OTA commission is not free.
Booking.com, Expedia and Airbnb take 15–22% off the top of every booking. It does not show up as a line item on a bank statement, which makes it easy to underestimate.
Free tool
What are Booking and Airbnb actually costing you?
Type in your numbers. See the annual commission you are handing to the OTAs and what shifting a share of those bookings to direct would save you. Built for Zanzibar, Arusha and East African coastal properties. The maths works anywhere with OTAs.
Work out your OTA bill
No email gate, no signup. The numbers stay in your browser - nothing leaves your device. Use realistic averages from the last 12 months.
Your numbers
Your numbers.
Use realistic averages from the last 12 months. The result updates as you type or drag.
USD
Per room, per night, in USD.
nights
Nights per booking.
/ month
Bookings via Booking, Airbnb, Expedia and similar.
%
OTA commissions commonly run 15–22%. Check your own contract.
%
Pick a share to test. We won’t promise one.
The result
What the OTAs are costing you.
- Annual OTA revenue
- $864,000
- Annual commission paid
- $155,520
600 bookings × $1,440 avg
Off the top, before anything else.
Revenue splitYou keep 82.0% · OTAs take 18%
If you shift 30% to direct...
$46,656 / year saved
Around $3,888/month freed up. That is your real budget for the website, photos, Google profile and WhatsApp work that can win direct bookings instead.
Compare shares
* Estimate, not a guarantee. Real direct-booking lift depends on photography, pricing, booking engine, GBP and WhatsApp follow-up. We model the full picture on the call.
What the number means
The headline savings figure is real money - but only if you actually win the direct bookings. Here is how we think about that.
The commission is your marketing budget.
Whatever you save by shifting bookings to direct is what you have available to invest in the website, Google Business Profile, photos and WhatsApp follow-up that can win those direct guests. The maths has to balance.
We won’t promise a number.
You will not get to zero OTAs and you probably should not try. Try a few shares in the calculator to see what each booking moved to direct is worth to you, then set a target you can measure.
Questions about the maths
- It uses your numbers, so the headline figures are exactly right for what you input. What it does not model is the cost of the direct-booking marketing itself: photos, website, booking engine, Google Business Profile work and WhatsApp setup. We do that on the call, against your real situation.
- We won’t promise a number. It depends on your property, your photos and how guests find you today. Try a few shares in the calculator. If we work together, we set a target with you in the proposal and report against it every month.
- Yes. The channel manager passes bookings through from the OTAs, so the commission is still the OTA commission. Add the channel manager fee separately if you want a more complete picture - often small in comparison.
- Full Management runs the website care, SEO, Google Business Profile, blog articles, Instagram and Facebook behind direct bookings, for $350 a month with a two-month minimum. If you only need the foundation first, a website - new build or redesign - is $300 once. Every price is on the pricing page.
- The same maths applies to any business paying a marketplace or aggregator a percentage of every sale - Jumia for retail, Uber for transport, food delivery platforms for restaurants. Use the calculator as a model and we will talk through your specific situation on a call.
Want this worked out with your real numbers?
You leave with a plain answer.A 30-minute call. We look at your bookings, your photography, your current site and your GBP, and tell you what a direct-booking shift would look like for your property.
Mon–Fri 08:00–17:00 EAT. Replies within 4 hours on business days.