Commission is the percentage of a booking's value a hotel pays an intermediary, such as an OTA or travel agency, for delivering the reservation. It is the dominant cost of third-party distribution.
OTA commissions typically range from the mid teens to the mid twenties percent, depending on market, contract and participation in visibility programs. Traditional agency commission around ten percent and GDS fees follow their own conventions.
Commission should be judged against what the channel delivers, incremental guests the hotel would not otherwise win. Paying commission on guests who would have booked direct anyway is pure leakage, which is why remarketing to past OTA guests is one of the highest-return activities in hotel marketing.
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