Holiday let software pricing is harder to compare than it should be. Some platforms charge per property per month. Others charge a flat monthly fee. Some take a percentage of bookings. Several require annual commitments. This guide puts the real numbers together. It includes the costs that never reach a pricing page, so that you can compare them fairly.
| Platform | Starting Price | Pricing Model | Direct Booking Site | Channel Manager |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bookalet | £115-£189/year | Flat annual fee by property count | Yes (basic) | iCal only |
| Bookster | ~£26-£86/month | Per-property monthly | Yes | Yes (built-in) |
| Lodgify | £16-£59/month | Tiered monthly plans | Yes (website builder) | Yes |
| Smoobu | ~£26-£49/month | Tiered monthly | Yes (basic) | Yes |
| Hospitable | $29-$99/month | Monthly (USD pricing) | No | Yes |
| Hostaway | ~£20-£40/listing/month | Per-listing, quote-based | Via integration | Yes |
| Guesty | From $9/listing/month | Per-listing + booking fees | Via integration | Yes |
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Some platforms include channel management (syncing with Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo) in the base price. Others charge extra or offer it only on higher tiers. If you list on multiple platforms, this is not optional.
Direct bookings require payment processing. Stripe charges 1.4% + 20p per transaction for UK cards. Some platforms add their own processing fee on top. Over a year of direct bookings, processing fees on a property generating £30,000 in revenue cost about £450 to £600.
Airbnb charges a flat 15.5% host fee on every booking (as of April 2026, replacing the previous split-fee model). Booking.com charges 15%. Vrbo charges around 5%. These are not software costs, but they are the costs your software should be helping you reduce by driving direct bookings.
From 2026, all short-term lets in England must be registered. You need to track gas certificates, EICRs, fire risk assessments, and display your registration number on all listings. Most platforms have no compliance tracking, or offer a basic document store without expiry alerts.
From April 2026, landlords and sole traders with income above £50,000 must keep digital records and submit quarterly updates through MTD-compatible software. The threshold drops to £30,000 in April 2027. If your holiday let income crosses these thresholds, you need accounting software that handles MTD alongside your booking platform.
| Approach | Annual Cost (3 properties) | Commission Saved | Control Level |
|---|---|---|---|
| Airbnb only (no software) | £0 platform fee | None (15.5% commission) | Low: Airbnb controls pricing, reviews, policies |
| Budget platform (Bookalet) | £115-£189/year | Minimal (iCal sync only) | Moderate: basic direct booking page |
| Mid-tier platform (Bookster/Lodgify) | £500-£1,000/year | Moderate (direct booking website) | Good: channel management + direct booking |
| Management company | 15-25% of all revenue | None (they take it instead) | Low: they control everything |
| Bespoke direct booking system | £0 recurring (after build) | High (all direct bookings) | Full: you own the system and the customer |
For three properties generating £60,000 combined annual revenue, Airbnb's commission alone costs £9,000-£12,000 per year. A management company takes £9,000-£15,000. A bespoke direct booking website at £8,000-£18,000 pays for itself within one to two years if it captures even 30-40% of bookings directly.
Look at what most of these platforms charge for. Not the work the software does, but the number of properties you own.
The software does the same job on your fourth cottage as on your first. You pay more because you grew. That is only possible because your calendar, your guests and your history live in their system, so leaving costs more than staying.
We charge for the build, not for the size of your portfolio. You own the system, the data and the machine it runs on. Every operator we build for shares one foundation, so you pay only for the part that is your own, and another property costs nothing.
We set out the whole cost in what does it cost to own and run your own systems. We explain why a rented price rises each year in your software bill goes up every year.
For a host with one or two properties, a platform like Bookster or Lodgify is the right choice. The monthly cost is manageable and the setup time is minimal.
For hosts with three or more properties, or for those building a portfolio, the economics shift. A bespoke booking system with your own direct booking website eliminates platform commissions permanently. It also gives you three things a platform will not. Full control of your guest data, which a platform holds back. Your own name on everything, which a platform waters down. Compliance records built for the UK register.
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