OTA Commissions: What a Booking.com or Expedia Reservation Really Costs Your Hotel

There is no single commission: there is a range, and your contract

Every industry source gives a different number, which is the first lesson. PriceLabs puts Booking.com's commission between 10% and 25%, Bookline between 15% and 25% depending on contract type, country and visibility programmes, and Hoténtico says 15% to 20% for Booking and Expedia. These are third-party estimates, not a published rate. The number that matters is the one in your current agreement.

How to calculate your real cost per booking

The commission applies to the rate and to extras sold through that channel (breakfast, parking, packages). Run this exercise on the last three months:

1. Add up what each OTA invoiced and divide the commission paid by the channel's sales: that is your effective rate.
2. Exclude cancellations: commission is billed on completed stays, so look at actual stays.
3. Compare with what a direct booking costs: payment processing, front-desk time and ad spend if you run ads.

Illustrative example, not data from any hotel: at a rate of 100 and a 15% commission, the hotel receives 85. If that same guest had booked direct, it would receive 100 minus the cost of collecting. Small per booking, large per month.

What the commission doesn't show: who the guest is

According to Hoténtico, OTAs don't share the guest's email or contact details until after check-out, and only in a limited way. Without that data there is no campaign to past guests and no win-back offer. Every OTA booking is a customer you will have to pay again to reach.

Where the direct booking is won: in the conversation

If you already invest in ads, a website and social media, the guest arrives with a question on WhatsApp or Instagram: availability, price, breakfast. If the answer is slow or has no real rate, they open the OTA and book there. Three things move bookings to the direct channel:

• Answering with real availability and rates, within minutes, including nights and weekends.
• Quoting the full breakdown (nights, taxes, extras) before asking for payment.
• Keeping payment and reservation in the same thread, without sending the guest elsewhere.

That is what xcale's Reservations agent does: it sells on WhatsApp and Instagram using the real availability from your PMS, collects with a payment link and leaves the booking written. How the pieces connect is in WhatsApp for Hotels.

What not to do: quit the OTAs overnight

OTAs remain a showcase and a source of new guests. The realistic goal is not to switch them off but to make sure the guest who already knows you, from your ad, your Instagram or a previous stay, doesn't end up paying commission on a booking you had already won. Measure a one-month baseline: share of sales by channel and direct bookings that started in messages. Don't promise an improvement before you have that number.

Next step

If you want to see how this would look at your hotel, book a demo with xcale.