In May 2026, Booking.com communicated to the Brazilian hotel market a change that directly affects the margin of each reservation: starting from July 1, 2026, the platform will standardize the commission at 18% as the "preferred" rate for hotels in Brazil. Until then, the rates varied, generally between 10% and 15%, depending on the type of agreement and the visibility tools contracted. For those who closed at 15%, this means an additional three percentage points coming out of each room sold by the OTA.
The notice came with about two months' notice. And this is precisely what most bothers the sector: the 2026 budgets were finalized in 2025, when no one provisioned for this additional cost. Three important entities — FOHB (Forum of Hotel Operators of Brazil), ABIH (Brazilian Association of the Hotel Industry), and Resorts Brasil — issued a joint manifesto requesting the postponement of the measure and the opening of a technical negotiation table. The reaction is legitimate, but while the discussion is ongoing, the calendar does not stop. And those who feel the impact the most are independent hotels, inns, and hostels, which often have a high dependence on OTAs and much less negotiating power than large chains.
The painful calculation: how much the Booking commission takes from your room rate
Let's get to the concrete number, because that's where the decision is based. For a room rate of R$500, the Booking.com commission increases from R$75 (at 15%) to R$90 (with the new 18%). That's an additional R$15 per reservation — it may seem small in isolation, but multiply it by the actual volume of your hotel.
A hotel that sells 600 room nights per month through the OTA at an average of R$500 was paying R$45,000 in commission (15%). With the 18%, it will now pay R$54,000. That's an additional R$9,000 per month, R$108,000 per year, that comes directly out of the result — without you having sold an additional room or improved the operation. It's margin that evaporates.
The point that DeskHotel always defends is honest: the OTA is not the villain. It brings visibility, reach, and guests who might never find your hotel on their own. The problem is not using Booking.com — it is depending on it excessively. When the majority of your reservations come from a single channel that unilaterally determines how much it will charge, you have lost control of your own margin. The healthy reaction is not to abandon the OTA. It is to rebalance the channel mix so that the commission stops eating into your profit.
Front 1: map the real cost per channel before making any decision
You can't optimize what you don't measure. Before changing anything, assess the real acquisition cost of each channel: how much does a reservation via Booking.com (18% plus any visibility tools), via other OTAs, via Google Hotels, via WhatsApp, and via your direct channel on your website cost? Include the hidden costs — team time, chargebacks, no-shows.
This map almost always reveals the same truth: the direct reservation is the cheapest that exists, and the OTA is the most expensive. With the numbers in hand, the conversation stops being a guess and becomes a revenue strategy. A revenue manager who sees the cost per channel can make pricing and distribution decisions based on net margin, not just gross occupancy. And a pricing adapted to the Brazilian reality helps sustain a competitive direct rate without entering a price war with the OTA. For leadership, it's worth connecting this to the decision-makers' dashboard: see how we support hotel managers to see the result by channel in real time.
Front 2: strengthen your own booking engine
The direct channel starts with a functional entry point. If the guest arrives at your website, sees availability and the rate, but cannot easily complete the reservation there, they will return to Booking.com — and you pay 18% for a reservation that was yours. A well-integrated own booking engine closes this gap: the guest books directly, pays directly, and the commission stays with you.
The math is straightforward. Each reservation you migrate from the OTA (18%) to the direct channel returns almost the entirety of those 18% to your cash flow. In the example of a hotel that sells R$300,000 per month through Booking.com, migrating just 20% of that volume to the direct channel represents about R$10,800 saved in commission per month. You don't need to "zero out" the OTA — just shifting a portion can change the game. The reservations team gains a channel they control, instead of relying solely on the platform's statement.
Front 3: invest in Google Hotels
Google Hotels is today a showcase that many independent hotels still underutilize. When the guest searches for the name of your city or hotel, they see prices from various OTAs side by side — and if you are there with your direct rate, you can appear next to (or below) the Booking.com price, capturing the click that would have gone to the commission. This is the point where the purchase intent is highest and the acquisition cost is usually much lower than that of the OTA.
Connecting your own booking engine to Google Hotels transforms the search into a direct reservation. Combined with a good guest journey tracking strategy, you understand where your best guests come from and where it is worth investing — and the hotel marketing team works with data, not intuition.
Front 4: turn WhatsApp into your closing channel
In Brazil, the guest asks on WhatsApp before reserving anywhere. Whoever responds quickly, with a clear quote and the possibility of closing the deal right there, gets the reservation — and without paying 18% in commission. The problem is that manually responding to each message, especially during peak season, is unsustainable for the team.
This is where structured WhatsApp support becomes a sales channel. With native WhatsApp and an AI trained specifically for hospitality, the guest receives the quote immediately, sees the accommodation options, and can advance to a direct reservation without waiting in line or during business hours. Sending professional quotes directly in the conversation shortens the path between the question and the "deal closed," and each closure here is a reservation that did not go through the OTA. This is, in practice, the most Brazilian way to reduce commission dependence.
Front 5: build your own guest base with CRM
Every reservation through the OTA has a hidden cost beyond the commission: the guest belongs to the platform, not to you. You don't get the real contact, you can't reactivate those who have stayed before, and you don't build a relationship. The direct reservation, on the other hand, delivers the guest data to you — and that's where low-cost recurring revenue lies.
With a CRM for hospitality, you organize this base, segment by profile, and reactivate past guests during low season with a simple message. Those who have stayed once and had a good experience book again directly — without you paying commission for it. This is the opposite of the OTA cycle: instead of paying again to win back the same guest, you retain and profit with full margin. To manage this process across multiple properties, a multi-hotel operation centralized maintains control without multiplying the workload.
The rebalancing is strategy, not revolt
The increase in Booking.com's commission to 18% is a harsh reminder of a known truth: when a channel unilaterally determines how much you pay, you do not control your margin. Supporting the entities' manifesto for a negotiation table is important and legitimate. But the reaction that truly protects your results happens internally — reducing dependence and strengthening the direct channel.
This is not "abandon Booking." It is rebalancing the mix so that the commission stops eroding your profit. The five fronts — mapping the cost per channel, strengthening the booking engine, investing in Google Hotels, closing deals via WhatsApp, and building your own base through CRM — reinforce each other. And the sooner you start, the better protected you will be in the next high season. To prepare now, it's worth checking how to fill your hotel during the July 2026 holidays and understanding what changes with the Meta Business Agent and AI on WhatsApp for hotels and inns.
If the 18% commission has raised a red flag, the best time to rebalance your channel mix is before July 1. Structure your direct channel, WhatsApp, and CRM in a single platform — so that your margin is yours again. Schedule a free demo of DeskHotel and build your direct channel plan before the turn of the year.