OTA vs Direct Hotel Bookings in 2026: The Numbers

In Europe, 51.3% of hotel room bookings in 2025 were direct and 29.9% went through OTAs, according to HOTREC's 2026 distribution study. Big chains run mostly direct (Hilton says "80% plus"). At the other end, OTAs supplied 63.4% of independent hotels' 2025 bookings in Cloudbeds' data. No public source gives a clean US split.

The figures below come from a trade association survey, a booking-software dataset, company filings and earnings calls. They measure different things, so each one carries its scope. I read every source on October 8, 2026.

What share of hotel bookings go through OTAs in Europe?

OTAs took 29.9% of European hotel room bookings in 2025, and direct channels took 51.3%, in HOTREC's European Hotel Distribution Study 2026 (executive summary, PDF). Direct here means the hotel's own website, email, phone and walk-ins. Prof. Roland Schegg of the Institute of Tourism at HES-SO Valais-Wallis led the study with HOTREC and national hotel associations, according to German trade outlet Tageskarte. It covers 2,713 hotels: 1,882 individual hotels from 28 countries plus aggregated data from 831 chain properties. HOTREC says the sample is "strongly SME-oriented," so read it as a picture of smaller European hotels more than of the big brands.

The long-run trend runs toward OTAs. In 2013 the same study found 57.6% direct and 19.7% OTA, so the OTA share rose 10.2 percentage points in 12 years while direct fell 6.3 points.

How concentrated is the OTA market?

Two companies handle most OTA hotel bookings in Europe. Booking Holdings had 68.8% of OTA bookings in HOTREC's 2025 data (Booking.com alone 66.1%), Expedia Group had 16.6%, and every other OTA group shared the remaining 14.6%. Booking.com's share is higher for independent hotels (69.4% of their OTA bookings) than for chain hotels (56.3%). Among the ten European chains in the study, Booking Holdings and Expedia together handled almost 94% of OTA bookings.

What share of US hotel bookings come from OTAs?

No public source gives a clean national OTA-versus-direct split for US hotels. The closest figure is Phocuswright's US Online Travel Agency Market Essentials 2026, a paywalled report: US OTA gross bookings were $100.3 billion in 2025, up 4%, about a fifth of all US travel gross bookings, and hotels made up 63% of OTA gross bookings (Hospitality.today, July 24, 2026). That 63% is the hotel share of OTA business, a different number from the OTA share of hotel bookings.

How much do independent hotels rely on OTAs?

Independent hotels depend on OTAs far more than the European average suggests. Cloudbeds' 2026 State of Independent Hotels Report, built from 90 million bookings in 180 countries, found OTAs supplied 63.4% of independent hotel bookings in 2025, close to 80% in some markets (Cloudbeds, March 25, 2026). Cloudbeds' summary says "OTA dependence deepened" and that the OTA share "rose to 63.4%."

The gap with HOTREC comes from who is counted. HOTREC surveys European hotels and counts phone, email and walk-in bookings as direct. Cloudbeds measures properties on its own platform worldwide. Both show independent hotels leaning more on OTAs over time.

How direct are the big hotel chains?

The large chains book most of their business through their own channels. Hilton CEO Chris Nassetta said "80% plus of our business is already direct" on the April 28, 2026 call (Q1 2026 transcript, The Motley Fool). IHG says 83% of room revenue in its system was booked through IHG-managed channels and sources in the first half of 2026, and its direct digital channels alone delivered 26% (IHG half-year results 2026, PDF). Marriott's loyalty members booked about 75% of its US room nights in 2025 (Hospitality.today, October 5, 2026).

Chain definitions of direct are broad. IHG's 83% covers every IHG-managed channel and source, a much wider measure than the 26% from its website and app, and Hilton did not break down its figure on the call.

How do the numbers compare side by side?

The table below lines up the headline figures for each segment. The columns are not strictly comparable, because each source defines direct and its base (room bookings, room revenue, room nights) differently, so treat it as a map of where each group sits.

Do OTA bookings cancel more often than direct bookings?

OTA bookings cancel about twice as often as direct ones in Cloudbeds' data, with 21.8% for OTA bookings versus 10.6% for direct bookings in 2025. HOTREC's hotels report a similar gap by channel, with mean cancellation rates of 9.1% on the hotel's own website, 19.0% on Booking.com and 11.7% on Expedia.

