Tour booking software pricing: commission, monthly fee or one-off build?

When you compare tour booking software pricing, look first at how you're charged, and only then at the number. Booking software is usually priced one of three ways: a percentage of each sale, a flat monthly fee, or a site you pay to have built once. If you sell little through your own site, commission works out cheaper; past a certain sales figure, the flat fee wins. You can work out that figure yourself.

This is for boat-tour and charter operators who've started collecting quotes and are stuck on "this one's €50, that one's €150, the other one's €4,000". Below: how to compare the three models with your own numbers, the costs quotes leave out, and what to ask before you sign.

How booking software is priced

Commission per booking. No monthly fee; the software takes a percentage or a fixed amount from every booking that comes through your own site. The rate varies by company. This isn't the same as marketplace commission, which depends on your contract and is often 20–30%: a marketplace brings you new guests, while booking software lets guests who already know you book and pay directly. The upside is that no sales means no bill. The downside is that you pay the most commission in your busiest month.

A flat monthly fee. You pay the same however many bookings come in. Some companies cap bookings, users or languages on the cheaper plans; some add a small transaction fee on top. Ask whether every quote that says "flat monthly" really is flat.

A one-off build. An agency or a freelance developer builds you a site with a booking module, and you pay once. No big bill arrives in year two. But hosting, the domain, security updates and someone to fix it when it breaks are often not in that price; you need a separate maintenance agreement.

Some companies combine these models. Lostromo, for example, has a one-time setup fee and a monthly fee billed yearly, and takes no share of sales; the starting prices and what moves them are on the pricing page. Whoever you talk to, ask the same three questions: what do I pay in year one, what do I pay after that, and what changes if my sales double?

What each model costs over a season, and over three years

The most reliable way to compare quotes is to add up three years against your own season. The rates and fees below were chosen only to show the sum; none of them is any particular company's price.

Example business: 12-seat boat, €40 per person
750 guests a season through its own site: 750 × €40 = €30,000 in sales

Model A, 5% per booking: €1,500 a year, €4,500 over three years
Model B, no setup, €200 a month (€2,400 a year): €7,200 over three years
Model C, €3,500 build + €700 a year for maintenance and hosting: €4,200 in year one, €5,600 over three years

If the same business sells €60,000 through its own site:
Model A: €3,000 a year, €9,000 over three years
Models B and C: no change

On top of all three: card processing fees, unless a price says it includes them

In this example, commission is the cheapest at €30,000 in sales and the most expensive at €60,000. As your sales grow, so does the commission; the flat fee stays where it is. The one-off build looks cheap over three years, but that assumes maintenance happens on time and nothing breaks in mid-season.

To find the sales figure where two models cost the same, one division is enough:

Break-even sales = yearly cost of the flat model ÷ commission rate
Model B against Model A: €2,400 ÷ 0.05 = €48,000 in sales a year
If a flat model has a setup fee, spread it over three years and add it to the yearly cost first.

If you sell less than that through your own site each year, commission costs you less; above it, the flat fee does. Put the numbers from your own quotes in and run the same sum. One more check: ask whether a per-booking percentage already includes card processing. If it does, compare it against the flat fee plus your bank's card rate.

Don't be optimistic about the sales figure you put in. Start from last year's real guest count and estimate honestly how much of it could come through your own site. Guests who find you on Instagram, through a recommendation or from your flyer on the quay can be sent to your site; a guest who found you on GetYourGuide will most likely stay there, and marketplace terms often restrict steering their guests elsewhere.

The costs quotes leave out

These rarely appear on a quote, but you'll meet every one of them by the end of the season.

• Card fees. Every card payment carries a processing fee. If you use your own bank's virtual POS or merchant account, your bank takes it; the rate depends on the bank, the card and your agreement, and can be different for foreign cards.
• Payment provider deductions. Some software doesn't connect your own bank's account; it takes payments through a payment provider it has a deal with. That provider then takes the card fee, and money reaches your account on their schedule. In software sold as "commission-free", this cut can turn up inside another line.
• Commission on deposits. Software that charges per booking may charge on the full tour price even when the guest only paid a deposit. And when wind cancels the trip and you refund, whether that fee comes back is a separate question.
• Translation. A badly translated cancellation policy starts arguments on the day the weather turns. Ask who translates your tours, terms and emails, and whether extra languages cost more.
• Photos. Photos that work on Instagram are often fine for the site too, but each tour needs a few good horizontal photos. If the quote doesn't say who prepares them, it's you.
• Upkeep. On a self-run site, plugins and security patches need regular updates, or the site may one day stop loading; if that happens at the height of the season, you lose online bookings until it's fixed. The domain and hosting are small amounts, but they renew every year, and a missed renewal takes the site down.
• Invoices. If you're paying a company in another country or currency, ask your accountant how the invoice should be issued and booked as an expense.

