Most independent properties are easy to book once somebody finds them, and hard to find in the first place. The OTAs solved the finding and kept fifteen to twenty-five per cent of the answer. A guest who already knows your name can go straight to you; the difficulty is the guest who does not.
The Zitlin directory is a small, honest piece of that. Properties running on Zitlin are published in a public list, grouped by country and by city, and every entry links to that property's own booking engine.
What a listing is, and what it is not
It is a page a guest — or a search engine, or the assistant somebody asks instead of a search engine — can find, showing your name, your description, your photograph, your star rating and the city you are in, with one link that opens your own booking page.
It is not a marketplace. There is no basket and no payment on the directory. It holds no inventory, so it cannot sell your rooms, undercut your rate or hold your availability. When a guest clicks through, they are on your booking engine, paying you, on your terms — and the reservation lands in your calendar as a direct booking like any other.
You are probably already listed
There is nothing to apply for. The directory is built from the properties already running on Zitlin, and your entry appears once all of these are true:
- your booking engine is switched on, and you have turned it on yourself under Admin → Direct Bookings
- your account is active and in good standing
- your subscription is live
The country and city come from your property's address, so it is worth spending a minute on that field. A blank or misspelt city is the usual reason an owner cannot find themselves where they expected to be.
Why we bother publishing it
Two reasons, and it is fairer to say both.
The honest self-interest: properties that take direct bookings stay with the software that helps them do it, and a directory of real, bookable properties is useful to the people looking for them.
The part that helps you: a city page collecting a handful of genuine independent properties is exactly the kind of page a search engine and an AI assistant will read and quote, and each entry passes that attention to your own booking page. It is not a substitute for your own marketing. It is one more doorway that costs you nothing and takes no commission when somebody walks through it.
Making the most of it
Your listing shows what your property settings hold, so the same few minutes that improve your booking engine improve this too.
| Fill in | Where it shows |
|---|---|
| Property description | The entry's summary, and the first thing a guest reads |
| Photographs | The card image on the city page |
| Star rating | Beside your city on the entry |
| Address, especially the city | Which city page you appear on at all |
All four live under Admin → Property Listing, and all four are already used by your booking engine and your connected OTAs — so this is not extra work, it is the same work paying off in one more place.
Bookable, and findable
Switch on the booking engine and your property joins the directory — one more way to be found, with no commission on anything that comes of it.
Start free
Frequently Asked Questions
What does it cost to be listed? Nothing, and there is no commission on anything that comes of it. The directory is a signpost: a guest who arrives through it lands on your own booking engine and books with you directly. Zitlin never sits between you and the guest, and never takes a cut of the reservation.
How do I get my property listed? By having your booking engine switched on and your subscription live. The directory reads from the properties already running on Zitlin, so there is no form to fill in and nothing to submit. If the engine is on and you can take a direct booking, your entry is there.
My property is not showing up. Why? Almost always the address. The country and city pages are built from your property's own address, so a blank or misspelt city puts you somewhere other than where you expect to find yourself. Check it under your admin settings. The other reasons are simpler: the booking engine is switched off, or the subscription is not live.
Will this compete with my own website? No, because it points at your website's booking engine rather than replacing it. The listing carries your name, your description, your photograph and your star rating, and its only call to action is to open your own booking page.
Is this an OTA? No. There is no basket, no payment, and no booking taken on the directory itself. It carries no inventory of its own and cannot sell your rooms — it only shows that you exist and sends the guest to you.