# Direct Booking vs OTA Savings Calculator > Work out what OTA commission costs your hotel, the net revenue per booking by channel, the gain from shifting bookings direct and your break-even. See what OTA commission costs your hotel each year, what you keep from an OTA booking compared with a direct one, and what moving a few points of business to direct is worth. The break-even figure shows how much you can spend to win a direct booking before it nets less than the OTA. - Use the tool: https://globalluxagency.com/tools/direct-booking-vs-ota-calculator - For: Hotels - Price: free, no sign-up; calculations run in the browser and nothing is stored - Last updated: 2026-11-12 - Publisher: Luxury Travel Tools by Global Lux Agency (https://globalluxagency.com) Estimate only. Results are indicative and based on the inputs you provide and any published sources listed on this page. Always confirm figures with your supplier. ## Frequently asked questions ### How much commission do hotels pay OTAs? Booking.com and Expedia don’t publish a standard rate: it is set in each hotel’s contract and shown in the extranet. Industry sources commonly cite 15% to 30% or more, and optional visibility programmes add to the base rate. Enter your own contracted rate, including any programme uplift, for an accurate result. ### What share of hotel bookings come through OTAs? HOTREC’s European Hotel Distribution Study puts the average OTA share at 29.6% of overnight stays in 2023, up from 19.7% in 2013, with direct channels at 50.9%. Five-star hotels in the sample reported a lower OTA share, 22.2%. Shares vary widely by country, size and location. ### Is a direct booking always cheaper than an OTA booking? Not always. A direct booking carries its own costs: metasearch and paid search, booking engine fees, card processing, and any member discount or perk you offer. If those add up to more than the OTA commission, the direct booking nets less. The break-even figure shows how much marketing you can spend per direct booking before that happens. ### How should I work out my metasearch cost? Divide what you spent on Google Hotel Ads, Tripadvisor and paid search over a period by the direct room revenue those campaigns brought in. Google Hotel Ads now bids on cost per click or target return on ad spend, so a cost per booking is something you calculate from your own results rather than a published rate. ### Does it matter whether the OTA or the hotel takes payment? Yes, a little. On pay-at-hotel bookings you take the guest’s card and pay the processing fee as well as the commission. On prepaid bookings the OTA collects payment and pays you, although virtual cards can also carry fees. For reference, Stripe lists 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards; hotels often have negotiated blended rates. ### Does shifting OTA bookings to direct lose me business? It can. The calculator assumes the guests you move would have booked with you anyway, at the same rate. In practice OTAs also bring guests who might not otherwise find you, so treat the gain as the best case for bookings that genuinely switch channel. ## Sources and default figures - **OTA share of hotel overnight stays in Europe (2023):** {"allHotels":29.6,"fiveStar":22.2,"direct":50.9} % of overnight stays. Confidence: medium; last verified 2026-11-12. Source: [European Hotel Distribution Study 2024 (reference year 2023), R. Schegg, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, for HOTREC](https://ihf.ie/sites/default/files/upload/hotrec_distribution_study_2024.pdf) (HOTREC / HES-SO Valais-Wallis (via Irish Hotels Federation), 2024-06-01); [HOTREC Distribution Study 2024 — Germany and Europe (short version, PDF)](https://tageskarte.io/fileadmin/Banner/HOTREC_Distribution_Study_2024_-_Germany_and_Europe_short.pdf) (HOTREC / HES-SO Valais-Wallis (via Tageskarte), 2024-06-01). - **Typical OTA commission paid by hotels:** 15–30% of booking value. Confidence: low; last verified 2026-11-12. Source: [OTA commissions: how much do hotels pay online travel agencies?](https://www.cloudbeds.com/articles/online-travel-agencies/commissions/) (Cloudbeds); [European Hotel Distribution Study 2024 (reference year 2023), R. Schegg, HES-SO Valais-Wallis, for HOTREC](https://ihf.ie/sites/default/files/upload/hotrec_distribution_study_2024.pdf) (HOTREC / HES-SO Valais-Wallis (via Irish Hotels Federation), 2024-06-01). - **Metasearch and paid search cost per direct booking:** no reliable published figure; the tool asks the user for it. Confidence: low; last verified 2026-11-12. Source: [Bidding overview for hotel ads](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9244120) (Google Ads Help); [About commissions (per stay) for hotel ads](https://support.google.com/google-ads/answer/9695951?hl=en) (Google Ads Help). - **Example card processing fee: Stripe, standard UK cards:** {"percent":1.5,"fixedGbp":0.2} % of payment + £ per transaction. Confidence: high; last verified 2026-11-12. Source: [Stripe pricing (United Kingdom)](https://stripe.com/gb/pricing) (Stripe).