What do OTAs actually cost you a year?
Most owners know the commission rate. Very few have multiplied it out across a full year. Enter five numbers and see the annual figure, plus what moving part of it direct would recover.
The short version: a 20-room lodge at 55% occupancy, averaging 180 a night, with 70% of bookings through OTAs at 18% commission, hands over roughly 91,000 a year in commission. Shifting just a third of that to direct puts about 30,000 back. Your numbers below.
Your property
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USD 91,060paid in OTA commission each year
Moving a third of those bookings direct recovers about USD 30,000 a year, every year, and it compounds because a direct guest can be marketed to again for free.
Why the number is bigger than it feels
Commission does not feel like a cost because you never write the cheque. It is deducted before the money reaches you, which makes it the easiest large expense in hospitality to stop noticing. Rent, salaries and food costs get reviewed every year. Distribution cost usually does not get reviewed at all.
The second reason it is bigger than it feels: it is charged on your revenue, not your profit. At an 18 percent commission and a 30 percent net margin, the OTA is taking a larger share of the profit on that booking than you are.
This is not an argument for leaving OTAs
OTAs work. They put you in front of travellers who have never heard of your property, in markets you will never advertise in, and they carry the trust of a brand the guest already uses. A lodge that delists tomorrow will simply be emptier next month.
The argument is against depending on them. When every guest arrives through an intermediary, your margin, your ranking and your pricing power all belong to somebody else, and the relationship with the guest ends the moment they check out. A direct channel running alongside your listings changes the ratio without costing you the reach.
What a direct booking actually costs
Direct is not free, and anyone selling it as free is skipping the part where it takes work. A direct booking costs you advertising, a site that converts, and someone answering enquiries quickly. The honest comparison looks like this.
| Channel | Cost per booking | Who owns the guest | Cost next year |
|---|---|---|---|
| OTA | 15 to 25% of revenue, forever | The OTA | The same, on every future stay |
| Direct, paid | Ad spend, typically far below OTA commission once tracked | You | Falls as the brand and the list grow |
| Direct, repeat | The cost of an email | You | Near zero |
That third row is the whole point. A direct guest can be invited back at no cost. An OTA guest is rented, once, at full price, every time.
Common questions
Booking.com and Expedia typically sit between 15 and 25 percent depending on your contract, your visibility programme and whether you have opted into preferred partner status. Airbnb splits its fee between host and guest. Safari and tour marketplaces often run higher. The calculator defaults to 18 percent because that is a common middle, but you should change it to your actual contracted rate, which is on your extranet.
No, and anyone telling you to is not thinking about your occupancy. OTAs are a genuine distribution channel and they bring guests who would never have found you. They are just expensive, and depending on them entirely means your margin is set by somebody else. The aim is to build the direct channel alongside them so a growing share of bookings arrive without commission, then keep the listings for reach.
It depends on your brand strength and how much of your traffic already knows your name. Properties that have never invested in direct usually have the most room to move, because almost every guest currently arrives through a paid intermediary. The honest answer for any specific property comes from looking at where its enquiries currently originate, which is one of the first things we review when you apply for the Safari Growth Program.
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Now see where those
bookings actually go
The 90-Day Safari Growth Program builds your direct channel: a website that makes inquiring easy on a phone, ads run to cost per inquiry, and a reservations team trained to book more of what arrives. Your first new inquiries within 14 days of going live, or we work free until they arrive.
Ask about the Safari Growth Program