What Booking.com and Expedia really cost a small hotel
Commission looks small on one booking. Over a year it is often one of a hotel’s biggest bills. Here is how to work out yours, and how to keep more of it.
Updated October 2026
How much they charge
Booking.com’s commission usually falls between 10% and 25% of the booking, around 15% on average. Expedia’s usually runs from 15% to 30%, often near 20%. Your own rate is in your partner agreement and on your monthly invoices.
Visibility programmes cost more: Booking.com’s Preferred Partner programme, for example, adds a few points of commission in exchange for better placement.
What it adds up to in a year
Take a 12-room inn at $160 a night, 65% full, with 60% of its nights booked through booking sites at 17% commission. It pays them about $46,000 a year.
Part of that pays for guests who would have found you anyway: many travellers see a hotel on a booking site, then look for its own website before they book.
How to keep more of it
- Have your own booking page, with live availability, that takes cards. Guests rarely email or phone to book.
- Put the link where guests look: your website, your Google Business Profile, Instagram and Facebook.
- Give a reason to book direct: breakfast, parking, a late checkout. Check what your booking-site contracts allow on price before you offer a lower rate.
- Answer questions fast. A guest who emails you is a direct booking waiting to happen.
- Keep the booking sites for what they do well: being seen by new travellers. The aim is a better mix, not leaving them.
Work out your own numbers
Our free calculator takes your rooms, rate, occupancy and commission, and shows your yearly bill and what you would keep if some of those guests booked direct, card fees counted.
Sources
- Rates: published industry guides on Booking.com and Expedia commission (2025–2026). Your own agreement is the real number.