Article Snapshot
| Purpose | Understand how Cloudbeds tracks OTA commissions, calculates estimates, and selects commission amounts for reporting. |
| Best for | Property owners, general managers, property admins, and accounting teams responsible for reviewing OTA commissions. |
| Use this when | You need to configure commission estimates, understand commission amounts on reservations, investigate discrepancies, or track commissions in reports. |
| Requirements | A third-party reservation source configured in Cloudbeds PMS. For source-based estimates, you need the applicable commission percentage and commissionable taxes and fees. Access to Cloudbeds Insights is required for reporting. |
| Expected result | Identify the commission amount Cloudbeds uses, configure estimates when needed, and select the appropriate commission fields for reporting. |
| Limitations | Not all OTAs provide commission information. Estimates may differ from final OTA charges, and reservations created before enhanced commission tracking was enabled do not automatically receive the new commission fields. |
Introduction
When your property receives reservations from online travel agencies (OTAs), you may need to pay a commission for those bookings. Tracking these amounts helps you understand distribution costs, review reservation profitability, and compare commissions with the amounts charged by each OTA.
Cloudbeds PMS tracks commissions using information received from the channel or estimates calculated from your reservation source settings. Depending on the information available, Cloudbeds can use a commission amount reported directly by the OTA, calculate an estimate from channel information, or calculate an estimate using your configured commission percentage.
This article explains how commission tracking works, how to configure estimates, where to review commission details, and how to analyze commissions in Cloudbeds Insights.
Table of contents
- How Cloudbeds determines commission amounts
- Configure commission tracking for third-party sources
- Understand how commission estimates are calculated
- View commission details on a reservation
- Track commissions in Cloudbeds Insights
- Important considerations
- Frequently asked questions
How Cloudbeds determines commission amounts
Cloudbeds determines the commission amount for each reservation based on the information available from the OTA and the property's reservation source configuration.
When more than one commission amount is available, Cloudbeds follows a priority order to select the amount used for reporting.
| Priority | Commission source | How it works |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Reported by the channel | The OTA sends the commission amount directly to Cloudbeds. This amount takes priority over other available estimates. |
| 2 | Estimated from channel information | The OTA provides a commission percentage or commission amount per room night. Cloudbeds uses that information to calculate an estimated commission. |
| 3 | Estimated from source configuration | When the channel does not provide commission information, Cloudbeds calculates an estimate using the configured commission percentage and the applicable amount received from the channel. |
What is Effective Commission?
Effective Commission is the commission amount Cloudbeds selects for reporting according to the priority order described above.
For example, if an OTA sends a commission amount and you have also configured a commission percentage for that reservation source, Cloudbeds uses the amount reported by the OTA as the Effective Commission.
This allows reports to use one selected commission amount per reservation instead of combining different estimates.
Configure commission tracking for third-party sources
The commission configuration depends on whether the OTA provides commission information to Cloudbeds.
If the channel already supplies the commission amount or sufficient information to calculate it, a source-based commission percentage is not required for that calculation. If the channel does not supply this information, you can configure a percentage so Cloudbeds can estimate the commission.
Configure a source-based commission estimate
Use the commission settings for the corresponding third-party reservation source to define the percentage Cloudbeds should use when channel commission information is unavailable.
- In Cloudbeds PMS, navigate to Settings
> Property
> Sources.
- Find the third-party reservation source you want to configure and open its settings.
- In the Commission Percentage field, enter the commission percentage charged by the OTA.
- Under Select the taxes and fees you would like to charge for reservations created via this source, select the applicable taxes and fees.
- Under Which selected taxes and fees should be included in the commission calculation?, select the taxes and fees that the OTA includes when calculating commission.
- Checked: The selected tax or fee is included in the commission calculation.
- Unchecked: The selected tax or fee is excluded from the commission calculation.
- Click Save.
Note: If the OTA already provides commission information, you can leave the Commission Percentage field blank when a separate source-based estimate is not needed.
Make sure the taxes and fees selected for commission calculations match the OTA's commission rules. Incorrect selections can cause estimates to differ from the amounts charged by the OTA.
For more information about configuring reservation sources, see Manage reservation sources in Cloudbeds PMS.
