How Much Commission Do OTAs Like Booking.com Charge?

OTAs usually charge hotels a commission of 15% to 25% of the booking value. On Booking.com, most hotels pay between 15% and 20% depending on country and contract, and visibility programs such as Preferred Partner, Genius or Visibility Booster add to the real cost of each booking.

Key takeaways

• OTA commissions generally range from 15% to 25% of the room rate; Booking.com is usually quoted at 15% to 20%.
• Optional programs raise the bill: around 2 to 3 extra points for Preferred Partner, plus the guest discount funded by the hotel for Genius.
• Under the Digital Markets Act, Booking.com can no longer impose rate parity in the EU: a hotel may sell cheaper on its own website.

How does OTA commission work?

An OTA (online travel agency) such as Booking.com or Expedia sells the hotel's rooms on its platform and takes a percentage of each completed booking. In the agency model, the guest pays the hotel and the OTA invoices its commission afterwards. In the merchant model, the OTA collects the payment and transfers the amount minus its commission. The base rate depends on the market, the destination and the contract, and is set in the hotel's extranet. To understand where OTAs sit among other channels, read our article on the difference between OTAs and metasearch.

How much do Booking.com and Expedia charge?

• Booking.com: commonly 15% to 20% for hotels, with variations by country and contract.
• Expedia Group (Expedia, Hotels.com, Vrbo): generally 15% to 25%, depending on the market and the model chosen.
• Smaller and niche OTAs: often in the same range, sometimes lower to attract properties.

These figures are averages: always check the commission written in your own contract and extranet, as it is the only one that applies to you.

Which Booking.com programs increase the real cost?

1. Preferred Partner Programme: better visibility in search results in exchange for roughly 2 to 3 extra commission points. It is open to the best-performing properties (performance score, review score, competitive prices); Preferred Plus is reserved for an even smaller group.
2. Genius: the hotel offers a discount to Genius members, at least 10%, more for levels 2 and 3. Booking.com does not pay for this discount: the hotel does, on top of the commission.
3. Visibility Booster: the hotel temporarily raises its commission on chosen dates to rank higher.
4. Payments by Booking.com: when the OTA handles payment, a processing fee of around 1% to 1.5% may be added, depending on the setup.

What does an OTA booking really cost a hotel?

Take an illustrative example: three nights at €200 sold on Booking.com with a 10% Genius discount and an 18% commission. The guest pays €540 instead of €600, and the commission is €97.20. The hotel keeps €442.80, around 26% less than the public rate. A direct booking on the same stay costs mainly the booking engine, payment and marketing fees, often estimated at a few euros per night. That gap is why every point of direct share counts. Our guide on how to increase direct bookings details the levers.

How can a hotel reduce its OTA commission costs?

• use OTAs to be discovered, then win the next stay directly with CRM and member rates;
• show your direct rate next to OTAs on Google Hotel Ads and other metasearch engines;
• protect your brand name on Google with a brand protection campaign;
• review Preferred, Genius and Visibility Booster every quarter: keep them only where the extra volume pays for itself;
• use the pricing freedom given by the DMA to offer a better rate or perks on your own site.

How does Influence Society help hotels manage OTA costs?

At Influence Society, we treat OTA commission as a benchmark: every direct channel we run, from metasearch to brand campaigns, is compared with what the same booking would have cost through Booking.com or Expedia. We help hotels keep OTAs for what they do best, discovery and distant markets, and move repeat and high-intent guests to a fast, well-designed booking engine.

Sources: Robert A. Rauch, What OTAs Actually Cost in 2026, Hotel Online, September 30, 2026; Markus Busch, The Booking.com cost that isn't commission, Hospitality.today, April 23, 2026; Little Hotelier, What is the Booking.com Preferred Partner Program?; HolidayFox, Booking.com commission breakdown 2026, reviewed May 19, 2026; European Commission, How the DMA ensures businesses using Booking.com are free to set their prices, September 28, 2026 (all accessed November 2026).