How OTA commission works
OTAs such as Booking.com, Expedia or HRS do not charge a monthly fee but take a share of every booking.Online travel agencies (OTAs) mostly work on a commission model: the hotel pays a percentage of the booking value for every guest who has stayed. Depending on the OTA, country and contract, the base commission is often somewhere between 15 and 25%. If you take part in visibility or partner programmes to rank higher in search results, you often pay a few percentage points more.
Billing is usually monthly in arrears, based on the stays that actually took place. With many OTAs, the guest pays at the hotel and the hotel transfers the commission to the OTA. In other models, the OTA collects the room rate and pays the hotel the amount minus commission. Exactly which amount the commission is based on, for example including or excluding taxes and extras, is set out in your contract. It is worth checking your own monthly statement carefully once.
Commission is not bad in itself. OTAs bring international guests, fill quiet periods and do advertising a small property could never afford on its own. It gets expensive when guests who already know your property, or are searching for it specifically, still book through the OTA because the direct route is more cumbersome or more expensive.
Worked example: what commission costs a 20-room hotel
Take a hotel with 20 rooms that achieves 60% occupancy over the year and an average daily rate (ADR) of €120 per room night. That gives 4,380 room nights sold and €525,600 in room revenue. 60% of that, i.e. €315,360, comes through OTAs. The figures are a simplified example without taxes and extras; plug in your own numbers.
| Commission rate | Commission per year | Commission per month | Commission per room night (€120) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 15% | €47,304.00 | €3,942.00 | €18.00 |
| 18% | €56,764.80 | €4,730.40 | €21.60 |
| 22% | €69,379.20 | €5,781.60 | €26.40 |
Direct bookings cost money too
If you only look at commission, your sums will be too optimistic. A direct booking has costs as well; they are just usually much lower and easier to plan. An honest calculation includes these items.
The most important difference: with a direct booking, the relationship with the guest belongs to you. You know their email address, their preferences and their stays, and can contact them directly next time. With OTA bookings, that contact often stays with the OTA.
| Item | What it covers | What to watch |
|---|---|---|
| Payment fees | Payment provider charges by payment method, card and country of origin | Compare the payment provider’s terms |
| Software | Booking engine, often with a monthly fee or a commission per booking | Calculate total costs against your real direct revenue |
| Website | Maintenance, photos, copy, hosting | Done well once, a website lasts several years |
| Marketing | Ads, metasearch, newsletter, social media | Measure cost per booking, not just per click |
| Staff time | Answering enquiries, checking payments | Instantly bookable rooms instead of an enquiry form save time |
Five levers for more direct bookings
No hotel gives up OTAs overnight, and that is not the goal either. The aim is to let the guests you can reach directly also book directly. Even a few percentage points make a noticeable difference over the year.
How to bring bookings to your own website
- 01Best price direct
The price on your website is never higher than on the OTA. Anyone who checks then has no reason to book through the OTA. Say so clearly on your website.
- 02Added value instead of discounts
Breakfast included, free parking, late check-out or a welcome drink only for direct bookings. Added value protects your rate and is often more attractive to guests than a discount.
- 03Guest communication
A personal message with arrival information before the stay, a thank-you with a request for a review after departure. Guests who were well looked after book direct next time. Send promotional emails only with the guest’s consent.
- 04Sell gift vouchers
A voucher from your online shop is almost always redeemed directly. It brings revenue before the stay and a guest who comes to you without an OTA.
- 05Look after regulars and companies
Returning guests and corporate clients get a promo code or a corporate rate for booking direct. That way nobody has to take the detour via the OTA.
How to measure your progress
What is not measured rarely changes. Decide which KPIs you will look at every month and compare them with the same month last year, so seasonal effects do not distort the picture.
KPIs for every month
- Share of room nights and revenue by channel: OTAs, website, phone and email, walk-in.
- Commission paid per month and per room night.
- Average daily rate (ADR) by channel: are direct bookings worth as much as OTA bookings?
- Share of regular guests who booked direct rather than through the OTA.
- Cost of direct bookings: payment fees, software and marketing per directly booked room night.
How STRYK helps you save commission
STRYK does not replace the OTAs; it makes sure both routes run cleanly side by side. Connect Booking.com, Expedia, Airbnb and other channels to STRYK. Manage rates and availability centrally and handle OTA reservations in the calendar. The booking engine on your website uses the same room inventory and the same rates. With channel mark-ups, you can deliberately set prices on the OTAs differently from those on your own website.
STRYK comes with the tools for the levers in this guide: extras and added value in the booking flow, promo codes and corporate rates, a gift voucher shop with online payment and redemption at booking or at reception, and automations for messages before arrival and after departure, such as a review request. The guest database shows who has stayed with you before, and reports show how your bookings are distributed across channels.
On price, the difference from the commission model is deliberately clear: the booking engine is included in the base price of €59 plus €6 per room per month (excl. VAT). Only direct bookings that guests pay online through STRYK incur a platform fee of 1.9% on the amount paid, on top of the charges of the payment provider. If the guest pays at the hotel, there is no platform fee. Your contracts and commissions with the OTAs stay with you, unchanged.
| Channel | Fee | Amount |
|---|---|---|
 STRYK direct booking, paid online | 1.9% platform fee plus payment provider charges | €6.84 plus payment fees |
| OTA with 15% commission | Commission to the OTA | €54.00 |
| OTA with 18% commission | Commission to the OTA | €64.80 |
| OTA with 22% commission | Commission to the OTA | €79.20 |
| STRYK direct booking, paid at the hotel | No platform fee | €0.00 |
