SuperControl guide
SuperControl and the UK channel landscape
Sykes, Hoseasons, Premier Cottages and the rest — what each one costs you, and why the direct channel is worth building.
The reach is real, and so is the price
SuperControl connects to more than twenty-five booking channels, including a set that barely exists outside the UK: Sykes Cottages, Hoseasons, Premier Cottages, Cottages.com, Snaptrip, Coolstays, Farm Stay and others. For a UK operator that distribution is genuinely valuable, particularly in shoulder season.
It also carries the highest commission rates in the sector. Sykes typically takes 18–22% including VAT, cottages.com 17–22%, and holidaycottages.co.uk 15–20%4. Booking.com averages around 15%3 and Airbnb's host-only fee runs 14–16%3.
Why this makes the direct channel unusually valuable in the UK
A UK self-catering operator is typically paying more per booking than an equivalent operator almost anywhere else. That raises the value of every booking moved to the direct channel correspondingly.
The arithmetic is worth doing properly. On £250,000 of turnover, moving ten per cent of bookings from a twenty per cent channel to your own website is around £5,000 a year — recurring, compounding, and requiring no additional occupancy.
- Sykes Cottages: 18–22% incl. VAT4
- cottages.com: 17–22%4
- holidaycottages.co.uk: 15–20%4
- Booking.com: ~15%, ranging 10–25%3
- Airbnb host-only fee: 14–16%3
- Your own website: payment processing only
How to think about the mix
Not as a binary. The agencies fill weeks you would otherwise lose, and leaving them entirely is a decision very few operators should make. The realistic goal is to shift the proportion.
The direct channel also produces better bookings: industry data shows direct reservations run 45.2% longer stays and 51.3% longer booking windows than OTA bookings2. More notice, longer stays, fewer changeovers per occupied night.
Questions people actually ask
Straight answers.
How much commission does Sykes take?
Typically 18–22% including VAT, varying by location, contract length and portfolio size4.
Multi-property owners occasionally negotiate lower rates, but the published range is a fair planning assumption.
Should I list on fewer channels?
Usually not. Channel breadth costs you nothing when a channel does not book, and SuperControl removes the double-booking risk.
The lever worth pulling is direct share, not channel count.
Are direct bookings actually better, or just cheaper?
Both. Direct bookings run 45.2% longer stays and 51.3% longer booking windows than OTA bookings2.
Longer notice and longer stays are worth nearly as much operationally as the commission saving is financially.
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