Softwr

Travel · head to head

Booking.com vs Egencia

Booking.com logo

Booking.com

Travel

Hotel and accommodation booking marketplace that charges commission to properties, typically 15 to 25 percent, invisible to the traveller

From
Free
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite
Egencia logo

Egencia

Travel

Corporate online booking and travel management from Amex GBT for mid-market and enterprise programmes

From
On request
Rated
-
Full reviewWebsite

The short version

  • Only Booking.com has a free tier, so it costs nothing to try first.
  • Each has a real cost: Booking.com the commission Booking.com charges properties, typically 15 to 25 percent of the booking value, is invisible to the traveller and often built into the displayed room rate, so the identical room booked directly with the hotel can sometimes be cheaper.; Egencia pricing is per transaction and offline touches cost several times an online booking, so a programme with many complex multi-leg itineraries pays far more than the headline online fee suggests.
  • They diverge on capability: Booking.com covers Accommodation search and booking, Egencia covers Policy and approval engine.
  • Prices and features above were last checked on 1 September 2026.

Where they differ

Only the attributes on which Booking.com and Egencia actually diverge.

Attributes where Booking.com and Egencia differ
AttributeBooking.comEgencia
Starting priceFreeOn request
Pricing modelFree for travellers, commission charged to listed propertiesquote
Free tierYesNo
PlatformsiOS, Android, WebWeb, iOS, Android

Identical on both: user rating (Not yet rated), category (Travel).

What each one covers

Drawn from each product's published feature list. An absence here means we hold no record of it - not that the product lacks it.

Only in Booking.com

  • Accommodation search and booking
  • Free cancellation filtering
  • Genius loyalty programme
  • Guest reviews
  • Car rental and flights
  • Property management tools

Only in Egencia

  • Policy and approval engine
  • Negotiated rate loading
  • Traveller tracking
  • Agent support
  • Concur Expense integration
  • AI booking assistant

What people use each for

The jobs each tool is most often brought in to do.

Booking.com

  • A traveller wanting to compare many properties across a destination with consolidated reviews and one payment interfacenot Egencia
  • Someone wanting flexible, free-cancellation rate options filtered specifically in searchnot Egencia
  • A frequent booker wanting Genius loyalty tier discounts across many staysnot Egencia
  • A property owner or manager wanting broad distribution to travellers in exchange for paying commission on completed bookingsnot Egencia

Egencia

  • A company of several hundred travellers wanting negotiated hotel rates without paying for a high-touch TMCnot Booking.com
  • A finance team standardising on SAP Concur that wants booking data pre-populating expense reportsnot Booking.com
  • A multi-country employer needing consolidated duty of care reporting on where staff are travellingnot Booking.com
  • An organisation moving off a regional TMC and wanting one supplier across Europe and North Americanot Booking.com

Where each one falls short

Documented limitations, not opinions. Every one is a constraint you would hit in normal use.

Booking.com

  • The commission Booking.com charges properties, typically 15 to 25 percent of the booking value, is invisible to the traveller and often built into the displayed room rate, so the identical room booked directly with the hotel can sometimes be cheaper.
  • Cancellation policies vary entirely by the specific rate a property has set, not a platform-wide standard, so travellers must check each listing individually rather than assume consistent flexibility.
  • Review authenticity depends on Booking.coms own verification process for guests who booked and stayed, which travellers cannot independently audit beyond trusting the platforms stated methodology.
  • Customer service for booking disputes often requires involving both Booking.com and the property directly, since the platform is a marketplace intermediary rather than the accommodation provider itself.
  • Some properties, aware of the commission cost, offer better rates or perks to guests who book directly by phone or through the hotels own website instead, undermining the price transparency travellers might assume the platform provides.