A cancelled booking still costs the hotel the time spent answering the guest before it was cancelled, and a room that has to be resold. That makes the share of OTA bookings a cost question as well as a commission question.

How much do Booking and Expedia keep from each booking?

Booking Holdings kept about 14.5% of what travelers spent through it in 2025: $26.9 billion of revenue on $186.1 billion of gross bookings (Booking Holdings 10-K). Expedia Group's revenue was 12.3% of $119.6 billion in gross bookings (Expedia Group 10-K). Those are company-wide take rates across hotels, flights and other products. A hotel's actual commission is set in its own contract, and Booking.com does not publish a standard rate.

The OTAs have their own version of direct. Booking's 10-K says consumers who came straight to its platforms booked a "mid-fifties percentage" of its room nights in 2025.

Will AI agents change the OTA versus direct split?

AI agents have not moved these numbers yet. Booking's CFO said on August 4, 2026 that traffic from large language models was "significantly below 1%" of room nights (Q2 2026 call, Investing.com). IHG says bookings it takes through Google's AI Mode are "still processed as direct bookings" (IHG H1 2026). No chain or OTA has published agent booking numbers. I go through the evidence on both sides in Will AI Agents Replace Booking.com? and the cost side in OTA commission vs AI agent bookings.

What should a property do with these numbers?

A property should compare its own channel mix with the closest benchmark: HOTREC for a European independent, Cloudbeds for an independent elsewhere, and the chain figures only as a ceiling. If your OTA share sits well above 63.4%, the commission and the cancellation gap are both worth measuring.

OTA guests still message and call the property before arrival. Answering those questions fast, and offering the extras a guest would otherwise not hear about, is where the relationship with that guest starts. Conduit does that work. We build AI agents for guest messaging and calls, plus guest portals for upsells and guidebooks. Conduit does not take bookings. For response time, see the 5-minute rule.

FAQ

Channel-mix figures depend on what each source counts as direct and on whether it measures bookings, room nights or revenue, so each answer below names the source behind its figure. The studies, filings and calls behind them are listed at the end of this page, all read on October 8, 2026.

What percentage of hotel bookings come from OTAs?

In Europe, OTAs accounted for 29.9% of hotel room bookings in 2025, according to HOTREC's 2026 study of 2,713 hotels. For independent hotels worldwide, Cloudbeds puts the OTA share at 63.4% of 2025 bookings.

What percentage of hotel bookings are direct?

European hotels took 51.3% of room bookings direct in 2025 in HOTREC's study, down from 57.6% in 2013. Large chains report far more, with Hilton saying "80% plus" of its business is direct.

Are OTA bookings growing or shrinking compared with direct bookings?

OTA bookings are growing as a share. HOTREC's OTA share rose from 19.7% in 2013 to 29.9% in 2025, and Cloudbeds reported the OTA share of independent hotel bookings rising to 63.4% in 2025.

Which OTA has the biggest share of hotel bookings?

Booking Holdings has the biggest share in Europe, with 68.8% of OTA hotel bookings in HOTREC's 2025 data. Booking.com alone had 66.1%, and Expedia Group had 16.6%.

Do OTA bookings cancel more than direct bookings?

OTA bookings cancel more often. Cloudbeds found a 21.8% cancellation rate on OTA bookings versus 10.6% on direct bookings in 2025, and HOTREC hotels reported 19.0% on Booking.com against 9.1% on their own websites.

Is there a US figure for OTA versus direct hotel bookings?

No public national US split exists. Phocuswright estimates US OTA gross bookings at $100.3 billion in 2025, with hotels making up 63% of that. That figure describes the OTAs' business mix, a different measure from the OTA share of hotel bookings.

Where do these numbers come from?

The numbers on this page come from a trade association study, a booking-software benchmark, company filings and earnings calls, all read on October 8, 2026. Where the primary document is paywalled, as with Phocuswright, the link goes to the trade press report that quoted it.

• HOTREC, European Hotel Distribution Study 2026, executive summary, reference year 2025. Study authorship via Tageskarte.
• Cloudbeds, 2026 State of Independent Hotels Report, March 25, 2026.
• Phocuswright, US Online Travel Agency Market Essentials 2026, via Hospitality.today, July 24, 2026.
• Hilton, Q1 2026 earnings call. IHG, half-year results 2026. Marriott via Hospitality.today, October 5, 2026.
• Booking Holdings, 2025 Form 10-K and Q2 2026 call. Expedia Group, 2025 Form 10-K.