What does a booking system cost? Commission, flat fee and payment fees compared

What a booking costs depends on the pricing model: commission per booking, a fee per cover, a percentage of revenue or a flat monthly price. On top of that, every model carries fees for online payments. To compare offers, add up all three items for a normal month and divide the total by the number of bookings.

What pricing models are there?

Almost every offer on the market is a mix of five building blocks. It helps to look at them separately, because vendors name them differently.

What does the online payment cost?

The payment fee goes to the payment provider and applies whichever booking software you use. Stripe lists the same rates on its pricing pages for Austria and Germany (as of 11 October 2026): 1.5% + € 0.25 for standard EEA cards, 2.8% + € 0.25 for premium EEA cards, 2.5% + € 0.25 for UK cards and 3.15% + € 0.25 for international cards. If a currency conversion is needed, 2% is added.

In practice: on a deposit of € 84 paid with a standard card, € 1.51 stays with the payment provider. If many of your guests come from overseas or pay with corporate cards, your average will be higher. Some vendors charge their own, higher payment fee instead of the provider's rate. So check who receives the fee and whether a markup sits on top.

What does a guesthouse with eight rooms pay?

A worked example: 60 bookings a month at € 280 each, so € 16,800 in revenue. Half arrive through a portal, half through your own website. Booking portals mostly do not publish one uniform rate; yours is in your contract. We use an assumption of 15%.

Per booking, that is € 42 through the portal and about € 3.80 through your own website in this example. In return, the portal delivers guests who would not have found you otherwise. So the real question is not portal or own website. It is how many regulars and referrals book through the portal today even though they already know you.

What does a restaurant with 1,200 guests a month pay?

With portals, restaurants often pay per reserved guest, with different amounts for guests from the portal and guests from the restaurant's own website. We could not view current amounts on the vendors' pages, so we use assumptions: € 2 per guest through the portal, € 0.50 per guest through your own reservation widget.

• Fee per cover: 400 guests through the portal × € 2 = € 800, plus 800 guests through your own website × € 0.50 = € 400. Together € 1,200 a month, plus a possible base fee.
• Flat fee: a fixed monthly amount, depending on the vendor and the size of the restaurant. At € 129 that is about 11 cents per guest.
• Payment fees only arise in a restaurant if you take deposits, for groups for example. Ten deposits of € 100 cost € 17.50 with standard cards.

The per-cover fee has one advantage: in a weak month you pay little. It has one drawback: a full December costs the most, although those guests would have come anyway.

What does a tasting provider pay?

Booking software for experiences often combines a subscription with percentages. Two public examples, both as of 11 October 2026: bookingkit lists its Starterkit at € 49 a month with annual payment, plus a 3% booking fee, a 3% online payment fee and a € 0.60 ticket fee per ticket. Regiondo lists € 59 and € 99 a month and, for online bookings, a small fee per booking without stating the amount on its pricing page.

A neutral worked example with 120 bookings at € 70 each, so € 8,400 in revenue a month:

At 20 bookings a month the picture shifts: the percentage model then costs € 133, the flat fee € 95. The smaller the revenue, the smaller the gap. So run the numbers for your strongest and your weakest month.

How do you compare offers properly?

1. Take the bookings and revenue of a normal month and of a peak month.
2. For each offer, write down: monthly price, percentage or fee per booking, fee per ticket or cover, payment fee.
3. Ask about what the pricing page leaves out: set-up costs, minimum term, cost of extra users, fees on vouchers and cancellations.
4. Separate distribution from administration. Commission on a new guest is advertising. Commission on a regular is a fee.
5. Work out the monthly total and divide it by the bookings. Only that figure is comparable.

How EachVisit charges

EachVisit works with flat monthly prices, plus VAT: Solo € 19, Klein € 69, Mittel from € 129, Groß from € 299. EachVisit takes 0% commission on bookings and payments. Online payments run through your own Stripe account; Stripe's fees apply and are settled directly between you and Stripe. Closed beta pricing is available on request. Regular plan prices are shown for reference; any later paid use requires your active acceptance. What EachVisit is not: a portal that brings you new guests. Guests book through your website or your booking page, or you enter the booking yourself when a guest phones.