Direct bookings
Booking.com commission and the cost of a direct booking
On a 1,000 EUR stay a 15% commission is 150 EUR. A direct booking is not free, but it has a limit: as long as media per booking stays below 110 EUR, the website is cheaper than Booking.com. Direct bookings are also cancelled half as often.
Short answer
On a 1,000 EUR stay a 15% commission is 150 EUR, an 18% commission is 180 EUR. A direct booking has its own cost: media and the booking engine. With 40 EUR per booking for the engine and management, the website is cheaper than Booking.com as long as media per booking stays below 110 EUR. According to HOTREC, direct bookings are cancelled 9.1% of the time, Booking.com 19.0%.
- A 15% commission on 1,000 EUR is 150 EUR. At 18% it is 180 EUR.
- The media limit in the example is 110 EUR per booking.
- Direct bookings are cancelled 9.1% of the time, Booking.com 19.0%.
AI illustration
On a 1,000 EUR stay a 15% commission is 150 EUR. At 18% it is 180 EUR. A direct booking is not free. But it has a clear limit, and every hotel can work it out for itself.
One stay, two channels
| Item | Booking.com 15% | Hotel website |
|---|---|---|
| Commission | 150 EUR | - |
| Booking engine and management | - | 40 EUR |
| Media | - | ? |
The hotel pays card fees on both channels, so I leave them out here. On the website that leaves 40 EUR for the engine and management. Up to 150 EUR that leaves 110 EUR. While media per direct booking stays below 110 EUR, the website is cheaper than Booking.com. On an 18% contract the limit is 140 EUR.
Brand searches are the cheapest media. A guest who types the hotel's name is already looking for you. If a brand ad takes them to the website instead of Booking.com, that is the easiest 150 EUR.
Cancellations
HOTREC's European Hotel Distribution Study 2026 also measures cancellations by channel, for 2025.
| Channel | Cancellations | For 100 completed stays |
|---|---|---|
| Direct bookings | 9.1% | about 110 bookings |
| Booking.com | 19.0% | about 123 bookings |
Every cancelled booking is a room that was blocked and work for reception. With Booking.com there are twice as many.
Channel shares in Europe
According to the same study, weighted and without chains, direct channels had 51.3% of overnights in 2025. In 2013 they had 57.6%. OTA channels grew from 19.7% to 29.9%. Of OTA bookings, Booking Holdings has 68.8% and Expedia Group 16.6%.
The Croatian table in the study covers only chain hotels, n=112, with an OTA share of 27.6% of overnights. There is no Croatian figure for independent hotels there.
Where the direct channel loses
The maths above only works if the rate on the website is the same or lower. In our check of 84 Croatian hotels, 19 of 21 hotels with their own rate on Google Hotels had at least one seller offering a lower rate for the same date. The median gap is 16%. Booking.com was cheaper than the hotel website for 5 of 17.
The guest sees that on Google before clicking. Then no ad brings the booking back to the website. More on this in the article on rate parity and in the direct booking study.
Sources
- HOTREC, European Hotel Distribution Study 2026, PDF. Reference year 2025.
- WKO, summary of the same study.
- Nikton Hospitality: direct bookings in Croatian hotels 2026.
Next step
Enter your commission and average stay in the OTA commission calculator. If you want to know what a direct booking costs you today, ask for a hotel audit.
Related: case study Meneghetti Wine Hotel & Winery. Campaigns, the booking engine and direct booking results, June 2026 vs June 2025, source GA4.
Frequently asked questions
Is a direct booking free?
No. You pay for media and the booking engine. In the example with 40 EUR for the engine and management, a 1,000 EUR direct booking costs less than a 15% commission while media stays below 110 EUR per booking.
How many bookings are cancelled per channel?
According to HOTREC's European study for 2025, direct bookings are cancelled 9.1% of the time and Booking.com 19.0%. For 100 completed stays you need about 110 direct bookings or about 123 from Booking.com.
What is the share of direct bookings in Europe?
According to HOTREC, weighted and without chains, direct channels had 51.3% of overnights in 2025, down from 57.6% in 2013. OTA channels had 29.9%, up from 19.7% in 2013.
Does this apply to independent Croatian hotels?
Not directly. The Croatian table in the study covers only chain hotels, n=112, with an OTA share of 27.6% of overnights. There is no Croatian figure for independent hotels in that study.
Nikton Hospitality. A digital marketing agency for hotels.
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