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Booking engine fees in the UK come in three shapes: a percentage commission on each booking, a flat monthly subscription, or a mix of a subscription and a small per-booking charge. For most independent hotels the flat subscription costs less once direct bookings pass a modest monthly level, but the card processing fee sits on top of every model and is often the larger number.
This article works through the sums with a made-up hotel so you can swap in your own figures. It does not rank products. For a view of how to choose between engines, read our practical comparison of booking engines for small UK hotels.
The three ways booking engines charge
Almost every engine charges in one of three ways, and the way it charges matters more than the headline price.
Commission. The engine takes a percentage of each booking it processes. You pay nothing when nobody books, and more as you succeed. Rates vary by product and by contract, so ask for the figure in writing.
Flat subscription. You pay a fixed monthly fee, often tied to the number of rooms. The cost is the same in a quiet January and a full August.
Subscription plus a per-booking charge. A base fee covers the engine, and certain add-ons, usually payments or guest messaging, carry a small fixed charge per confirmed booking. As one published example, eviivo's pricing page states it takes no revenue share beyond any OTA's own commission and lists a flat charge per confirmed booking if you use its optional payment or messaging services. Check the current figures on the vendor's own page before you rely on them, because plans and currencies change.
Card processing is a separate cost
Whichever model you choose, taking a card payment costs money, and that cost is separate from the engine fee. It is paid to the payment provider, not to the booking engine.
As a reference point, Stripe's UK pricing page lists 1.5% + 20p for standard UK cards and 2.5% + 20p for European Economic Area cards, with a further 2% where currency conversion is needed. Other providers differ, and some engines bundle processing into their own rate, so ask what the all-in cost of a payment is.
Two things follow. First, a quoted "commission" of 1 or 2 per cent may or may not include processing, and the difference is the whole argument. Second, the fixed 20p matters on small bookings and barely registers on a three-night stay.
A worked example, with invented numbers
Take an imaginary 14-room hotel. It takes £20,000 a month in direct bookings, across 100 bookings with an average value of £200. These figures are illustrative, not a client result.
Three engines are on the shortlist:
- Engine A charges 2% commission and passes card processing on separately.
- Engine B charges £150 a month flat and passes card processing on separately.
- Engine C charges £90 a month plus £0.50 per confirmed booking.
Here is the monthly engine cost for each:
- Engine A: 2% of £20,000 is £400.
- Engine B: £150.
- Engine C: £90 plus 100 bookings at £0.50, which is £140.
Now add card processing at 1.5% + 20p on UK cards, applied to every booking whichever engine you pick. That is £3 plus 20p, or £3.20 per £200 booking, and £320 across 100 bookings. It is the same in all three cases, so it does not change the ranking, but it does change how the bill feels. The processing fee is larger than the cheapest engine fee.
Across a year, the engine fees alone come to £4,800 for A, £1,800 for B and £1,680 for C. The gap between A and the other two is about £3,000 a year, for software that does the same job.
Where the crossover sits
Commission is cheaper than a flat fee only while bookings are low. Dividing the flat fee by the commission rate gives the monthly direct revenue at which the two cost the same.
With Engine B, £150 divided by 2% is £7,500. Below £7,500 a month in direct bookings, commission wins. Above it, the flat fee wins, and the gap widens with every booking.
With Engine C the break-even depends on the booking count too, but the logic is the same: work out your own monthly volume, then divide. If you are growing your direct share, which is the point of leaving the OTAs, you will pass the crossover sooner than you expect. Our guide to reducing dependency on OTAs covers how to grow that share.
A hotel at £3,000 a month in direct bookings and a hotel at £30,000 a month should not choose the same way.
The charges that do not appear on the pricing page
The headline rate is rarely the whole bill. Ask about each of these before you sign.
Which bookings attract the fee. Some engines charge on every reservation, including repeat guests who phone you and bookings your own team keys in. Others charge only on bookings that came through the website widget. The difference can be large.
Setup and onboarding. Some vendors charge a one-off fee for configuration, rate loading or training. Others include it.
Add-ons. Payments, guest messaging, promotions and reporting are frequently sold per room. A low base price can climb quickly once you add the three modules you actually need.
Contract length and exit terms. A 24-month term turns a flat fee into a fixed commitment. Ask what happens to your data and your guest list if you leave.
Currency and VAT. Some UK pricing pages quote in dollars or exclude VAT. Convert and add tax before comparing.
Refunds and chargebacks. Find out whether the processing fee on a cancelled booking is returned. Often it is not.
What a custom direct booking journey changes
A custom-built journey on your own site connects to your property management system or channel manager directly, so there is usually no commission to the engine at all. You pay for the build once, then for hosting and maintenance, plus the PMS fees you already pay and the card processing you would pay anywhere.
That shifts the question from "which percentage" to "how many years until the build pays back". It is rarely right for a hotel with a handful of direct bookings a month, and it deserves a proper look for one with steady volume. We cover the costs of a hotel site in what a hotel website costs and what it earns.
Whichever route you take, the fee you pay matters less than the proportion of visitors who finish the booking. A cheaper engine with a clumsy form loses more than it saves, and our notes on fixing booking form abandonment are worth reading alongside any fee comparison.
Questions to ask before you sign
Put these to every vendor in writing and keep the answers.
- What is the monthly fee at my room count, including every module I need, and does it include VAT?
- Is there any commission, and on exactly which bookings does it apply?
- What is the all-in cost of taking a card payment, and who is the payment provider?
- Are there setup fees, minimum terms or notice periods?
- What happens to my guest data, booking history and payment tokens if I leave?
- Does the price change when I add rooms, properties or channels?
- Is the fee returned when a booking is cancelled or refunded?
The short version
Work out your monthly direct booking value, divide the flat fee by the commission rate to find the crossover, then add card processing to every option so you compare like with like. Below a few thousand pounds a month, commission is usually fine. Above the crossover, a flat fee is cheaper and the saving grows with your success.
If you would like help comparing quotes against your own numbers, see our hospitality work or get in touch. We will tell you plainly which option fits your volume, including when the answer is to keep what you have.