The global Online Travel Agencies (you know who we mean) are dominating this market with huge spending on brand advertising.

But who pays for all this? Well you do of course!

These organisations have an unbelievable appetite for revenue, in our view more than this industry can really afford to pay, and therefore not sustainable in the longer term.

In addition to marking up the actual accommodation tariff by up to 15% and calling it a "service fee" payable by you the traveller, they also charge the owner/operator anywhere from 3.3% to 5.5% commission.

They hold your money and a security bond (if applicable) from the day you book until after you depart, and they keep all the interest they earn on this, which for these "big guys" is millions of dollars.

As owner/operators, we are expected to monitor our listing 24 hours a day 365 days a year. If we do not maintain an appropriate response rate we get punished and even fined.

If we run into a problem and need to cancel or move a booking, we get fined.

Join the "Fightback" and book direct.

Getawayhouses is an accomodation owner/operator website which does not charge "Service Fees", we add just a modest booking fee of A$22.00 per reservation.