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OTA commissions eat into a profitable summer

The house was full, reviews were strong, and the commission settlement in October is still the single largest line of the season

Typical for: holiday hotels that have been “running well on Booking” for years · houses without their own distribution responsibility · properties whose regular guests rebook through portals

Documented by Hospis

Updated: 23 October 2026

How you recognize it

  • Nobody can say without recalculating how much commission was paid last year
  • Portals are the standard channel, the own website the exception
  • Visibility and discount programmes of the portals are active because the account manager recommended them
  • On the portal the house is cheaper or more flexible than on its own website
  • Regular guests get no reason to book direct, so they don’t
  • The commission is booked as marketing cost and never evaluated as such

Matching Hospi

OT

Olivia Torrente-Dorninger

Sales · Revenue · Marketing · Palma de Mallorca
Works with protel · Mews · Mews POS · Smart Host
AdviseImplement

Her core focus: running the channel mix as a distribution decision, using portals deliberately, evaluating visibility programmes and making the direct channel the best way into the house

Mapped to root cause
Channel mix steeringCommission evaluationDirect channel as competitorRegular-guest direct booking
View profilePersonally vetted · independent match

Software that solved this problem

Tools appear here next to the problems they solved, marked as partners, with honest limits and the person who runs the rollout. No ranking.

B
Booking enginePartnerExample

Beispiel Booking Engine

Implementation Hospi: Implementation lead

A booking flow that lowers the OTA share instead of just listing rooms.

View partner profile

Which path fits your situation?

01

Diagnosis

390 € fixed price

A vetted Hospi analyses your situation in a structured way, in conversation and with a written result. Every statement clearly labelled: FACT, BENCHMARK, HYPOTHESIS or CONCLUSION. You get a concrete path, not a sales meeting.

  • A legitimate outcome is also: no engagement needed.
  • If an engagement follows, the diagnosis fee is fully credited.
02

Urgent support

Acute situation? Your case is reviewed with priority, with a response within 48 hours.

Cause fields and how to tell them apart

The portal is not the problem. The problem is that it is the only distribution decision the house has ever made, and it didn’t make it itself

These fields are complete, and many properties get there on their own. That is what this page is for. The cost simply does not appear on an invoice: internal hours, a few attempts, and a season that keeps running in the meantime.

01

The channel mix is not steered

How you spot it

There is no target for the share of direct bookings, no monthly breakdown by channel, no decision which rooms and periods should run through portals. The mix just happens. The trend is documented: in Germany the OTA share rose from 20.6% (2013) to 31.9% (2025) according to the 2026 Hotrec distribution study, while the direct share fell from 67.3% to 59.7%. In Austria the OTA share was 25.9% in 2025

The way out

Evaluate channel shares monthly: revenue and commission per channel, not just bookings. Set a target for the direct share and use portals deliberately for gaps instead of for everything

02

Visibility is paid for with commission

How you spot it

Preferred status, Genius discounts, boost campaigns: every one of these programmes raises the effective commission or lowers the price, often both. They were switched on in a weak month and never switched off again. In Switzerland, according to HotellerieSuisse and HES-SO (survey of 171 hotels, May 2026), nearly every second hotel pays for better placement on portals, and about 46% rate the platforms’ value for money as critical or rather inappropriate. Since the European Commission fact sheet of 28 September 2026, Booking.com no longer considers prices on other channels when deciding eligibility for its Booking Sponsored Benefit programme (EEA). The agreed commission is unchanged

The way out

List every active programme, calculate the effective commission per booking, evaluate each programme on its own. Whatever lifts occupancy in peak season, when the house fills anyway, only costs

03

The own website is not a competitor

How you spot it

On the portal the house is the same price or cheaper, cancellation terms are better, booking is easier. A guest comparing both sides has no reason to choose the website

The way out

A direct advantage that gives the guest something and costs the house less than the commission: more flexible cancellation, breakfast, spa time, room choice. Booking flow on the website as short as on the portal. The cancellation rate also favours direct bookers: according to the 2026 Hotrec study it averaged 9.1% for direct sales and 19.0% for Booking.com across Europe. If this is the core, the problem “Direct-booking share stuck below 25%” should be solved first

04

Regular guests pay the commission along

How you spot it

A guest who knows the house opens the portal to rebook, because the confirmation came from there, because it’s convenient, because nobody asked them to do it differently. The house pays for a guest it already had

The way out

Invite every guest in the house to the direct channel once, personally, ideally at check-out and with a concrete advantage. Complete guest data from portal bookings, approach repeat bookers directly. That is the cheapest sales channel the house has

Frequently asked

Should we switch off the portal?
No. Portals bring reach and new guests the house would never have found otherwise. The question is what you use them for, not whether
Does an own booking engine pay off?
Most houses have one and use it badly. Before a new system arrives, the existing flow should be checked on price, cancellation and click count
How fast can the share be shifted?
With regular guests within a season. With new guests more slowly, because the website has to be found first and then chosen. Both start with the channel evaluation

Describe your situation

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Problem
OTA commissions eat into a profitable summer

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