New OTA looks to ‘shake up high commissions’ in travel industry

A new online travel agency offering lower commissions than the market incumbents has launched today.

Hotel Bonanza said it will offer commission rates of 8%, which it said will “put control back into the hands of accommodation providers” while offering consumers a membership scheme that gives them a discount on every booking.

The company plans for its consumer site to go live later this year and will offer low commission compared with other OTAs, which typically take commission rates of around 18% to 25%.

Suzie Barber, founder and CEO, said: “We understand the frustrations of accommodation providers currently being squeezed by large OTAs and that’s where we saw a gap in the market for a more logical way to do business which doesn’t cut so deep into profits.

“We have had an amazing response from the trade so far. There’s a genuine appetite for what we are doing.”