How much does an OTA really take from every booking?
Between 15% and 25% of the booking amount, depending on the platform and the contract terms negotiated with your property. On Booking.com, the standard commission runs around 15% to 18% for most riads and small hotels, but it can climb past 20% for properties enrolled in enhanced-visibility programs.
This commission is taken on every booking, with no room to negotiate once the contract is signed. It applies whether the guest stays one night or ten. It's a variable cost that tracks your revenue, unlike a marketing investment whose cost doesn't depend on volume sold.
What's the real cost of a direct booking?
It isn't zero, but it's structurally different: a fixed or semi-fixed cost (website, SEO, management time) rather than a percentage taken on every sale. Once the site and local SEO are in place, the marginal cost of one more direct booking trends toward zero.
That's the essential difference between the two models. An OTA bills you per use, indefinitely. A direct-booking system is paid for once, then keeps producing bookings at a declining cost. It's the kind of reasoning Moumen, founder of Dar Faysal Digital, applies with his hospitality clients: comparing a perpetual variable cost to an investment that pays itself down, rather than comparing two sticker prices.
A worked example: a 6-room riad in Marrakech
Take a 6-room riad averaging 700 MAD a night, at 70% occupancy. That's roughly 126 nights sold a month (6 rooms × 30 days × 70%), for gross revenue of 88,200 MAD.
Scenario 1: 100% of bookings through an OTA, at an average 20% commission. The commission taken comes to 17,640 MAD a month. Real net revenue drops to 70,560 MAD.
Scenario 2: 50% of bookings direct, the rest through the OTA. On the 63 nights sold direct (44,100 MAD), no commission is taken. On the remaining 63 nights through the OTA (44,100 MAD), the 20% commission comes to 8,820 MAD. Total net revenue reaches 79,380 MAD.
The difference between the two scenarios: 8,820 MAD a month, or 105,840 MAD over a year. That's the amount this riad recovers simply by shifting half its bookings to a direct channel, without changing its rate or its occupancy.
This example is an illustration for educational purposes, not data from a real client. Commission rate and occupancy vary based on your property and season.
At what point does direct booking become profitable?
As soon as the cumulative amount of commissions saved exceeds the cost of the system built to achieve it. A conversion-oriented website and a local SEO strategy for a riad in Marrakech represent a one-time investment, usually recovered within a few months if you manage to shift a significant share of your bookings.
In the example above, a gain of 105,840 MAD over the year comfortably covers the cost of a professional website and an initial SEO strategy. Beyond that point, every additional direct booking is pure gain, with no proportional marginal cost.
Should you leave OTAs entirely?
No. OTAs remain useful for capturing part of demand, particularly travelers discovering your riad for the first time or booking late during low season. The goal isn't to abandon them but to rebalance the relationship: no longer depending 90% or 100% on a channel that takes a commission on every sale.
How do you concretely increase your share of direct bookings?
Three combined levers produce most of the result: a website that gives a real reason to book direct rather than just a room inventory, local visibility that captures the search before the price comparison, and a qualification funnel, often WhatsApp, that lets no request slip through. Our page growth systems for riads in Marrakech covers this full approach, and our guide Hotel marketing in Marrakech: the complete guide brings together the whole method for hospitality and riads.
Frequently asked questions
Want to know the precise calculation for your own riad or hotel? Get your free digital audit and identify the first lever to activate.
Also read: Reducing your dependence on Booking.com and OTAs, Increase your riad's direct bookings: 10 concrete actions and Riad website: 15 elements that convert.
Published by the Dar Faysal Digital editorial team.