Since hoteliers can provide net instead of gross prices to OTAs, they end up paying a commission for the included 10 percent VAT and 2 percent accommodation tax.
For instance, a hotel making $500,000 in sales through an online travel agency with a 15 percent commission, it has to pay $75,000 (an additional $9,000) in commission instead of $66,000.
When hoteliers, particularly those appealing to online travel portals like Booking, seek to annihilate this mistake, they are told, "This is how the system works." The accommodation tax in Türkiye is not exempt from commission because it is considered a 'government tax' in the OTA system rather than a 'city tax.'