Understand how commission estimates are calculated
When Cloudbeds uses the commission percentage configured for a third-party reservation source, the calculation depends on the reservation amount received from the channel.
The OTA may provide an amount before commission is deducted or a net amount after the commission deduction. These situations produce different calculation steps.
Commission calculated from the channel amount
When the channel provides the applicable reservation amount before commission, Cloudbeds applies the configured commission percentage directly to that amount.
Example:
- Applicable reservation amount: $200
- Configured commission percentage: 15%
- Estimated commission: $200 × 15% = $30
Commission calculated from a net amount (uplift)
Some OTAs provide a reservation amount after commission has already been deducted. This is known as the net amount.
When the commission must be calculated from the gross amount, Cloudbeds first calculates the gross amount from the net amount. This process is called uplift.
Cloudbeds then applies the configured commission percentage to the calculated gross amount.
Example: An OTA provides a net amount of $170 after deducting a 15% commission.
- Net amount received: $170
- Gross amount after uplift: $170 ÷ 0.85 = $200
- Estimated commission: $200 × 15% = $30
In this example, the gross reservation amount is $200, the commission is $30, and the remaining net amount is $170.
Important: Commission estimates depend on the reservation amounts and commission information received from the OTA. If this information is incomplete or incorrect, the calculated commission may differ from the amount recorded by the OTA.
View commission details on a reservation
For eligible reservations, commission information is available in the Folio tab of the new reservation drawer in Cloudbeds PMS.
You can use these details to review the available commission amounts and understand whether the commission was reported by the OTA or estimated.
- Open the reservation in Cloudbeds PMS.
- Select the Folio tab.
- Locate the commission information displayed below the folio transaction details.
- Review the available commission amounts and their sources.
Note: The commission details available on a reservation depend on the information provided by the OTA and the reservation source configuration. Not all OTAs provide commission data, and reservations created before enhanced commission tracking was enabled do not automatically receive the new commission fields.
When commission information is received from the OTA or configured through the reservation source settings, it automatically appears on the reservation. This information cannot be hidden from the folio.
Track commissions in Cloudbeds Insights
The Reservations dataset in Cloudbeds Insights includes commission fields that help you analyze OTA commission amounts by reservation.
These fields allow you to identify the selected commission amount, determine its source, and review the percentage configured for the reservation source.
Commission fields available for reporting
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Effective Commission | The selected commission amount for the reservation, based on the commission priority hierarchy. |
| Effective Commission Type | Identifies whether the effective amount comes from channel information, either reported or calculated, or from the configured reservation source. |
| Channel Commission Amount | The commission amount sent directly by the OTA, when available. The field displays 0.00 when no amount is provided. |
| Commission Percent | The commission percentage configured for the reservation source. |
Add commission fields to a report
To analyze commission amounts in Cloudbeds Insights, use a report based on the Reservations dataset.
- Open Cloudbeds Reporting
- Go to the Reports tab.
- Click to add a report or open an existing report.
- Use the Reservations dataset — select Reservations in the Report Type field.
- Add the commission fields you want to analyze as report columns.
- Group, filter, or summarize the results according to your reporting needs.
- To calculate the total Effective Commission for the reservations included in the report, use Effective Commission - Sum in the Summary Information bar.
Commission Tracking report result:
Important: The original Estimated Commission field calculates commission using the configured reservation source percentage and reservation value. It does not follow the enhanced commission priority hierarchy or incorporate commission amounts reported directly by the OTA.
For reports that should account for available channel commission information, use Effective Commission instead.
Important considerations
Commission tracking depends on the information provided by each OTA, the reservation's history, and the calculation method used by the report. Keep the following limitations in mind when reviewing or comparing commission amounts.
- Channel availability: Not all OTAs provide commission amounts or sufficient information to calculate them. When channel commission information is unavailable, you can configure a source-based estimate.
- Historical reservations: Reservations created before enhanced commission tracking was enabled do not automatically receive the new commission fields.
- Commission recalculation: Confirming a recalculation updates matching reservations with a checkout date after today, following the same eligibility rule applied to tax and fee recalculations. Reservations with a checkout date of today or earlier retain their existing commission values.
- Commission population: For eligible reservations with a checkout date after today, recalculation can add commission information that was previously missing and update existing commission values. The resulting commission information is displayed directly on the reservation.
