app all need the same three things done well, and we have done them.
Trusted on national and regional tourism projects.
Beyond private operators, we have delivered digital projects for public tourism bodies, including Turismo de Portugal and Turismo da Madeira. This is destination-scale work: promoting a country and a region, growing arrivals and visitor spend, spreading demand across the season, and being chosen in the AI-era trip, with the governance and rigor the public sector requires.
Grow and spread the demand
Campaigns and always-on discovery that grow arrivals and visitor spend, and spread them across seasons and source markets, not just peak weeks.
Be the destination AI recommends
GEO and AI trip-planning visibility so the country or region is named when travellers ask an assistant where to go, not only the OTA packages of it.
Governance built in
Procurement-ready delivery, transparent reporting and data protection, run to the standards public tourism bodies are held to.
This is the destinations and DMO playbook, proven at national and regional scale. The same partner that grows a hotel or an operator can grow a destination.
Booked online, planned with AI.
Travel is the world's fastest-growing major sector and it is digitising fast. Most bookings are now online, most happen on a phone, and a growing share of trips are planned by asking AI. The brand that wins discovery and the direct booking, and owns the guest afterwards, takes the margin.
global travel and tourism GDP in 2025, 9.8% of the world economy and growing faster than it.
WTTC, 2025international arrivals in 2025, up about 4%, with Europe the world's most-visited region.
UN Tourism, 2025tours, activities and experiences in 2025, heading to $342B by 2029, the fastest-growing segment and still mostly booked offline.
Arival / Phocuswright, 2026overnight stays in Portugal in 2025, from 32.5M guests, most of them international.
INE, 2025The pressures on your desk this quarter.
We do not sell generic digital growth. We work in bookings, guests, seasonality and OTAs, the realities of travel and hospitality, not a template borrowed from another sector.
Travellers decide in a chat window
Search is moving from the blue links to the answer box. If AI assistants do not know and recommend your brand, you are not on the shortlist.
OTAs, and now AI agents, own the guest
Commissions take 15 to 25% or more, and a new agentic layer is forming on top. Winning back direct bookings and first-party data is survival, not strategy.
Your guest data is everywhere and nowhere
PMS, CRS, booking engine, loyalty and CRM, all siloed. Personalisation is expected, but the data to power it cannot be reached.
Seasonality and swings you have to smooth
Filling shoulder season, pricing in real time, and turning viral spikes into revenue takes tooling and creative velocity most teams do not have in-house.
Own your demand, not just your rooms.
OTAs supply the majority of bookings for many independents and take 15 to 25 percent or more in commission, and they keep the guest. OTAs stay an important source of demand, but they should not be your only one. We grow the direct channel on top of the stack you already run, and connect it to the guest data you keep.
Win the search and the map
SEO, GEO, metasearch and Google Travel so travellers find and choose you, not just the OTA listing of you.
A booking path that closes
Fast, mobile-first website and booking flow, price confidence and CRO, so the direct visit becomes a direct booking.
The guest becomes yours
Every direct booking feeds first-party data and CRM, so the next stay does not need an OTA at all.
Direct has its own acquisition cost, but no OTA commission, and you keep the guest. Platform-neutral, on purpose: we make the booking engine and metasearch you already run perform, so our only incentive is your direct revenue. We report on direct-booking share, RevPAR and cost per acquired stay.
Turn a one-time booker into a returning guest.
Direct booking is downstream of owned data. The brands that escape the OTAs are the ones with a unified guest profile, a loyalty programme and first-party data working across every touch. We build that engine on top of your PMS, booking engine and CRM, so a stay becomes a relationship, and a relationship becomes lifetime value.
We unify guest data across PMS, booking engine, CRM and loyalty on our Wise BI Foundry discipline, and activate it for direct demand and retention. The OTA rents you a booking. We help you keep the guest.
When a traveller asks an AI where to stay, are you the answer?
Travellers increasingly ask ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Google AI Overviews where to go, where to stay and what to do, and AI summaries now appear on a large and growing share of searches. If your hotel, destination or product is not structured to be cited there, the OTA is cited instead of you.
A corroborated entity
Your hotel, destination or product, confirmed in the structured data and knowledge graphs the models and maps read.
Citable content
Clear answers on location, rooms, experiences and price that the models want to quote, not brochure copy they skip.
Ecosystem presence
Reviews, maps, guides and the sources an AI trusts, so your brand is in the answer, not only on your own site.
This is our Wise GEO Compass framework applied to travel: we engineer the citable content, the entity and the ecosystem presence that make search and AI recommend you, and we measure your share of the answer against competitors, every month. Being recommended early helps put you on the traveller's shortlist.
Independent, platform-neutral, and built for results.
Our proposition is a service and proprietary technology working as one, on top of the stack you already run. In the service you get the best of our people, our experience across 300+ brands and 40+ in travel, and the leading best practices. Where the field is new and moving fast, AI discovery and honest measurement, we bring proprietary frameworks competitors do not have.
Senior, cross-disciplinary, independent
Media, data, GEO, web, CRM, loyalty and reputation in one crew, bold and transparent, judged on your direct bookings and repeat guests, not activity.
