Caribbean hotels push back as Booking.com moves to charge commission on the taxes they collect for governments

L2Who’s affected

Heron's example: with a 15% commission and 10% General Consumption Tax, the effective commission rises to 16.5% of pre-tax room revenue, or US$16.50 instead of US$15 on a US$100 room. "Smaller properties that depend heavily on online booking platforms are particularly exposed," he said (Gleaner). In CHTA's illustration, a 15% commission with a 12% tax becomes 16.8% (Caribbean Journal).

L3Why it’s quiet

Analysis · OVERLOOKED Coverage is in The Gleaner and Caribbean Journal. We did not find coverage by the 13 major U.S. outlets.

L4Deeper impact

CHTA, which represents 32 national associations, says Booking.com's published terms exclude government taxes from commission in the U.S., with additional exclusions in Dubai and Egypt, while U.K. terms include them. Barbados's hotel association has issued guidance to members, and the Turks and Caicos association has issued guidance and publicly opposed the change (Caribbean Journal; Gleaner). Heron objected to "treating continued use of the platform as acceptance before members have received the updated agreement" (Gleaner).

L5Full context

The policy took effect in some destinations on May 15, and CHTA has opposed it since Booking.com notified partners in May. CHTA says its earlier advocacy helped secure an exemption for destination fees in 2019 (Gleaner; Caribbean Journal).

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