Why it is so hard to find out
Search for “hotel PMS price” and you will notice something odd: the ones that come up first are small vendors who publish their rates. The big names — Mews, Cloudbeds, Amenitiz, Little Hotelier — do not appear, because they do not publish a price. They ask for your phone number first.
That is not an oversight, it is a commercial decision. When the price depends on a conversation, it can be tuned to whatever each customer looks willing to pay. It works well for the seller and badly for a twenty-room hotel that just wants to know whether it can afford the thing.
The four pricing models that exist
Per room, per month
The most common in the international market. You pay an amount for each room, with a monthly minimum. It is transparent and it scales well, but there is a catch: the price per room usually drops in tiers, so a small hotel pays proportionally more than a large one.
Typical range at the small end: between €3 and €15 per room per month.
A flat fee per property
One amount a month, with a room cap. It is the easiest model to budget for and the one that produces the fewest surprises. It usually comes as a set of plans, where what changes is not only the number of rooms but the modules included.
Commission per booking
This is the one to read closely. Some products charge a low fee and a percentage of every direct booking, typically between 1% and 3%. It sounds like nothing until you multiply it out.
A hotel turning over €400,000 a year with 35% direct sales is putting €140,000 through its own engine. 2% of that is €2,800 a year — more than the entire software costs under a flat-fee model. And it grows exactly when you grow.
Bespoke
For chains and groups. Priced per project, with implementation and sometimes a minimum term. Out of scope for an independent property, and if you are offered it for twenty rooms, something does not add up.
What actually drives the bill
It is not the number of rooms. It is the modules.
| Component | Usually included | Usually billed separately |
|---|---|---|
| PMS and planner | Yes | — |
| Channel manager | Sometimes, with limited channels | Additional channels |
| Booking engine | Sometimes | With commission, or as a module |
| Online check-in | Rarely | Almost always, or through an external tool |
| Guest register | Rarely | Usually another supplier, sometimes per report |
| Invoicing | Almost never | A separate program with its own licence |
| Revenue and reporting | The basics | The advanced module |
| Housekeeping | Sometimes | — |
The practical consequence: two quotes with the same monthly fee can differ by double once you add up what one includes and the other does not. Comparing only the headline figure is the quickest way to get it wrong.
The costs that do not come up in the first meeting
- Setup and implementation. Anything from €0 to several thousand, depending on the vendor. Ask whether data migration is included or billed separately.
- Training. Some include the go-live and charge for every session after that.
- Minimum term. A year is common. If the product does not fit, you pay for it anyway.
- Additional channels. Plenty of entry plans cap you at two or three OTAs.
- Payment gateway commission. It is always separate and it is charged by the gateway, not by the PMS. That is legitimate, but count it in.
- Cost per guest register report. If you solve it with an external tool, you pay per document. At €0.95 a report and 8,000 reports a year, that is €7,600.
- Support. Check whether phone support is included or belongs to a higher plan.
How to compare two quotes without losing your mind
Put both into the same unit: total cost of the first year.
Year 1 cost = (monthly fee × 12)
+ setup and implementation
+ extra training
+ additional channels × 12
+ (annual direct sales × commission per booking)
+ cost of the guest register
+ invoicing licenceThen divide by the number of rooms to get a comparable cost per room. It is the only way to put a flat fee and a per-room model with commission on the same scale.
And ask yourself one more question: how many suppliers are there in that sum? Three tools at €40 do not cost the same as one at €120, even if the number matches. They cost three contracts, three support desks and three places where the sync can break.
What Hostelum costs
We publish it for the same reason we wrote this guide: if a price can only be found out over the phone, it means the conversation matters more than the number.
- Essential, up to 15 rooms. Full PMS, commission-free booking engine, channel manager with up to 3 channels, online check-in and guest register, housekeeping and online payments.
- Professional, up to 40 rooms. Everything above, unlimited channels, rate automation, revenue, groups, packages, meeting rooms and full invoicing with Veri*Factu.
- Groups — tailored, from two properties.
Additional room, €2 a month. Prices exclude VAT and are per property.
No setup fee, no lock-in and no commission on direct bookings. Migrating your rooms, room types, rates, photos and guest database is part of the price.
The only things billed separately are the payment gateway fees if you take payment online, which the gateway charges you directly, and the market data module if you switch it on, which has a cost per query that we break down for you before turning it on.
The question that actually matters
It is not “how much does it cost”, but how much does it cost compared with what it saves you.
A 25-room hotel that goes from 20% to 30% direct sales on a turnover of €400,000 moves €40,000 away from the OTAs and into its own engine. At an average commission of 17%, that is €6,800 a year that stops leaving. The whole software costs a fraction of that.
That is the calculation worth doing before you look at the monthly fee. And it is the one almost no salesperson suggests, because it forces a conversation about results rather than about price.