Proprietary edge for emerging areas
Wise GEO Compass for AI and search visibility, Wise BI Foundry for one guest view, our marketing mix modeling for honest measurement, Wise Sidecar for senior advisory that stays.
We make your stack perform
We operate and optimise the tools you already license, from your booking engine to your CDP and metasearch, as an independent partner, not a reseller. We connect the dots and own the outcome. No lock-in.
Why it matters: the sector is full of platform vendors who each own one lane and lock you in, and consultancies that sell transformation. The wedge is an independent partner that connects demand, data and AI, and answers for direct revenue. That is exactly what we bring.
The travel growth engine, part by part.
Everything connects to one outcome: direct bookings and repeat guests you can measure. We start where the return is fastest and build the rest around it.
Demand that books direct
Search, social and paid acquisition tuned to travel intent, aimed at direct bookings, not just traffic.
Be the answer travellers get
Generative and answer engine optimisation so your hotel, destination or product is cited in AI trip planning.
Win the compare-and-book moment
Metasearch, Google Hotels and free booking links managed to shift share from OTA to direct.
A path that converts
Fast, mobile-first sites, apps and booking flows, with conversion optimisation on the path to a stay.
One guest view, owned
Unify and activate guest data across PMS, booking engine and CRM, on your own stack, as an asset you keep.
Turn stays into returns
Loyalty programmes and lifecycle journeys that lift repeat rate, direct share and lifetime value.
The trust that converts
Reviews and reputation across Google, maps and the platforms, managed to protect bookings and rank.
Prove it to the owner
Marketing mix modeling and incrementality on your real revenue, so spend is defended, not guessed.
Chain-grade growth, sized for independents and the mid-market.
The biggest chains have in-house teams and enterprise budgets. Independents, boutiques, operators and traveltech startups feel the OTA squeeze hardest and have the most direct upside. We are built for them, with the senior team and proprietary technology usually reserved for the giants.
Run it, ride beside you, or advise
Engagements sized to a single property or a whole group, with no holdco overhead. You pay for what moves the needle.
The crew, not a training ground
You get our senior people and proprietary frameworks, not a team learning hospitality on your account.
Prove it this season
We start where the return is fastest, direct-booking share, an AI-visibility gap or a loyalty push, and show a result before asking for more.
Independents and operators are underserved by both enterprise consultancies and single-lane platforms. We were built for them, on purpose.
Speed and automation, wired to the booking.
In travel, the enquiry you answer first and the guest you serve best usually wins. The part of our work closest to your revenue is making sure no booking or guest falls through.
Speed-to-lead & automation
We automate enquiry response, booking follow-up, pre-stay and post-stay journeys and back-office admin, and put governed agents to work, so travellers get answers in minutes and every stay is nurtured. This is what converts the demand you win.
Related offerings
Agentic Security for the personal and payment data travel runs on, and AI Enablement to get your commercial and marketing teams using data and AI safely. Available when you need them, on our Wise BI Foundry data foundation.
Speed and automation sit closest to conversion, so we lead with them. Security and AI enablement are there when they matter, not bolted on by default.
Where our travel approach is different.
Travel growth in 2026 turns on a few things, and this is where we focus and do them differently. The platform vendors each own one lane and lock you in; the consultancies sell transformation. We connect the whole engine and stay independent.
| Capability | Platform vendors | Enterprise consultancies | Wise Pirates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booking engine, CRS, PMS, metasearch tool | Strong (their own) | Limited | Not our lane, we make yours perform |
| Enterprise transformation programmes | Limited | Strong | Not our lane |
| Direct demand + guest data, one engine | One lane each | Rare | Owned, independent, on your stack |
| AI-era trip discovery / GEO | Rare | Rare | Owned, with a proprietary framework |
| The whole travel economy, one partner | Hotel-only | Airline / enterprise-only | Hospitality, travel, destinations & traveltech |
| Independent, platform-neutral, results-first | Sells you a platform | Sells you a programme | Service + proprietary tech, no lock-in |
The platform vendors lock you into one lane; the consultancies sell abstract transformation. We connect demand, data and AI into one engine, across the whole travel economy, and answer for direct revenue. The unfair advantage is the combination: a senior team, proprietary frameworks, deep sector experience, and independence.
What the data is saying.
The shift is documented. We build for it.
Travel is the growth sector
Travel and tourism reached $11.6T in 2025, nearly a tenth of the world economy, and grew faster than the economy as a whole.
The OTA dependency is real
OTAs supplied about 63% of bookings for independent hotels in 2025, at 15 to 25% commission or more, and they keep the guest.
Experiences are the frontier
Tours and activities are travel's fastest-growing segment, heading past $340B by 2029, and still mostly booked offline.
Independent, published figures, not ours. Every one was checked before publication.
What it looks like when it works.
From work across more than 40 travel, tourism and hospitality brands. Figures below are illustrative placeholders; the real, client-approved numbers replace them before publication.
Shift share from OTA to direct
- Grew the direct channel with SEO, GEO, metasearch and booking-path CRO.
- Unified guest data and stood up loyalty and lifecycle CRM.
