OTA Commission & Net Rate Calculator

About the OTA Commission & Net Rate Calculator

A booking that arrives through an online travel agency is worth less than its price: the channel keeps its commission, a member or mobile discount lowers what the guest pays, card and payment charges take a share, and the tax on the room goes to the government. This calculator works out, for every channel you sell on — direct, Airbnb, Booking.com, Expedia, MakeMyTrip or any other — what one room night really leaves you, what the channel costs as a share of your rate, the rate to publish to keep the net you want, how much a direct booking at the same price saves, and whether guests see the same price everywhere.

Commissions differ from one contract to the next, so the page never assumes one: Airbnb’s published single host fee is filled in, and the other channels wait for the percentage in your own contract or invoice. Taxes follow your country: India’s GST on hotel rooms by the value of a room per night, VAT or another percentage, and a city or tourist tax per room or per guest.

The free preview works every channel out and shows the net per room night of the channel you pick; the other figures, the rest of the tables and the working, the summary copy and the CSV download need a Pro pass.

Common uses

• Setting the rate to publish on each OTA so every booking keeps the same net.
• Showing guests (and yourself) what a direct booking saves.
• Checking whether joining a member or mobile discount programme pays.
• Spotting a price that sits just above India’s ₹7,500 GST threshold.
• Comparing a homestay’s Airbnb payout with a Booking.com reservation.

Where each channel’s commission comes from

Online travel agencies agree a commission with each property, and it can change with your market, a visibility programme or a promotion you join, so use the percentage in your own contract, your extranet’s invoices or the commission line of each reservation. Airbnb publishes its host fees: with the single fee most hosts pay 15.5% of the nightly price and their fees (others typically 14% to 16%, 16% in Brazil and Mexico), with the split fee most hosts pay 3% and guests pay 14.1% to 16.5% on top (Airbnb service fees).

Say whether your contract charges the commission on the room price before tax or with its tax; a city tax added on top is never part of it here. Payment charges are a percentage of everything the guest pays — the card fee of your own payment gateway for direct bookings, or a channel’s payment-processing fee when it collects the money.

Discounts cost more than their percentage

A member, mobile or promotion discount lowers what the guest pays, so the commission is charged on the lower price — and you lose the discount as well. With a 10% discount and a 15% commission on a $100 rate, the guest pays $90, the channel keeps $13.50 and you keep $76.50: the channel costs 23.5% of your rate, not 15%. The page counts both in what the channel costs, and gives the rate to publish that keeps your target net once the discount and the commission are taken off.

Taxes on the room: GST, VAT and city taxes

In India, GST on hotel accommodation (SAC 996311) follows the value of supply of one room per night: 5%, with input tax credit restricted, when a night is worth ₹7,500 or less, and 18% above that (GST Council, recommendations of its 56th meeting and their FAQs). The value is what the guest is charged for the room, so a discount can move a night into the lower slab, and a price just above ₹7,500 costs the guest far more tax than one at ₹7,500; the page warns when a channel’s price sits there. The tax is split equally into CGST and SGST (UTGST in a union territory without a legislature) of the place where the property is, because that is the place of supply of accommodation (see the GST place of supply finder).

Elsewhere, choose a percentage tax — VAT, sales tax or an occupancy tax — and type its rate, and add a fixed city or tourist tax per room night or per guest night. Taxes are passed on to the authorities, so they are never part of the net; they do change what the guest pays, and card charges are paid on them too.

The rate to publish, and rate parity

To keep a target net, the page solves the rate backwards: the target plus the fixed fee per night and the card charge on any city tax, divided by what is left of each unit of price after the commission and the payment charges, then grossed up for the channel’s discount. With India’s GST the price is solved at 5% first and at 18% when it lands above ₹7,500.

Rate parity means guests find the same price on every channel and on your own website. The parity table compares what a guest pays on each channel — room and taxes, after its discount — with a direct booking, and flags the channels that are cheaper (usually a discount you agreed to) or dearer than booking you directly. Check what your own contracts say about parity before you change a rate.

Limitations

• Commissions come from your contracts: the page fills in only Airbnb’s published host fee, and never guesses another channel’s.
• Tax that a channel withholds and you claim back (for example tax collected or deducted at source on platform sales) is not a cost, so it is not taken off.
• One rate per night is compared; extra-guest charges, meals and length-of-stay rules are left out.
• GST on accommodation follows the value of each room per night; meals and other services billed with the room may be taxed differently and are not covered.
• The parity check compares the prices you type; it does not read any channel’s live rates.

Privacy

On this device: nothing is sent

Your rates, taxes and channels are kept in this browser so the next visit starts from them; nothing you type is uploaded.