Booking.com commission: what is actually left net from Booking, Airbnb & co.?

Guide for Smoobu hosts · approx. 5 min read · Auf Deutsch lesen

Every Booking statement stings a little. 15 % commission, with "Preferred" sometimes 17 % — on €42,000 of annual revenue through that channel, that's over €7,000 you never lay eyes on. The reflex is obvious: switch the channel off, push direct bookings, save the commission.

In most cases that's an expensive mistake. Not because commissions are fair, but because "commission = loss" answers the wrong question. Let's look at the numbers that really count.

Why does the gross channel comparison mislead?

Most hosts know their channel split roughly like this: Booking 52 %, Airbnb 30 %, direct 18 %. That tells you exactly one thing — where the bookings come from. What ends up in your account is a different story:

Three things become visible here that no standard report shows:

• Your effective total commission: 13.7 %. Around €11,000 a year. That's the number you should know — not the individual rates.
• Booking stays the biggest chunk even net. €34,860 after deductions is still more than two and a half times all direct bookings combined. "Switch it off and the other channels will pick up the revenue" is a bet, not a calculation.
• The nights are worth different amounts. A Booking night brings €118, a direct night €145 — a 23 % difference, even though Smoobu holds the same price everywhere.

Which channel brings the better price per night?

Why are Booking nights cheaper if the price is maintained identically? Because three effects hide behind it:

• Portal discount programmes: Genius, mobile rates, country promotions — each of these markdowns comes off your price, not the commission.
• Length of stay: Channels with many short stays often have higher average prices; channels with weekly discounts have lower ones.
• Season mix: If a channel brings you mostly off-season nights, that drags down its average — but says nothing about its quality. Quite the opposite.

It's that last point that leads to the question that really matters.

Which costs are not in the commission?

Before you pit channels against each other: the commission rate is not your only cost block, and direct bookings are not free.

• Payment fees: Credit cards or payment processors typically cost you 1.5–3 % on direct bookings. That's why the table above shows 1.8 %, not 0 %, for "Direct".
• Cancellation rate: A channel with a low commission but a high cancellation rate can be more expensive than one at 17 % with reliable guests. Calculate with what stays, not with what gets booked.
• Payment default: With direct bookings you carry the deposit and default risk yourself — the portal takes it off your hands in exchange for commission.
• Your time: Direct bookings mean answering enquiries, writing invoices, chasing payments. That's not a cash outflow, but it is work. Ignore it and you overestimate the direct booking.

Should I switch off a channel to save commission?

The decisive question is not "what does Booking cost me?", but: which of these nights would I have sold without Booking anyway?

Because the commission is not a loss, but a price for reach — and that's sometimes a bargain and sometimes a rip-off:

• An August night you'd have sold directly anyway cost you 17 % you didn't need to pay. That's genuine cannibalisation.
• A November night that would otherwise have stayed empty brought you 83 % of something — instead of 100 % of nothing. That's the best deal of the month.

Same commission, two completely different verdicts. That's why "channel X is too expensive, I'll switch it off" almost always misleads: you cut away both cases at once — including the November nights nobody will bring back.

When is it worth scaling a channel back?

From this logic follows a strategy that works far better than switching off:

• In high season, when you fill up anyway, reach is worthless — you don't need to buy it. Here it pays to actively promote direct bookings: reach out to regulars before the season, offer a price advantage for booking direct, advertise your own website. Every night you sell direct here is real gain.
• In the off-season, reach is worth gold. There the commission isn't a burden but an investment that almost always pays off. Throttling channels here is the surest path to empty weeks.

To steer this, you need to know which months fill up anyway — and you don't see that from a gut feeling, but from your occupancy per month across several years.

How do I calculate my channel profitability?

1. Gather your real rates. Look at two or three statements per channel and note the actual percentage — including add-on programmes. For direct bookings: don't forget your payment fees.
2. Calculate net per channel and form the effective total commission. That single number is your starting point for every further decision.
3. Compare the average price per night per channel. Big deviations point to discount programmes or an unfavourable season mix — both of which can be tackled deliberately.
4. Cross-check with your occupancy. Which months are full anyway (promote direct booking there), which need reach (let the portals work there)?
5. Only then decide — in a differentiated way. Not "channel out", but: where do I buy reach, and where do I sell myself?

The effort for this calculation is manageable — once. The problem is the repetition: rates change, the mix shifts, and after a few months the spreadsheet is out of date. That's exactly why this analysis gets left undone by most hosts.

Keep reading: Am I ahead of or behind last year? · Fill short gaps in your calendar