- Measured direct-booking share, RevPAR and blended commission.
Illustrative result: direct-booking share up around 12 points, repeat rate up around 20%.
More demand for experiences
- Moved experiences demand online with performance and GEO.
- Improved the booking path and connected first-party data.
- Attributed bookings to real revenue, not clicks.
Illustrative result: online bookings up around 30%, cost per booking down around 22%.
Grow travellers, not just downloads
- Built acquisition and AI-era discovery for a traveller product.
- Wired retention and lifecycle to lift active users.
- Measured to activation and lifetime value.
Illustrative result: activated users up around 35%, retention up around 18%.
Every pattern runs on the same principle: win the direct demand, own the guest, and measure to real revenue. Client identities and confirmed figures are shared under engagement.
A partner with the range this needs.
Clients rate us on it: in our latest client survey across our client base, satisfaction ran 94% good or excellent on readiness and responsiveness, with an NPS above 60. Bold, independent and transparent: no holdco markup games, no black boxes, and a team not afraid to have an opinion. We bring the best of people, frameworks and proprietary technology to one thing, your business results.
We benchmark first
Before we promise anything, we read your direct-booking share, your AI visibility and your guest data, so the starting line is honest.
We measure on real revenue
Marketing mix modeling and first-party data reconcile spend to direct bookings, RevPAR and lifetime value, not platform clicks.
We report in your metrics
Direct-booking share, cost per acquired stay, repeat rate and blended commission. Your numbers, defended to the owner.
Because the guest, not the booking, is the prize.
We grow direct, independently
We make your stack perform and grow the direct channel, so our only incentive is your revenue and your guests.
We own AI-era discovery
Be the answer travellers are given when they ask AI where to go and stay, before the OTA is.
We bring deep sector experience
Across hotels, travel, destinations and traveltech, in one of Europe's top destinations, with a method that travels.
The platforms change; the team, the frameworks and the guest data you own stay. That is the partner a travel brand needs for the next decade.
The frameworks that power your travel growth.
The travel playbook runs on the rest of what we do, so demand turns into direct bookings, bookings into loyal guests, and guests into measured revenue, with one partner.
Every property and operator runs on email, docs and collaboration.
Beyond growth, every hotel, operator and agency needs a solid partner for email and the docs, sheets and slides suite its people live in, across properties and shifts. We are a Google Workspace reseller for one of the fastest-growing productivity suites in the world, at competitive prices, with Gemini AI built in, and set up for commercial and front-of-house teams.
One partner, better pricing
Consolidated billing in euros, competitive pricing, migration and real support, so the productivity backbone is one less thing to worry about.
AI where your team already works
Gemini across Gmail, Docs, Sheets and Meet, so your team drafts, replies and reports faster, and responds to guests sooner.
Seats across every property
Shared drives and calendars across properties and departments, secure by default, on the devices your teams already use.
The same partner for your growth engine and your everyday tools. See our Google Workspace offer →
Choose the crew that fits, and pay on the outcome.
We are the independent alternative to the holding-company model: no account layer, senior people on the work, and pricing tied to the one number you want to move.
No holdco, no red tape
You talk directly to the people doing the work, and we move at the speed travel demand actually moves, up to three times faster than the holdco model.
Skin in the game
A lower base plus a success fee tied to an agreed KPI. We optimise for your business, not our portfolio, and we win when you do.
Built to run in production
SEO, GEO, AEO, agents and automation that ship and run, not slideware. The AI-era travel playbook, actually deployed.
A safe pair of hands for guest data
ISO 27001 certified and GDPR-native, based in Europe. Your data and your accounts stay yours.
Five ways to get aboard, from a full-service partnership to a side-car crew inside yours. Start at no risk.
Tell us your property, brand or product. We will map the growth.
Travel and hospitality, answered.
What does Wise Pirates do for travel and hospitality?
Do you sell a booking engine or a platform?
Which parts of travel and hospitality do you cover?
How do you reduce OTA dependence and grow direct bookings?
Why do GEO and AI trip planning matter for a hotel or destination?
Do you actually have experience in this sector?
How do you get a hotel, destination or tour recommended by ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity?
How do you price, and what are the engagement models?
Where do the numbers on this page come from?
Your experienced, long-term partner.
Tell us your project. We will show you the growth.
Book a conversation →
The OTA brings discovery. Content, social and reputation win the direct booking.
For many hotels the OTA is still the single biggest source of demand, and that is fine. Treat it as a discovery partner. But a traveller only books direct when your own channels earn it. Strong content, an active social presence and managed reputation are the social proof that turns an OTA-discovered traveller into a direct guest.
Content that sells the stay
Photography, rooms, experiences and story that give travellers a reason to book you directly, not just a category on a listing.
Social presence and social proof
An active social media presence that shows the experience, keeps you top of mind between trips, and gives the direct channel credibility.
Reputation and reviews, managed
Reviews and reputation across Google, maps and the platforms, managed as the trust signal that tips a hesitant traveller into a direct booking.
When the OTA is your primary source, winning direct is a trust game, not a discount game. That takes high-quality content creation, social media and reputation management run as one integrated service. That is exactly what we do.