Guide
Booking software fees, explained for tour operators
Monthly plans, booking commissions, guest-paid booking fees and card processing: what each one costs a tour or charter business, and what to ask first.
Booking software for tours and charters is paid for in four ways, and most systems use more than one. Knowing which you are paying, and who actually pays it, makes quotes much easier to compare.
The four kinds of fee
- A monthly plan. A fixed amount each month, whether you take ten bookings or a thousand. Easy to budget; expensive in a slow month.
- A commission on bookings. A percentage of each booking goes to the software company. Nothing to pay when nothing is booked; the cost grows with your busy season.
- A booking fee paid by the guest. The software adds a fee to the guest’s total at checkout. It looks free to the operator, but the guest sees the higher price.
- Card processing. Whoever processes the card charges for it. Stripe’s standard US price is 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card payment, plus 1.5% for international cards and 1% when currency conversion is needed.
Questions to ask before you sign
- Who pays each fee: you, or your guest? And can you choose?
- Is the fee refunded when you refund the booking? Many booking fees are not.
- Does the fee apply to every booking, or only to cards the software processes? Cash, pay-on-arrival and gift-card bookings are where this differs most.
- Is the rate published, or do you have to ask for a quote?
- Can you leave? Check the notice period and whether you can take your booking history with you.
Show guests the full price
In December 2024 the US Federal Trade Commission announced a rule that requires the total price, including mandatory fees, to be shown up front. As announced, it covers live-event tickets and short-term lodging, and the FTC said it would handle other industries case by case. Even where the rule doesn’t apply to you, a guest who sees one honest total is less likely to abandon checkout.
What Slate charges
Slate is $0 a month. Its booking fee is 3%, charged on card bookings Slate processes. Bookings paid on arrival, in cash, with a gift card, or anywhere outside Slate carry no booking fee at all. The fee is never refunded, and each business chooses whether it comes out of its payout or is added to the guest’s total. Payments go through the business’s own Stripe account.
Sources
Questions
Is a booking fee that the guest pays free for the operator?
Not entirely. The guest sees a higher total, and a higher total can cost you bookings. Ask whether you can choose who pays it.
What does card processing cost?
On Stripe's standard US pricing, 2.9% + 30¢ per successful domestic card payment, with 1.5% more for international cards and 1% more when currency conversion is needed.
What does Slate charge?
Nothing a month. Slate's booking fee is 3%, charged on card bookings Slate processes. Each business chooses whether it comes out of its payout or is added to the guest's total.
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