OTA commissions & distribution economics
Booking.com commission vs direct bookings: what Balkan accommodation owners should actually compare
WebRešenje PR / DirectBalkan ·
Short answer
"Booking.com commission versus free direct bookings" is the wrong comparison, because direct bookings have costs too. The fair comparison is the effective cost per booking of each route, calculated from your own records:
- Booking.com: commission plus any costs genuinely attributable to it.
- Direct channel: technology, payment processing, acquisition spend and the other costs of running it.
Neither route is cheaper for every property. Booking.com can be economically rational when it brings demand you wouldn't otherwise reach. A direct channel can be attractive when acquisition has already happened and the channel has enough volume to carry its fixed costs.
Why headline commission is not the comparison
Commission is easy to see because it's on every statement. Direct-channel costs are spread across several invoices and your own time. Because one side is visible and the other scattered, comparisons often understate what direct bookings cost.
Two definitions make the comparison fair.
Effective cost per booking = attributable channel costs ÷ completed bookings from that channel
Effective distribution cost (%) = attributable channel costs ÷ revenue generated by that channel × 100
Both must use the same reporting period for both channels, such as one full season or one calendar year. Count completed bookings: decide once how you treat cancellations and no-shows, and apply that rule to both channels.
Costs attributable to Booking.com
| Cost item | What to include |
|---|---|
| Commission | The commission actually charged in the period, from your statements |
| Funded promotions | Discounts you funded through platform promotions, where genuinely attributable to Booking.com bookings |
| Platform and payment fees | Any payment or other fees that apply under your agreement |
What these costs buy matters as much as what they amount to: access to guests who don't know you yet, trust at first contact, the booking and payment interface, and reviews.
Costs attributable to your direct channel
| Cost item | What to include |
|---|---|
| Booking engine and software | Subscriptions and any per-booking fees |
| Website and hosting | Hosting, domain, maintenance, attributable development |
| Payment processing | Card and transaction fees on direct payments; currency conversion where it applies |
| Attributable advertising | Advertising whose purpose was direct bookings |
| Other acquisition spend | Paid listings or campaigns that sent direct guests |
| Other attributable costs | Synchronization software, if it exists mainly to support the direct channel |
Allocating fixed costs. Many direct costs are fixed: you pay them whatever the booking volume. Take the share that falls in your reporting period (for example, a season's portion of an annual subscription) and divide it by that period's direct bookings. That's why the same direct channel can look expensive per booking in a low-volume period and economical in a high-volume one.
Owner time. Handling direct enquiries, confirmations and changes takes time, but there's no universal value per hour. If you include it, choose your own internal cost assumption and use it consistently every time you compare. If you leave it out, note that the comparison excludes it.
The worksheet
For one reporting period:
| Booking.com | Direct | |
|---|---|---|
| Completed bookings | (from your records) | (from your records) |
| Revenue | (from your records) | (from your records) |
| Attributable costs | (sum of the Booking.com items) | (sum of the direct items, fixed costs allocated) |
| Effective cost per booking | costs ÷ bookings | costs ÷ bookings |
| Effective distribution cost % | costs ÷ revenue × 100 | costs ÷ revenue × 100 |
The Commission Calculator helps with the commission side, estimating what commission amounts to across your bookings. It doesn't calculate your direct-channel costs; those come from your own invoices and records. If you sell through more than two channels, the same method extends to all of them in Effective cost of distribution.
Reading your result
Booking.com can be the economically rational choice when:
- it brings guests who would not otherwise have found you, so the commission pays for genuinely new demand;
- your direct channel's fixed costs are spread over few bookings in the period;
- winning the same guest directly would require advertising that costs more per booking than the commission.
A direct booking can be economically attractive when:
- acquisition has already happened, as with returning or referred guests;
- your direct channel has enough booking volume to spread its fixed costs thinly;
- booking values are high enough that a percentage-based cost becomes relatively expensive, while most direct costs don't grow with booking value.
Which applies, and to what degree, depends on your acquisition costs, booking values, technology and marketing spend. That's why the worksheet uses your figures rather than general benchmarks.
Local factors that can change the result
- Currency and conversion. Conversion costs can arise on either channel, depending on the currency you price in and how and where the guest pays. Check your own provider's terms.
- Payment options. Which payment providers can serve your property, and on what terms, can differ by country, and that affects direct-channel cost.
- Seasonality. Your booking volume per period affects how fixed direct costs spread out. Choose the reporting period deliberately.
Where fixed-fee platforms fit
Some platforms, DirectBalkan among them, charge a subscription instead of a percentage per booking. In this comparison a fixed fee behaves like the direct channel's fixed costs, not like commission:
- its cost per booking falls as your booking volume in the period rises;
- a percentage commission scales with each booking's value.
In the worksheet, a subscription belongs on the fixed-cost side and is allocated over the reporting period like any other fixed cost. How a fixed monthly fee compares with a percentage commission at different booking volumes is covered in Subscription vs commission.
DirectBalkan's current plans, and the payment-provider fees that can apply separately, are on Pricing. This article deliberately doesn't repeat those figures, so they can't go out of date here.
What to take away
- Don't compare commission with zero. A direct booking carries technology, payment, acquisition and administration costs, even when no single invoice says "commission".
- Compare like with like. Use the same reporting period, the same rule for cancellations and no-shows, and fixed costs allocated rather than ignored.
- Expect a property-specific answer. Booking.com can be the rational choice for demand you couldn't otherwise reach. A direct booking can be the better economics for guests you've already acquired, in a channel with enough volume, at booking values where a percentage cost weighs more. Your own figures decide which applies, and in which periods.
Summary: Compare effective cost per booking and effective distribution cost from your own records, for both channels, over a consistent period. The answer varies by property; the method shouldn't.
