Your OTA does not charge 15 percent. Once you count the second booking that guest never makes with you directly, it charges closer to 40.
Every hotel knows the headline OTA commission. Fewer run the full number.
Take a guest who books a 3 night stay at 250 dollars a night through an OTA. That is 750 dollars in revenue and, at 15 percent, about 112 dollars handed over. Painful but survivable.
Now count what the headline hides. That guest belongs to the OTA, not to you. You do not get their email. You cannot market the return visit. The shoulder season comeback, the refer a friend, the direct rebook next summer, all of it routes back through the OTA at another 15 percent, if it comes back to you at all.
Over a lifetime, a loyal direct guest is worth multiples of a one time OTA booking. The commission is not a 15 percent fee on one stay. It is a tax on every future stay you never get to capture.
This does not mean firing the OTAs. They are your shop window. It means treating that first OTA booking as a lead to convert, not a relationship to surrender.
One move this week: build a check in moment that captures the direct email and offers a concrete reason to book direct next time. A guaranteed better rate, a late checkout, a welcome drink. Make the second booking yours.