Northlab Research · Riad Direct · 2026-11-08

Direct booking vs Booking.com for a Moroccan riad: compare the margin, not the headline commission

A direct booking is cheaper only when its payment, software and acquisition costs are lower than the costs of the booking it replaces. Booking.com does not publish one commission rate for every Moroccan riad. Use your own accommodation agreement, not an agency's national average.

Start with the figure you can verify

Booking.com's official partner help says the exact percentage depends on country, property type and the accommodation agreement. The rate is available in the agreement and Finance reservation statements. Preferred Partner or Visibility Booster can add commission. The commissionable amount can include more than the room rate. Do not apply the percentage to the wrong base or forget a discount funded by the property.

Primary source: Booking.com commission explanation, checked 8 November 2026. This is the platform's explanation, not an independent audit of your contract.

A 1,000 MAD stay: a hypothetical worksheet

These numbers are assumptions for arithmetic, NOT measured Moroccan prices, a customer case or promised savings. Suppose both routes sell the same stay for 1,000 MAD with the same included services:

The difference is 80 MAD, not 170 MAD. If direct acquisition instead costs 150 MAD, direct contribution becomes 800 MAD and the OTA route is ahead by 30 MAD. If your OTA payment processing has an extra charge, include it too. “0” above is a simplifying assumption, not a statement that OTAs never charge other fees.

Use: contribution = guest revenue − commission − property-funded discounts − payment costs − allocated software/site costs − acquisition cost − other channel-specific costs. Compare the same tax basis, cancellations, services and time period. Your accountant can help make the bases consistent.

Keep useful discovery; fix the path for guests who know you

An OTA can introduce travellers who have never heard of the riad. A website does not recreate that audience overnight. Start with guests who deliberately search your property name, existing lawful customer communications and repeat visitors. Make your official site easy to recognize, give it clear FR/EN information, and link to your existing booking engine. Do not move an active OTA enquiry off-platform in breach of its rules.

A website is not a channel manager. Without synchronized availability, extra demand can become an overbooking problem. See the PMS/channel-manager guide before buying more software.

What should an owner measure?

For one month, record qualified direct visits, booking enquiries, completed stays, cancellations and contribution by channel. Report actual completed bookings separately from enquiry forms. If you run no paid ads, do not assume acquisition is literally free: staff time still matters. A useful channel can be small; a large click count can still produce no profitable stays.

Riad Direct's €49 one-time audit is a human-reviewed check of the public booking path and returns a one-page prioritized plan. Target timing: within 48 working hours after the required details arrive; confirm the schedule before ordering. It does not promise search rankings, commission savings or bookings. The €290 offer is a templated 4–6 page starter site using your text and photos. Live booking-engine integration, translation, hosting and support are quoted separately; third-party subscriptions and processing charges remain separate. See scope and prices or try the calculator with your own inputs.