The money behind the bookings
How OTA payouts, commissions and discounts actually work — and why what lands in your account rarely matches what your guests paid.
6 October 2026
A payout is not your revenue
The credit in your bank is one number standing for a dozen stays, less things that are rarely written beside it. Here is what one OTA transfer is made of, and why matching it by hand takes days.
Read it6 October 2026
Why commission rates don't compare across OTAs
15%, 18%, 20% — the contract rates look like a league table. They aren't. Each OTA measures commission against a different base, taxes it differently and folds different charges into it.
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The screen you open is never the whole list
Extranet screens open on a year, a tab or a page — and rarely say so. Read one as if it were everything and you will find money that isn't missing, or miss money that is.
Read it6 October 2026
One cancellation, three ways to book it
Agoda, Goibibo / MakeMyTrip and Booking.com each record a cancelled stay differently — and the same booking appearing twice is often real money, not a duplicate to delete.
Read it6 October 2026
On Booking.com, most of the money flows the other way
Agoda and MakeMyTrip pay you. On Booking.com, most guests pay you and you pay Booking.com — so its payouts screen shows the smaller half of the story.
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