"Free reservation system" is one of the most searched phrases in hospitality, and one of the fairest questions you can ask. The problem is not that the answer is no. The problem is that the answer is usually yes, and that you only see where the money actually came from a year later.
This piece works it out. No verdict on free models; there are businesses they suit exactly. But you should know which bill you are signing.
There is no free reservation system
There is a different business model.
A reservation system costs money to build and run: servers, support, somebody to pick up when your floor plan is wrong. Nobody does that for nothing. If you are not paying a subscription, somebody else is, and that somebody is you, through a different line on a different invoice.
So the question is not whether you pay. It is for what, and whether that amount grows with your good months.
The three models behind "free"
1. Commission per guest
By far the most common. You pay nothing monthly and an amount for every booked guest. Across the market those run from roughly €2 to €7.50 a head, depending on the platform and where the reservation came from.
This is the guest networks' model. And it is not unfair: they send you somebody who was not looking for you, and they charge for that service. But it scales the wrong way. You pay most in the month that went best.
Watch how it is calculated, too. TheFork describes the commission on its own page as a percentage of the average bill per guest, not a fixed amount. At a bistro averaging €30 a head that is a very different thing from a place at €90, and the difference is missing from every list that writes "€2 per cover". Worked through in its own piece.
2. Mandatory discounts
Some platforms are free in money and expensive in margin: to be findable in their app you have to switch on discount campaigns, and those run to 30% or more.
Work that against a subscription. Thirty per cent off a €60 bill is €18, on one guest. That buys you half a month's subscription on most systems.
And it has a tail: the guest who came in on a discount is a guest who met you on a discount. They will check for one the second time too.
3. The contract
The least visible. Free to start, and then a notice period or a term you cannot get out of at the exact moment you work out that the system does not fit.
This is not a price, so it is on no pricing page. Ask before you sign: how long am I tied in, and what happens to my guest database if I stop?
The arithmetic: when does free become dearer?
The crossover is much lower than people think.
Take €2 a guest and an average party of 2.3 people. One reservation costs you about €4.60. Against a fixed subscription of €25 a month you are worse off after about six reservations.
Six. A month.
Against a €49 subscription the point sits around eleven reservations a month. For virtually any business that is open, that is done in the first week.
Now the other end of the scale. A hundred covers a week through a network, at €2 to €4 a guest:
- €2 a guest: about €870 a month
- €4 a guest: about €1,740 a month
That is not a subscription any more. That is a member of staff.
And to be clear: this is not necessarily money badly spent. If those hundred covers are people who would never have found you, you bought a hundred covers you did not otherwise have. If they are your own regulars who happened to book through the app, and usually some of them are, you are paying for guests you already had.
Commission-free is not the same as free
Two things get mixed up here, and the confusion is useful to whoever causes it.
Free means: no monthly fee. It says nothing about what a guest costs.
Commission-free means: no amount per guest. It says nothing about the monthly fee.
Most Dutch providers sit in the second camp. Guestplan is commission-free and asks €49.99 a month for Pro, with no setup fee. Zenchef charges €0 a cover and publishes no monthly price. With us the booking dashboard is €49 a month, free for the first six months, and nothing comes off a reservation on any channel.
So what you want to know is not "is it free" but: what do I pay in an average month, all in? That is one number, and every provider can give it to you if you ask.
What these four systems actually charge
| Monthly | Per guest | Published | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Guestplan | €49.99 / €109.99 / €229.99 | €0 | Yes, on their own page |
| Zenchef | Not published | €0 | No, ask for it |
| TheFork | Not published | % of the average bill | No: "Ask for pricing" |
| OpenTable | $149 / $299 / $499 | $1.00–1.50 network, $0.25 own site on Basic | Yes |
| Bubo | €49, first 6 months free | €0 | Yes, on the pricing page |
Two of the four do not publish their price. That is information in itself: a price you have to ask for is a price that depends on how well you negotiate.
With Zenchef there is a further layer they do publish, processing fees of 2–6% on cards, 3.5–6% on Amex, €0.29–3.29 on iDEAL and €0.05–0.12 per SMS. In the Netherlands almost everyone pays by iDEAL, so that line counts towards your monthly figure. The full picture on Zenchef's pricing.
When a commission model does make sense
The honest answer, because otherwise this piece is an advertisement.
You have just opened and nobody knows you. A network sends you people who did not know your address. In the first months that is the difference between an empty room and a half-full one, and then €3 a guest is not a cost but a marketing budget that only pays when it works.
You are on a quiet street or in a tourist city. If you depend on passing trade searching in an app, commission buys you exactly the right thing.
You have few reservations. Below that six-a-month line, free genuinely is cheaper. That is a small group, but it exists.
What makes sense in none of these cases is never looking again. Put an hour in the diary in six months, count the network covers, multiply, and see whether it is still the cheapest way to get those guests.
Four questions to ask before you sign
- What do I pay in an average month, all in? One number, including commission, deposit fees and SMS.
- Do reservations through my own website count too? On some systems a guest who typed your name still costs you money.
- How long am I tied in, and what does stopping cost?
- Whose guests are they? May the platform email them after they have eaten with you? Do I take my guest database with me?
Ask all four in writing. A provider who answers three and skips one has already given you the answer.
And the cost that is on no list
Every system in this piece handles the reservations that arrive through your website. None of them handles the telephone, Zenchef aside.
In an average restaurant five to fifteen calls an evening are lost, mostly in the hour before service and the middle of the peak. Those callers do not leave voicemail; they ring the next place. At an average booking of €65 to €140, one such evening a week is a bigger number than the dearest subscription in the table above.
That is on no pricing page, because nobody invoices it. What a missed call actually costs works it out, and our own phone assistant starts at €29 a month.
Frequently asked questions
Is there really no free reservation system?
There are systems with no monthly fee, but none with no business model. That model is commission per guest, a mandatory discount, or a contract. Which of the three is rarely on the homepage, and that is precisely the question to ask.
At how many reservations does a subscription become cheaper?
At €2 a guest and parties averaging 2.3 people, the crossover sits around six reservations a month against a €25 subscription, and around eleven against €49. Count last month's reservations and run both models with your own figures.
What is the difference between free and commission-free?
Free is about the monthly fee, commission-free about the amount per guest. A system can be one without the other. What you want to know is what you pay in total in an average month.
Do reservations through my own website carry commission?
It varies. With TheFork, reservations through your own site, Instagram and Facebook are included. With OpenTable a guest through your own website costs $0.25 on the entry plan, or $49 a month to buy that off. With Guestplan, Zenchef and Bubo it is zero.
What happens to my guest database if I switch?
Ask before you sign, not when you cancel. Existing reservations, your guest details and the booking link on your website are three separate things, and not every provider hands over all three.