The calculation that does not end with the commission
Let us use round figures simply to illustrate the point. On a €1,000 stay, an 18% commission is €180. You already know your actual percentage from your statement, so there are no surprises so far. The point is that this is only the visible cost.
The costs that do not appear on the invoice
The guest’s email address is masked and expires. That means no return offer the following year, no upselling before arrival and an incomplete guest profile. The platform builds the relationship, not you. The guest remains loyal to its loyalty programme and will search there again for a “hotel with spa” next summer, perhaps finding one of your competitors in first place.
You can see the commission on the invoice. You cannot see the guest who books elsewhere the following year.
The point is not to remove OTAs
They are a useful shop window, especially in markets where no one knows you yet. The point is not to lose the direct enquiries that already arrive through email, WhatsApp, phone calls and website visits. Every direct enquiry left unanswered for hours is a guest returning to the platform, where the reply is immediate. By focusing precisely on faster replies and quotes, Hotel Fanes reports a 20% increase in revenue in one year (property data from the case study).
Three questions for your calculation
How many direct enquiries remain unanswered within an hour? How many requested quotes are never sent because the day ends first? If some of the nights booked through intermediaries became direct bookings, how much margin would that release? These three answers are enough to understand what the problem is worth, before discussing any tools.