OTA commissions: the three negotiation levers still available
The headline rate is not the only negotiable parameter, and it is not always the one that weighs most heavily on your net margin.
Discussions about commissions too often come down to a single percentage point wrung out at the annual renewal. It is the most visible part of the contract, and the most locked down. Yet there is still room for manoeuvre elsewhere.
The rate, but on what basis
Before negotiating the percentage, check what it applies to: the amount including or excluding VAT, tourist taxes included or not, extras and breakfasts commissionable or not. At a hotel where extras account for a large share of revenue, the calculation basis often costs more than half a point on the rate.
Visibility programmes
Programmes that promise a better ranking in exchange for a higher commission are rarely profitable as they stand. They sometimes become so over a short, targeted period — an identified dip, an opening, a repositioning. The sensible approach is to activate them in bursts, never continuously, and to measure the real incremental volume rather than the total volume.
“A visibility programme that captures guests who would have booked with you anyway adds nothing. It simply makes you pay more for your own customers.”
The ancillary terms
- Payout times: gaining a few days improves cash flow without touching the rate.
- Handling of cancellations and no-shows: this is often where the most costly friction lies.
- Rate parity and the scope of closed user group rates: a way to preserve room for direct sales.
None of these levers replaces a direct sales strategy. But they can be negotiated where the concession required costs least, and they add up.
