Should you pay a monthly fee or a transaction fee for direct bookings?
For direct bookings, the honest answer for most hosts is a flat monthly fee with no per-booking cut. A transaction fee or commission quietly scales with your success - the better you do, the more it takes. Here is how to think about the two models, and where RentalBeam lands.
The two pricing models, plainly
A flat monthly subscription is a fixed, predictable cost: you pay the same whether you take one booking or fifty. A transaction or commission model charges a cut of every booking, so the cost rises with each reservation you win. For a channel you own - your own website - the flat model keeps more of every booking in your pocket.
Flat monthly subscription (RentalBeam Pro)
One predictable price. No commission and no RentalBeam booking fee. Card payments carry only the standard Stripe processing fee, paid to Stripe.
Transaction / commission model
A percentage of every booking. Cheap when you book little, but it grows with every reservation - exactly when you would rather keep the upside.
Where RentalBeam stands
RentalBeam Pro is a flat monthly subscription with zero commission and no per-booking fee. Your direct bookings are 100% yours.Watch how a commission grows with success
A percentage fee feels small on one booking and large across a season. At a typical OTA-style commission of 15%, the cut climbs every time your website does its job:
| Monthly direct booking revenue | A 15% commission would take | RentalBeam booking fee |
|---|---|---|
| $1,000 | $150 | $0 |
| $2,000 | $300 | $0 |
| $4,000 | $600 | $0 |
| $8,000 | $1,200 | $0 |
RentalBeam adds nothing per booking. On card payments you still pay the standard Stripe processing fee - the same cost any processor charges - but that is paid to Stripe, not RentalBeam, and inquiry-only or pay-later bookings have no per-transaction cost. See current subscription prices on the pricing page, localized for your region.
When a flat monthly fee clearly wins
- You take direct bookings regularly, not just once or twice a year
- You want a predictable, fixed cost you can budget around
- You would rather keep your margin than hand a cut to a middleman
- You expect your direct channel to grow over time
- You already pay OTA commissions and want a commission-free alternative on your own site
A flat fee rewards growth
With a flat subscription, every extra booking lowers your effective cost per booking. With a commission, every extra booking costs you more. For a channel you own, that difference compounds in your favor.When a pure transaction model might still suit you
- Your direct bookings are rare, seasonal, or still unproven
- You only need to capture the occasional off-platform stay
- You are not yet ready to commit to any fixed monthly tool
Start free, upgrade when it pays for itself
If volume is still tiny, you can run RentalBeam's free availability calendar first and move to Pro once direct bookings are steady. You are never paying a commission either way.A practical decision rule
If you take direct bookings with any regularity, a flat monthly subscription almost always beats a per-booking cut - and with RentalBeam there is no cut at all. Reserve a pure transaction model for genuinely low or one-off volume, and switch to a flat fee the moment your direct channel starts to produce steady bookings.
Ready to keep your checkout free of platform commissions? Continue with how to remove platform fees from your direct-booking checkout.