If people realized how much money of their hotel booking was going to Google and the OTAs, they would piss their pants. It is an excessive, useless, and largely avoidable tax.
* also note it’s driven substantial consolidation in the hotel industry, because big companies like Marriott can just rake in their direct bookings.
You'd think that by walking in or calling you could get the price around 10% below booking.com or Agoda, but it's almost never the case from my experience booking budget accommodation in Europe & Asia. Most of time they offer standard rate which is _higher_ than what you'd find on OTA.
* also note it’s driven substantial consolidation in the hotel industry, because big companies like Marriott can just rake in their direct bookings.