For owner-run hotels

What Booking.com really costs you — and what your website can change about it.

Portals bring guests. That is their value, and nobody seriously disputes it. But they do not bring them for free: typical commissions run at 15 to 25 percent of room revenue. For a hotel that fills a large share of its nights through portals, that is the second-largest cost block after staff.

A sample calculation

The figures below arean example, not a statement about your hotel. They only show the order of magnitude.

24 rooms, €120 average rate, 62 % occupancy	≈ €652,000 room revenue per year
of which 60 % via portals	≈ €391,000
at 17 % commission	≈ €66,000 commission per year
5 percentage points of that booked direct	≈ €5,500 less commission

Five percentage points sound like little. They are the difference between a guest who finds the booking button on your site and one who goes back to the portal because they cannot.

Why your own website still decides it

A large share of guests discover a hotel on a portal and then visit its website — to check whether it looks trustworthy and whether it is cheaper there. That is the moment that decides who gets the booking. A slow or unclear site sends the guest back to the portal.

On top of that: Booking.com's rate parity clauses have fallen in Germany and the EU. Hotels may be cheaper on their own site than on the portal. Whether and how you use that is worth having checked legally — but it is permitted.

Nine areas decide it

Those are exactly the nine that Hotelklar's free initial analysis checks — automatically, on your existing website:

Direct booking: Does the guest see where to book on the first screen — or do they have to hunt for it?
Presentation & trust: Does the first impression look like a hotel you would trust with your trip?
Mobile use: Can the booking path be used with one thumb?
Images: Do photos show rooms, bathroom and surroundings — or does the guest have to guess?
Hotel information: Are breakfast, parking, Wi-Fi, pets and check-in stated clearly?
SEO & findability: Can Google even find all the subpages?
Performance & technology: Does the page load fast enough before the guest gives up?
Accessibility: Can guests with disabilities book too?
Law & data protection: Does tracking only start after consent?

How much of your hotel is in your website?

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The commission rates given are typical market ranges, not figures from any specific portal. The sample calculation rests on the assumptions stated above and is no substitute for business advice. We do not give legal advice on pricing or rate parity clauses.