Egencia

  • Pricing is per transaction and offline touches cost several times an online booking, so a programme with many complex multi-leg itineraries pays far more than the headline online fee suggests.
  • It is now a service tier inside Amex GBT rather than an independent supplier, so a competitive process that shortlists both Egencia and Amex GBT is not really two bids.
  • Regional content and service quality are uneven, and companies with travellers in smaller markets often find local fares and hotels missing from the tool and end up going offline.
  • Implementation to load negotiated rates and configure policy typically runs months, and rate loading errors surface as travellers seeing the wrong prices rather than as a clean failure.
  • Because the platform underwent a relaunch on new architecture, customers migrating from the older Egencia stack have faced feature parity gaps and retraining during the transition.

Pricing, plan by plan

Booking.com

Free
  • Booking.comFree
    • Free to search and book for travellers, no subscription or platform fee charged to the guest
    • Commission charged to properties typically 15 to 25 percent of booking value, not publicly itemised per listing
    • Genius loyalty programme offers discounts at no direct cost to the traveller

Egencia

On request
  • Egencia$undefined/year
    • Per-transaction booking fees, online and offline rates differ
    • Optional annual platform or management fee
    • Implementation and rate loading charges

Which should you pick?

Choose Booking.com if

  • You need accommodation search and booking.
  • You want to start without paying.
  • You work on iOS, Android, Web.
  • You also want free cancellation filtering.
Booking.com review

Choose Egencia if

  • You need policy and approval engine.
  • You work on Web, iOS, Android.
  • You also want negotiated rate loading.
Egencia review

Questions people ask

Is Booking.com or Egencia better?
Neither clearly leads. Booking.com starts at Free and Egencia at On request, and user ratings are close enough to be indistinguishable. Choose on capability and platform support.
Which is cheaper, Booking.com or Egencia?
Booking.com has a free tier; the other does not. Paid plans start at Free for Booking.com and On request for Egencia.
Does Booking.com or Egencia run on more platforms?
Booking.com runs on iOS, Android, Web. Egencia runs on Web, iOS, Android.
Can I use Booking.com for free?
Yes. Booking.com has a free tier, so you can try it without paying. Egencia starts at On request.
What is Booking.com best used for?
Booking.com is most often used for a traveller wanting to compare many properties across a destination with consolidated reviews and one payment interface, someone wanting flexible, free-cancellation rate options filtered specifically in search, a frequent booker wanting genius loyalty tier discounts across many stays, a property owner or manager wanting broad distribution to travellers in exchange for paying commission on completed bookings. Of those, a traveller wanting to compare many properties across a destination with consolidated reviews and one payment interface and someone wanting flexible, free-cancellation rate options filtered specifically in search are not what Egencia is typically brought in for.
What can Booking.com do that Egencia cannot?
Booking.com covers Accommodation search and booking, Free cancellation filtering, Genius loyalty programme, Guest reviews. Egencia covers Policy and approval engine, Negotiated rate loading, Traveller tracking, Agent support.

Answered from the vendors’ own pages

Booking.com: Is Booking.com free to use?

Yes, for travellers there is no subscription or booking fee charged directly. The platform earns money through commission charged to the properties listed, typically 15 to 25 percent of booking value.

Egencia: Is Egencia still sold under its own name?

Yes. Amex GBT bought it in 2021 and kept the brand, relaunching it in 2026 with a conversational AI assistant and a Concur Expense integration.

Booking.com: Why might a hotel be cheaper if I book directly?

Because the hotel pays commission, typically 15 to 25 percent, on bookings made through Booking.com, some hotels price rooms to absorb that cost or offer a lower direct rate since they keep the full amount without paying the platform a cut.

Egencia: How is it different from Amex GBT itself?

Egencia is the more self-service, lower-touch tier of the same company, aimed at mid-market programmes; Amex GBT proper is the high-touch enterprise service.

Booking.com: Does Booking.com own the properties it lists?

No, it is a marketplace connecting travellers with independently owned and operated properties; Booking.com does not own or operate the hotels and accommodations listed.

Egencia: Does it replace an expense system?

No. It books travel and feeds data to expense tools such as SAP Concur; you still need an expense product.

Share

Related pages

More on Booking.com

More on Egencia

Keep looking

Other head to heads