Born from frustration.
Built for operators.
We spent years inside the experience industry — working with operators of every size, watching the same problems repeat themselves. We built Spotinga Host because no adequate solution existed, and we had the background to build one.
Start for Free Today"OTA platforms take 15–30% of every booking. For most operators, that is more than their entire profit margin — and they have no alternative."
The problem we set out to solve
It started with a client problem we couldn't ignore.
Not a small operator with a simple complaint — but a global, well-funded experience brand that was still losing millions to avoidable platform costs.
We were working closely with some of the largest experience operators in the world — businesses running tours, activities, and experiences across dozens of markets, with dedicated teams for operations, marketing, and technology. These were not resource-constrained organisations. They had everything most small operators dream of having.
And yet, the distribution problem remained completely unsolved for them. Their products were listed inconsistently across booking channels. Real-time availability synchronisation was a constant source of failed bookings and customer complaints. Getting onto Google's booking surfaces — one of the highest-intent channels for travel and experience discovery — required either a specialised tech partner charging five-figure fees, or months of painful API integration work that most teams simply didn't have the bandwidth to complete.
The commissions were the most visible pain. Every booking that moved through an OTA platform cost the operator 15–25% of revenue. For a business doing several million in annual bookings, that is a sum that dwarfs most operational costs — paid not for a service that adds value, but simply for access to demand the operator had already earned through years of brand building.
If operators of that scale — with experienced technology teams and real negotiating power — were still losing this fight, we knew the situation for smaller operators was categorically worse.
The same problem. Very different consequences.
Whether you run one kayak tour or manage a global portfolio of experiences, the structural problems are identical — but the smaller you are, the harder they hit.
Millions in annual commission paid to OTA platforms — with no meaningful negotiating power, regardless of volume.
Dedicated engineering teams still couldn't solve the Google Things To Do integration without paying a specialised connectivity partner.
Real-time availability sync across channels remained a source of double-bookings and customer service failures.
Distribution was managed through fragmented systems, each with its own contract, data format, and support relationship.
No choice but to list on OTAs — direct bookings require marketing budgets and technology most small operators cannot afford.
Platform fees consume the margin that would otherwise fund growth, staffing, or simply survival in lean seasons.
Google Things To Do is effectively inaccessible without a tech partner charging fees that make it uneconomic.
Running bookings, CRM, email marketing, and a storefront means paying for 4–5 separate tools that don't talk to each other.
Operators of every size are forced to depend on platforms that take a percentage of every transaction, provide no transparency, and offer no path to going direct. The market had accepted this as inevitable. We didn't.
We had the experience to build a real solution.
Not a workaround. Not an incremental improvement on an existing model. A genuinely different approach — built on a foundation we had spent years developing.
We built multi-tenant SaaS systems long before this project. We understood the architectural patterns that allow one platform to serve thousands of independent businesses — each with their own brand, settings, and data — without the cost and complexity of custom development.
Platforms like Shopify showed us what it looks like when commerce infrastructure is truly democratised. We applied that model directly — building a full branded storefront, shopping cart, and checkout that any operator can own and deploy under their own identity.
We worked with the GTTD platform in its early stages and watched it evolve into one of the most powerful distribution channels for the activities sector. That experience gave us a head start that no generic booking platform can replicate — and we built it directly into the product.
Before writing a line of code, we spent years embedded with operators — understanding not just what the software needed to do, but how operators actually run their businesses, where their time goes, and what trade-offs they face. That context shapes every decision we make.
Give every operator the tools the big players take for granted.
Our goal is straightforward: make it so that a solo operator running three experiences has access to the same distribution power, the same booking infrastructure, and the same marketing toolset as a business spending millions on technology. Without the commissions. Without the complexity. Without the cost.
We've seen what operators are capable of when they're not hamstrung by platform fees and fragmented tools. We built Spotinga Host to get out of their way and let them focus on delivering great experiences — which is all they ever wanted to do.
Join Us — It's FreeOur principles
Every product decision starts with one question: does this make life easier for the operator?
No hidden fees, no buried commissions, no surprise terms. What you see is exactly what you pay.
Your success shouldn't cost you more of your margin. We charge for tools, never for your growth.
We build on open, proven technology. No vendor lock-in. Your data is yours, always.
Ready to run your business your way?
Start free. Grow on your terms. No commissions, no locked-in contracts, no percentage of revenue paid to a platform that didn't earn it.