Should you pay for software yearly or monthly?

A boat-tour business earns most of its money in a few summer months and pays bills all winter. A monthly software fee leaves your account in the off-season too; small as it is, it stings in months with no income. With yearly billing you pay once. If you can agree a payment date that falls when your account is full, that's the most comfortable arrangement for a seasonal business.

This is where commission has a real advantage: a quiet winter costs you nothing. With a flat fee, you're paying through the winter to stay open for the guests who plan next summer early. Whether that pays off depends on how many winter enquiries you got last year.

Yearly billing has a cost too: having paid a year up front, leaving mid-year is harder. And there's a case where commission makes more sense. If you're selling online for the first time, don't know how many bookings the first season will bring and are short of cash, paying per booking leaves the risk with the software company. Starting that way and moving to a flat fee once sales settle is a reasonable path; to make the move easy, make sure you can take your customer list and booking history with you.

Ask what's included before you sign

Operators who ask for a price usually get one number. You can send the questions below to every company word for word; put the answers side by side and you'll see what each one really costs.

1. What do I pay in total in year one? In years two and three?
2. Does my fee change if my sales double or I add a second boat? Is there a cap on bookings?
3. Do you charge separately per booking, per person or per payment? On the deposit, or on the full tour price?
4. Do I take payments through my own bank's account, or through a payment provider you work with?
5. At setup, do you enter my tours, prices and photos, or do I?
6. Which languages are included? Do extra languages cost more, and who translates?
7. Are updates, security and hosting included? If something breaks, who fixes it, and how fast?
8. Do prices include VAT or sales tax? Which company invoices me, and from which country?
9. What's the minimum contract length? If I leave mid-year, is the rest refunded?
10. If I leave, can I take my customer list and my domain?

If you can't get a clear answer to one of these, assume the worst case for that item. And ask for anything you were told on the phone in writing before you sign.

Which model fits you?

For a business new to online sales, expecting a few thousand euros a year through its own site, paying per booking is reasonable: sell little, pay little. For a business with steady, high sales through its own site, a flat fee means every booking past break-even costs you nothing extra, and in your busiest month nobody takes a share of it. A one-off build is cheap if you know someone who'll pick up the phone in peak season and genuinely look after maintenance.

How much comes through your own site varies enormously from business to business. For example, Captain Ergun went from zero to 124 confirmed online bookings in his first month. But his Kaş business, BoatTripTurkey, already had more than 100,000 Instagram followers and thousands of 5-star reviews; his story is on the case study page. A new business with few followers may see far less in its first season. Run the sum for your own audience.

Frequently asked questions

Why might a cheap WordPress plugin not be enough?

Some general-purpose booking plugins are built around one time slot and one price, and struggle to handle seasonal prices, child rates, private charters and deposits all at once. Updates, security and the connection to your bank are also left to you. Weigh the plugin's price together with the time you'll spend on those jobs.

Is a fee per booking the same as a fee per person?

No, and for group tours the difference is large. A fee per booking charges once whether the booking is for two people or eight; a fee per person or per ticket charges for each guest. If most of your bookings are families and groups, ask which one a quote uses and run the sum on your average group size.

Why do companies charge a setup fee?

A setup fee pays for preparing the site for your business: entering tours, prices and photos, setting up languages, connecting your payment account. If a quote has no setup fee, ask who does that work. Either way, get in writing exactly what setup covers.

Is the software's commission refunded when weather cancels a trip?

It depends on the company. Some refund their fee on bookings you refund, some don't; whether the card processing fee comes back depends on your bank or payment provider. If you work somewhere the wind often cancels trips, ask this before you sign and get the answer in writing.