Direct Booking vs OTA Leakage Calculator calculator

Direct Booking vs OTA Leakage: How Much Are You Really Paying?

Online Travel Agencies (OTAs) like Booking.com and Expedia help hotels generate demand.
But the convenience comes at a cost — commission fees that quietly reduce your net revenue every single month.
This calculator helps you understand how much revenue is leaking to OTA commissions and how much upside exists by shifting even a small percentage of bookings to direct.

What Is OTA Leakage?

OTA leakage refers to the commission paid on bookings that could potentially have been captured directly through your own website, call center, or walk-ins.

Most independent hotels pay between 15% and 25% in commission on OTA reservations.
That means for every $100 booking, you may only keep $75–$85 before even considering operating costs.

Over the course of a year, this adds up quickly.

How the Calculator Works

The tool requires four simple inputs:

1️⃣ Annual Room Revenue

Enter your total annual room revenue.
You can type it in a simple format like:

• 1.5M
• 800K
• 550K

This makes it easy to estimate without needing exact accounting reports.

2️⃣ OTA Booking Share (%)

This represents what percentage of your total bookings come from OTAs.
Many independent hotels operate between 20%–40% OTA share.

3️⃣ Average OTA Commission (%)

Typical OTA commissions range from 15% to 25%.
The calculator defaults to 15% for a conservative estimate.

4️⃣ Shift from OTA to Direct (%)

This models how much of your OTA share you believe can realistically move to direct channels.
Even shifting just 5% can generate meaningful savings.

What the Results Show

• OTA Revenue Portion – How much of your revenue comes from OTAs.
• OTA Commissions Paid Annually – What you are paying in fees each year.
• Revenue Shifted to Direct – The amount redirected from OTA channels.
• Commission Savings – Your estimated annual upside.

This shows the gross commission leakage. It does not include website costs or marketing expenses, keeping the estimate simple and easy to understand.

Why Even a Small Shift Matters

Let’s say your property generates $1.5M annually with 25% OTA share and 15% commission.
That means hundreds of thousands of dollars flow through OTA channels.

Shifting just 5% of that OTA volume to direct could save tens of thousands per year — without increasing occupancy or ADR.

This is revenue you are already earning. The difference is who keeps it.

Why Direct Bookings Are Powerful

• Higher profit margins
• Better guest data ownership
• Stronger brand loyalty
• Improved repeat business
• Reduced dependency on third parties

Direct booking growth does not mean eliminating OTAs entirely.
It means using them strategically while improving your overall distribution mix.

How to Use This Strategically

Run three scenarios:

• Conservative: 2% shift
• Realistic: 5% shift
• Aggressive: 10% shift

If the conservative scenario already shows strong annual savings, investing in your direct channel likely makes financial sense.

Final Thought

Revenue growth is not always about selling more rooms.
Sometimes it’s about keeping more of what you already sell.

Use this calculator to uncover hidden commission leakage and identify opportunities to strengthen your direct booking strategy.