- Activity logs: Each reservation modified by recalculation receives an activity log entry showing the previous and updated commission values.
- Cancellations and no-shows: The commission amount originally received from the OTA remains unchanged when a reservation is canceled or marked as a no-show.
- Commission discrepancies: Estimates calculated in Cloudbeds may differ from the final commission charged by the OTA, particularly when the channel provides incomplete or incorrect information.
- Commission visibility: Commission information received from the channel or configured in Sources automatically appears on the reservation. It cannot be hidden from the folio.
- Payout / Commission Report: This report uses a different commission calculation method. Its results should not be assumed to match the Effective Commission field in Cloudbeds Insights.
Frequently asked questions
Expand the questions below for guidance on missing commission amounts, discrepancies, recalculation, and reporting differences.
Why does my reservation not show a commission amount?
The OTA may not provide commission information to Cloudbeds, and a source-based commission estimate may not be configured.
To configure an estimate, navigate to Settings > Property > Sources in Cloudbeds PMS, open the corresponding third-party reservation source, and enter its commission percentage.
Also check when the reservation was created. Reservations created before enhanced commission tracking was enabled do not automatically receive the new commission fields.
If the reservation has a checkout date after today, recalculation may populate missing commission information. See the recalculation FAQ below for eligibility details.
Why is the estimated commission different from the amount shown by the OTA?
Differences can occur when the commission percentage, commissionable taxes and fees, or reservation amounts received from the OTA do not match the channel's calculation.
To investigate:
- In Cloudbeds PMS, navigate to Settings > Property > Sources and open the corresponding third-party reservation source.
- Review the configured commission percentage and the taxes and fees selected for commission calculations.
- Compare the reservation amounts with the information available in the OTA's extranet.
- If the discrepancy remains, contact Cloudbeds Support.
Do I need to configure a commission percentage if my OTA provides commission information?
No. If the OTA provides the commission amount or sufficient information for Cloudbeds to calculate it, a source-based percentage is not required for that calculation.
You can still configure a percentage in Settings > Property > Sources if you want to maintain a separate commission estimate.
Which commission amount should I use for reporting?
Use Effective Commission in the Reservations dataset in Cloudbeds Insights when you want the commission amount selected according to the available channel and source information.
This field follows the commission priority hierarchy and selects the highest-priority available amount for each reservation.
The original Estimated Commission field uses a different calculation method and does not incorporate the enhanced commission priority hierarchy.
Can I recalculate commission for existing reservations?
Yes. Confirming the recalculation updates matching reservations. The system applies recalculation based on the following behavior and rules:
- Commission application and updates: Adds the source's commission to matching reservations that currently have none, and updates existing commission values for matching reservations.
- Eligible reservations: Only reservations with a checkout date after today are updated, following the same rule as tax and fee recalculation. Reservations with a checkout date of today or earlier retain their existing commission.
- Activity logging: Every modified reservation generates an activity log entry detailing the previous and updated commission values.
For example, if you update a reservation source's commission settings and confirm recalculation, eligible reservations with future checkout dates can receive a commission value even if they previously had none.
Note: Commission recalculation applies only to eligible reservations with a checkout date after today. Reservations with a checkout date of today or earlier retain their existing commission values.
Is it possible to hide the commission from appearing on the folio?
No. Once a commission is transmitted by the channel or configured within Sources, it automatically displays on the reservation. There is no option to hide the commission information from the folio.
Does the commission amount change when a reservation is canceled or marked as a no-show?
The commission amount received directly from the OTA remains as originally provided.
Cloudbeds does not receive an updated channel commission amount when a reservation is canceled or marked as a no-show.
Does the Payout / Commission Report use Effective Commission?
No. The Payout / Commission Report uses its existing commission calculation rules, which differ from the enhanced commission tracking fields.
To report on the commission amount selected from available OTA and source information, use Effective Commission in the Cloudbeds Insights Reservations dataset.
For details about the separate report, see Payout / Commission Report.
Related articles
Understanding how Cloudbeds selects and calculates commissions helps you review OTA reservation costs and choose the appropriate reporting fields. For additional guidance on reservation source configuration, commission reports, and reporting field definitions, see:
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