From fully OTA-dependent to a thriving direct booking model — in just 6 months. Here is exactly how we did it.
Recharge Travels is a Sri Lankan tour operator and accommodation provider serving both domestic and international travellers. Before working with SafeNet, they faced three critical problems:
90%+ of bookings came through Booking.com and Agoda, losing 15-25% commission on each reservation.
Their existing website was an outdated WordPress template — slow, English-only, and with no booking capability.
OTAs owned all guest relationships. No ability to market directly to past guests for repeat bookings.
Blazing-fast tourism website built with React and Next.js, scoring 96/100 on Google Lighthouse. Modern design with high-quality imagery, tour package showcase, and accommodation listings.
Full Sinhala, Tamil, and English support — not machine-translated, but locally written content that resonates with domestic travellers. This alone drove a 3.2x improvement in conversion rate.
One-tap WhatsApp booking integrated into every tour and room listing. Pre-filled messages with date, guest count, and package details. Zero OTA commission on every booking.
Trilingual AI chatbot that answers guest questions 24/7, recommends tours based on interests, and captures lead information when the team is offline.
Comprehensive SEO with tourism-specific schema markup, Google Business Profile optimisation, and content targeting both traditional search and AI answer engines.
GA4 implementation with custom events tracking WhatsApp clicks, enquiry submissions, and booking conversions. Real data for real decisions.
Analysed current OTA dependency, mapped guest personas, defined booking workflows
UI/UX design, trilingual content creation, photography direction
Built React/Next.js site, integrated WhatsApp booking, AI chatbot, and analytics
Technical SEO, Google Business Profile, search engine submission, launch
Conversion rate optimisation, content marketing, WhatsApp guest database building
Scaled direct bookings to 45% of total, established repeat guest marketing programme
| Metric | Before SafeNet | After 6 Months |
|---|---|---|
| Direct booking share | 8% | 45% |
| Monthly OTA commissions paid | LKR 200K+ | LKR 110K |
| Website Lighthouse score | 34/100 | 96/100 |
| Organic search traffic | ~120 visits/mo | ~890 visits/mo |
| Guest database contacts | 0 | 480+ |
| Repeat booking rate | Unknown | 32% |
| Average booking value | LKR 24,000 | LKR 31,500 |
| Languages supported | English only | Sinhala, Tamil, English |
“SafeNet did not just build us a website — they gave us a new revenue channel. We went from paying Booking.com for every guest to having nearly half our bookings come directly through our own site. The trilingual approach was the game-changer.”
Recharge Travels Team
Tour Operator & Accommodation Provider, Sri Lanka
Whether you run a hotel, tour company, restaurant, or any Sri Lankan business — we can help you build a digital presence that drives real revenue, not just clicks.
Written by
Digital Solutions Team
AI-Native Digital Agency | 50+ Projects Delivered | Based in Jaffna & Colombo
SafeNet Creations is an AI-native digital agency based in Jaffna and Colombo, Sri Lanka, specializing in web development, AI chatbots, cybersecurity, and digital marketing for businesses across the island.
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