The bill that never stops growing

OTA commission sits between fifteen and twenty-five percent for most independent hotels. On a £200 room night, that is up to £50 gone before you have covered a single operating cost. For hotels where OTAs account for forty to sixty percent of all bookings, the annual commission total is a number that makes most owners uncomfortable when they actually look at it.

The problem is not that OTAs exist. The problem is the dependency.

The loyalty data problem nobody talks about

When a guest books through an OTA, the OTA owns the relationship. They have the email address, the booking history and the ability to retarget that guest the moment they start planning their next trip. You have a room night, a credit card charge and a name you largely cannot market to.

This is the real cost of OTA dependency. Not just the commission on this stay, but losing the relationship for every stay that follows.

Reducing dependency does not mean cutting OTAs off

The goal is not to remove OTAs from your distribution mix. They are genuinely valuable for filling gaps, reaching new markets and managing last-minute inventory.

The goal is to shift the balance. To move the guest who found you on Booking.com into a direct relationship for their second stay. Every percentage point you shift from OTA to direct goes straight to the bottom line, and that shift compounds over time.

The channel conversion strategy

Use the OTA to acquire. Use the stay to convert. The front desk check-out conversation, the post-stay email, the exclusive direct-only package. All of this is designed to ensure the second booking happens on your terms, not theirs.

A guest who books through an OTA once and then books direct every time thereafter is a success. The first commission was the cost of acquisition. Everything after it is margin recaptured.

Measuring the shift

Track your direct booking percentage monthly. Not just total bookings but the split between direct and OTA over time. Set a modest target: shifting three percentage points from OTA to direct over twelve months.

The hotels that win this long game are not the ones who made a dramatic announcement about leaving Booking.com. They are the ones who quietly, consistently, over several years, built the direct relationship stronger than the dependency. One converted guest at a time.