MakeMyTrip Hotel Commission: Audit Your Payout

What does a MakeMyTrip booking really cost?

The contracted commission percentage is only one part of the answer. A hotel may also fund discounts, participate in paid programmes, incur taxes or payment adjustments, and lose value through unreconciled cancellations or settlement errors. The useful measure is the effective channel cost on stayed bookings.

Do not copy a commission percentage from another property. Commercial terms can differ by hotel, market, date, programme, and contract version.

Build a reservation-level reconciliation

Export the same reporting period from the MakeMyTrip partner system, PMS or CRS, accounting system, and bank statement. Use a stable reservation ID to match records.

Include booking, stay, cancellation, and settlement dates; room revenue and tax basis; contracted commission; tax on commission; hotel-funded promotions; programme and payment fees; refunds and credit notes; and the expected and actual settlement.

Calculate three useful numbers

Contracted commission

Use the formula and fee base in the signed agreement. Confirm whether specified extras, taxes, or charged cancellations enter the calculation.

Effective OTA cost

Effective OTA cost = commission + tax on commission + hotel-funded discounts + programme and payment fees + unrecovered adjustments

Effective OTA cost rate = effective OTA cost ÷ stayed-room revenue on the same basis

This is a management calculation, not an industry benchmark.

Net contribution

Net contribution = stayed-room revenue − effective OTA cost − variable stay costs

Compare this with direct and other channels for equivalent dates and segments. Direct bookings also have acquisition, technology, payment, and service costs, so zero commission is not the same as zero distribution cost.

Illustrative reconciliation

The numbers show method only. Replace them with actual contract, invoice, and settlement values, and document whether revenue includes or excludes taxes and mandatory extras.

Find leakage before negotiating

A contract discussion will not fix a reconciliation problem. First check:

1. reservations invoiced after a valid waiver, refund, or modification;
2. mismatches between contracted and invoiced rates;
3. duplicate or unexplained fees;
4. hotel-funded discounts assumed to be channel-funded;
5. missing credit notes or settlement deductions;
6. mapping that exposes unintended inventory or inclusions;
7. promotions active after their intended dates.

Raise disputed items through the current partner support process and keep the case ID, source documents, and calculation.

Prepare a fact-based commercial review

Build a one-page summary of stayed bookings and contribution, cancellation patterns, supplied availability, effective cost by programme, operational improvements, and the specific change requested.

Possible asks include a time-bounded promotion, different programme participation, better mapping support, or a review of disputed charges. Availability depends on your market, property, account, and current MakeMyTrip policies.

Decide using an incrementality test

Incremental contribution = incremental stayed-room revenue − added commission − hotel-funded discount − added fees − variable stay costs − displaced higher-value demand

Use equivalent demand periods and define a stop condition. Do not treat gross bookings as incremental if the same demand would likely have arrived through another source.

Monthly control checklist

• Reconcile invoices to reservation and settlement data.
• Track disputes and credit notes to closure.
• Separate stayed, cancelled, and no-show bookings.
• Review programme and promotion status.
• Compare gross revenue, effective cost, and net contribution by channel.
• Store the contract version and written amendments with the analysis.