The OTA tax: a hotelier's playbook for getting it under 30%.

What is the OTA tax, and what does it really cost?

Every booking that arrives through an OTA carries a commission. Booking.com, whose parent group accounts for 68.8% of OTA bookings in Europe according to HOTREC, explains in its partner help pages that commission is "a set percentage of the total booking amount", including the room rate and any additional fees you charge. The exact percentage depends on your country, your property type and the agreement you signed. There is no single published rate.

The contract rate is only the starting point. According to the same pages:

• Commission is also charged on non-refundable and partially refundable bookings, whether or not the guest stays, and on cancellation or no-show fees you charge the guest.
• Marketing programmes such as Preferred Partner or Visibility Booster raise the percentage above the one in your contract.

Hotels feel it. In the open comments of HOTREC's European Hotel Distribution Study 2026, hotels repeatedly describe commissions as excessive and hard to justify, and point to virtual credit cards as an extra, hidden cost.

The simplest way to see your own OTA tax is one line of arithmetic: room revenue from OTAs × your effective commission rate (contract rate plus programme uplifts). As an illustration with round, assumed numbers: a hotel with €1,000,000 in room revenue, 45% of it through OTAs at an effective 18%, pays €81,000 a year. Every 10 percentage points of revenue that moves from OTAs to direct keeps €18,000 of it, before the cost of winning those bookings yourself.

Why is 30% the benchmark?

HOTREC's study, which has tracked hotel distribution in Europe since 2013, puts the OTA share at 29.9% of overnights in 2025, up from 19.7% in 2013. It describes OTA shares as having "stabilized at around 30%". In Greece, the OTA share was 27.0% in 2025, up from 16.3% in 2013.

Averages hide a wide spread, and the study shows which hotels sit above the line:

Source: HOTREC, European Hotel Distribution Study 2026. Segment figures are from the study's overall European sample.

Greece has a second intermediary to keep in mind: tour operators and travel agencies still accounted for 25.4% of overnights in 2025, against 8.1% across Europe. Direct channels brought in 40.3%.

So "under 30%" means performing at or better than the European norm. For a seaside property, where the average is 25.1%, it is a realistic target, not a stretch.

Can hotels charge less on their own website than on Booking.com?

Yes, in the EU and the wider European Economic Area. On 13 May 2024, the European Commission designated Booking Holdings as a gatekeeper under the Digital Markets Act (DMA). Since 14 November 2024, in the Commission's words, "Booking must now allow hotels, car rentals, and other relevant service providers to offer better prices and conditions on other online channels, including their own websites, than those offered on Booking.com."

A Commission factsheet published in September 2026 spells out what that means in practice. Booking.com can no longer use your prices outside its platform to decide your ranking or your eligibility for programmes such as Genius, Preferred and Preferred Plus, and it can't stop you from offering the same rooms at different prices elsewhere.

Two things to keep in mind:

• The rule applies to Booking.com. Other OTAs are not covered by it, so check your own contracts.
• Price freedom works both ways. 51% of hotels in the HOTREC study said OTAs undercut their rates at least occasionally, up from 43% in 2023, and the study links undercutting most closely to hotels with high OTA exposure.

How do you bring your OTA share down?

1. Measure your real cost per channel

Pull twelve months of bookings from your PMS or channel manager and calculate, for each channel, the revenue it brought and what it cost: commission, programme uplifts, payment fees. Include tour operators and wholesalers. Your OTA share is a start, but your net revenue per channel is the number that tells you where effort pays off.

2. Make direct the best deal, and say so

Use the freedom the DMA gives you on Booking.com. A slightly lower direct rate, or better conditions such as flexible cancellation, breakfast or an upgrade, gives guests a reason to book with you. Keep it simple and make it visible on your website and inside your booking engine. We cover the website side in detail in Why your hotel's website is leaking direct bookings.

3. Put your own rate where guests compare

Guests compare prices on Google before they book. With Google's free booking links, your own website can appear in that comparison at no cost per click. HOTREC found that 58% of European hotels are connected to metasearch platforms, and 83% of those use Google Hotel Ads. Ask your booking engine or channel manager provider to switch it on.

4. Win back the guests you already have

HOTREC finds the strongest direct booking performance among small, independent hotels in rural, alpine and small-town destinations, "where repeat guests, personal relationships and destination loyalty remain important". A guest who booked through an OTA is still your guest once they walk in. Ask for their consent to stay in touch during the stay, follow up after they leave, and give returning guests a reason to book direct next time. Check your OTA agreement's rules on using guest data before you start.

5. Review the add-ons

Programmes like Preferred Partner trade a higher commission for more visibility. Booking.com says Preferred partners receive, on average, 65% more search views and 20% more bookings. The question for your hotel is whether those bookings are extra guests or guests you would have had anyway. Booking.com lets partners join or leave the programme from the Extranet, so compare net revenue with and without it, and consider using it for the periods when you need demand rather than for weeks you would fill regardless.

6. Use OTAs for what they are good at

OTAs are strong at reaching travellers you can't reach alone: new source markets, last-minute demand, guests who have never heard of you. Hotels in the HOTREC study say their choice of OTAs is often driven by source markets and customer segments. Treat OTAs as one channel with a clear job, and use your channel manager to decide which rooms and dates you open to each one.

7. Keep control of payments

HOTREC notes that OTA payment services, such as Booking.com Payments and Expedia Collect, simplify payments but increase hotels' operational dependence on OTA ecosystems. Keep a payment option of your own for direct bookings, so the guest relationship stays with you.

Where to start this month

1. Calculate your OTA share and your effective commission rate for the last twelve months.
2. Check your OTA contracts and programme settings: Preferred, Visibility Booster, Genius.
3. Decide on one clear benefit for booking direct and show it on your website and in your booking engine.
4. Ask your provider to switch on Google free booking links.
5. Set up a simple email for returning guests.

Vibrande is a digital marketing agency in Rhodes, Greece, working mostly with hotels and hospitality brands across Rhodes and the Dodecanese. If you want a second pair of eyes on your channel mix, or someone to own it for you, our Fractional CMO service is built for exactly that. Tell us where you're at.