Question
How much commission does Booking.com take?
Booking.com charges a percentage of each booking that is set when the property signs up and varies by country and property type; for a UK independent the base is typically around 15 per cent, inside a published band of 10 to 25 per cent. The programmes you opt into push the effective rate up: Preferred Partner status adds commission points, the Visibility Booster is extra commission by definition, and Genius discounts of 10 to 20 per cent come off your rate before commission is calculated on what is left.
Your own figure is on the extranet under finance, and on the monthly invoice, which comes from Booking.com B.V. in the Netherlands. That matters for VAT: a UK property accounts for it under the reverse charge, and if you are not VAT registered the value of those services counts towards the registration threshold, which is a conversation to have with your accountant before the commission grows.
What the percentage is charged on
Commission is calculated on the reservation total, which includes the room rate and any extras booked through the platform. It is not reduced by your costs. A £115 room night at 15 per cent sends £17.25 to the platform; at an effective 18 per cent after Preferred Partner it is £20.70; with a Genius discount of 10 per cent on top, the room sells at £103.50 and the commission on that is £18.63, so you keep £84.87 of a £115 room. Expedia's band for independents runs from 15 to around 30 per cent depending on market and visibility bought.
What a direct booking costs instead
A booking engine takes a small percentage or a flat monthly fee, and card processing takes 1.5 to 2 per cent, so a direct booking carries roughly 3 to 5 per cent of cost. The difference, ten to twenty pounds a night on a mid-range room, is the argument for making sure the guest who already knows your name can book with you and not through the OTA. That is mostly a matter of the Google listing carrying your own rate and the website having a booking path that works.
What you cannot do about the rate
You cannot negotiate the base rate as a small property, and you cannot advertise a lower public rate on your own site under the parity clause in the UK terms. You can offer lower rates to closed groups (an email list, a returning guest, a phone booking) and you can add breakfast, parking or a better cancellation policy to the direct rate. And you can decline the programmes: Preferred Partner and the Visibility Booster are optional, and worth reconsidering once your name searches book direct.
Follow-up questions
- Is Booking.com commission charged on cancelled bookings?
- No. Commission is invoiced on stays that happen, which is why the platform costs nothing until a guest arrives. Cancellations still cost you the night you could have sold elsewhere; the Cloudbeds 2026 report put OTA cancellation rates at more than double the direct rate.
- Does Expedia charge more than Booking.com?
- Often, for an independent. Expedia's range for smaller properties runs from about 15 per cent to around 30 depending on the market and the visibility programmes joined, where Booking.com's UK base sits nearer 15. Check both extranets; the figures are yours and they differ by property.
- Can I ask Booking.com to lower my commission?
- As a small independent, rarely with success. The practical lever is the share of bookings that go through the platform, not the rate: every name search that books direct instead is a commission you did not pay.
Answered by Daniel Stoychev, Webso Digital, 5 September 2026.