Your GDS invoice is calculated from your GDS contract and billing activity.

SiteMinder GDS has a separate billing account and invoice from other SiteMinder products. It only includes GDS charges and is not part of your standard SiteMinder subscription invoice.

GDS invoices are always issued in USD, regardless of your property's location or local subscription currency. USD is the base currency for the GDS service.

Billing starts automatically once SiteMinder GDS is confirmed as active for your property, according to your GDS contract.

Your invoice is based on the fees in your GDS contract, such as:

All exact fees are contract-specific.

💡 SiteMinder does not charge commission on GDS reservations. Travel agent commission is handled separately — see SiteMinder GDS fees vs commission below.

GDS transaction fees are billed one month in arrears, so each monthly invoice covers transaction fees from the previous period. This differs from standard SiteMinder subscription invoices, which bill at the start of the month for upcoming charges.

Transaction fees are a fixed fee per billable reservation set by your GDS contract, not a percentage of the room rate.

A transaction fee applies to any GDS reservation that remains confirmed or active, including no-shows and reservations not validly cancelled through the GDS before the cancellation deadline.

Only the travel agency that made the reservation can cancel it on the GDS, and no transaction fee applies when they cancel the reservation correctly via the GDS. If an agency says it cancelled but the status is not Cancelled in SiteMinder GDS, the cancellation was most likely not valid. For example, it was attempted after the rate's cancellation deadline. If in doubt, contact the SiteMinder GDS Support team to investigate.

⚠️ If you waive a cancellation penalty for an agency that missed the valid cancellation window, the GDS transaction fee still applies — SiteMinder incurs that cost from the GDS regardless. SiteMinder recommends your cancellation penalty covers the transaction fee at a minimum.

⚠️ Manually changing a reservation's status in the SiteMinder GDS extranet does not register as a cancellation on the GDS. Only reservations validly cancelled via the GDS avoid a transaction fee.

SiteMinder's GDS service charges and travel agent commission are separate. SiteMinder does not charge commission for the GDS service, and your GDS invoice never includes commission payable to agencies.

Travel agent commission is an optional incentive you can offer to encourage GDS bookings. It is set at the rate-plan level in the SiteMinder GDS extranet, so you can apply it to selected rate plans only. Where offered, it is a commercial arrangement between the hotel and the travel agency — not a SiteMinder fee, and not on the GDS invoice.

➕ A hotel sets its BAR RO rate to offer 10% commission. A travel agency books this rate via the GDS. The agency invoices the hotel for the 10% after the guest's stay, and the hotel pays the agency directly. SiteMinder is not involved.

The agency invoices the hotel for commission, and the hotel settles it directly with the agency. SiteMinder does not issue or process GDS commission payments.

SiteMinder does have an agreement with Onyx, a commission-processing solution. Download your GDS reservation report, upload it to your Onyx account to review and confirm commissions, then make one payment to Onyx, which pays the relevant agencies. For more information, contact the SiteMinder GDS Support team.

Your first invoice may include a one-time setup or implementation fee, plus any other charges from the billing period. Monthly and image fees apply even if there are no bookings.

Your monthly invoice is generally calculated as:

Monthly fees + image fee + (billable reservations × contracted transaction rate)

To check the reservations and transaction fees on your invoice:

⚠️ Use the Invoiced Transactions report, not completed check-outs in the channel manager. A reservation can remain billable if it was not validly cancelled through the GDS, including no-shows.

For invoice disputes, contact your regional Billing Support team in writing as the property's main contact or billing user, ideally within 15 days of the invoice. Include your invoice number, billing account number, details of the disputed charge, and any supporting documents. You can:

Your signed GDS contract is in the DocuSign e-mail you received when the agreement was completed.

If you no longer have it, contact your regional SiteMinder GDS Support team for a copy.

When a GDS account is dropped, any final invoice is generated in the next monthly billing run. It covers billable bookings from the previous period. If there are none, no final invoice is issued.