What's a good OTA commission rate?

OTA commission rates have ranges that depend on platform, property size, market, and negotiated terms. **Booking.com (2026 standards):** - Base commission: 17-22% for most properties - Genius Level 1: 17-20% with discount funded by property (10% to Genius members) - Genius Level 2-3: 22-25% commission but premium visibility - Mobile rate: 20% additional discount on mobile-only bookings (optional) - Negotiated for high-volume properties: 15-17% in some cases **Expedia (2026 standards):** - Standard commission: 18-25% - Member+ rate: additional discount funded by property in exchange for visibility - Travel agent commission: typically separate at 10-15% **Hotels.com / Vrbo (Expedia-owned):** Similar to Expedia. **Negotiation paths (rarely worth the effort for small properties):** - **Genius/Member+ enrolment** typically lowers effective rate while requiring discount funding. Math works for properties needing visibility boost; doesn't work for properties already booked solid. - **Account manager negotiation** for properties doing €500k+/year OTA revenue can sometimes get 1-3 points off. Most independent hotels are below this threshold. - **Channel concentration** — if you concentrate share with one OTA, they may negotiate. Cost: less channel diversification. **The real lever:** shift share from OTA to direct booking rather than fight for 1-2 percentage points of commission. Moving 10 percentage points from OTA to direct on a 50-room hotel running €100 ADR / 70% occupancy is worth €87,000/year in saved commission — far more than any negotiable rate cut delivers. **When to push direct:** Always. Even if you can't reduce OTA commission, you can grow direct share through better booking engine, value-adds on direct (without breaking parity), past-guest mailings, brand retargeting, and a guest portal that earns repeat-direct intent.