Originally Posted by
Adelphos
OTA commissions for Marriott/Hilton/Hyatt are around the 12-15% range. OTA mix is probably about the same (maybe in the high teens), but varies by property.
OTA commissions for a random independent hotel in a city can be as high as 20% or more. And OTA mix can be 40-50%
Marriott/Hilton/Hyatt take about 5% of revenues in fees, and another 5-6% for marketing, loyalty program, expenses, etc. But they also do things like mandate brand standards, mandate renovations every 6-7 years, etc.
So you can do the math as an independent property in a city on whether a large brand works for you.
Where Marriott/Hilton excel is in the Residence Inn / Courtyard / Hilton Garden Inn area where the hotel almost can't exist without the brand. Same with big convention hotels.
Are you suggesting that hotel properties (commissions are set by property per room type per rate category) are paying Expedia 15-20% per booking without a bulk-buy commitment? I don't believe that is true at all. You would personally need to have access to internal contract documents to know what any commission rate is for a particular property.
Standard commissions are 10% of the base room rate for all travel agencies, online or not, except when some properties will offer an incentive or bonus of 20% or so per room. If you are quoting a bulk-buy commitment with penalties for failing to sell out an allocation, that is a different scenario and is an optional path for a hotel property to take, but not compulsory. As a franchisee, any Marriott property can choose to participate in a bulk buy or not, or offer a different commission structure, so they remain in full control of their revenue stream. No different than an AirBnB owner voluntarily choosing a full service property manager who takes 30% of the cut to handle advertising, check-in/out, cleaning, etc.