Vikram runs Aravali Nest in Kasauli: six rooms, an average room-night of ₹3,000, and roughly 55% occupancy through the busy season. On a good month, OTA bookings bring about ₹3,00,000 in room revenue.
The bookings feel good until the payout statement arrives. At a 20% commission, ₹60,000 leaves before Vikram pays staff, electricity, linen, repairs, toiletries, breakfast supplies, internet, or local taxes.
₹60,000 is not a small marketing cost. It can repaint rooms, replace mattresses, cover a cook's salary, or fund the photos that help next season's bookings.
Hotel OTA commission is a tax on your best nights
A room night is perishable. If tonight goes empty, you cannot sell it tomorrow. That is why OTAs have power: they control discovery when a traveller is ready to book.
But percentage commission creates a strange result. When you raise your rate because demand is high, the platform earns more. When you sell out a festival weekend, the platform earns more. Your fixed costs rise too, but the commission comes off the top.
A hotel commission grows exactly when the owner finally has a good night. That is the wrong side of the business to tax.
What commission does to a ₹3 lakh OTA month
Commission rates vary by platform, property type, market, visibility programme, and contract. So use the ranges below as model math, not a claim about any one property's latest deal.
- 12% commission: − ₹36,000 → Vikram keeps ₹2,64,000
- 15% commission: − ₹45,000 → keeps ₹2,55,000
- 18% commission: − ₹54,000 → keeps ₹2,46,000
- 20% commission: − ₹60,000 → keeps ₹2,40,000
- 25% commission: − ₹75,000 → keeps ₹2,25,000
- 1MARK8 Stay (₹199 flat, ₹234.82 with GST): − ₹235 → keeps ₹2,99,765
The difference between 15% and 20% is ₹15,000 a month. The difference between 20% commission and a flat ₹199 fee is almost ₹60,000 a month.
Run the math on your own month
Aravali Nest is only an example. Pick your property type, room type and star rating, set your rooms and occupancy, then itemise staff, electricity, water, gas, supplies, upkeep and internet. The operating costs are yours on every platform, so the gap between rows is the commission model.
Once your ₹1,45,000/month running cost is paid, 1MARK8 Stay leaves you ₹1,51,765 in profit — about ₹45,800 more than the next-cheapest booking site, and ₹8,52,542 a year more than the steepest commission. Your costs are the same on every platform here; the only thing that changes between these rows is the commission, and ours is zero.
Rows use each platform's common rate; the typical range is shown beside it (OYO 20–25%+, MakeMyTrip / Goibibo 18–25%, Agoda 15–22%, Booking.com 15–23%, Expedia 15–25%, Airbnb 12–19% effective — most managers on ~15.5% host-only). Use the commission slider to model your own negotiated rate. Suggested room-night prices and running-cost figures are rough starting points — drag every slider to your real numbers. Actual commissions vary by property, city, visibility programme and contract — always check the platform's current partner terms.
The visibility upsell problem
Base commission is not always the final cost. Many booking platforms sell extra visibility through preferred placement, promotional discounts, member pricing, or ranking programmes. The owner often pays with lower net revenue.
That is why the headline commission can be misleading. A property may sign up at one rate, then accept discounting or visibility tools because otherwise it sits below better-funded competitors.
What flat fee changes for a hotel or homestay
A flat fee does not care whether you sold one room-night or five hundred. It does not rise because your photos improved, your reviews got better, or the long weekend sold out.
That lets the owner price the room for the guest and the property, not for the commission line. Better linen, breakfast, staff training, and maintenance become easier to fund when the best nights are not taxed hardest.
The objections we get
But the big OTAs bring me the guests.
They do, especially when a property is new. Discovery has value. The question is whether the platform should keep taking a percentage from repeat guests, direct referrals, and high-demand nights that your service quality created.
I only rent a few months a year.
Then pay for the months you are taking bookings and cancel the rest. Renewal is optional by design — that is the whole point of a fee instead of a commission. A seasonal hill-station property pays ₹199 in season and nothing in the off-months, not 20% on every booking forever.
What about cancellations and disputes?
The guest pays you directly and OTP-based check-in confirms the stay before settlement. Disputes still have support records and evidence, but the default is not to hold 100% of every booking just because a dispute might happen.
Is zero commission just an introductory offer?
No. Flat fee is the entire business model, not a launch promotion. Our number is published and singular: ₹199 a month, GST on top, nothing underneath it. There is no commission waiting to switch on once you depend on us.
What this means if you run a property on 1MARK8 Stay
You are renting a listing surface, booking flow, trust layer, and payment rail at a fixed cost. The room rate is yours, the repeat guest is yours, and the fee does not climb because you sold out the weekend.