The yearly bill is quick to do and worth doing. Average restaurant: 50 covers a day, 300 days a year, a third of the bookings from the platform. That's 5,000 covers at €2 each: €10,000 a year, the equivalent of a part-time employee or a year of a complete management system. The figure almost always surprises, because no invoice shows it all together: it arrives spread across €30-80 charges, lost among the other payments. Those who look at it once a year — and decide on those numbers, not on habit — stop asking whether the platform “pays off” and start asking “how much does it pay off, and on which days”.
The alternative is the direct channel at a fixed cost: booking on your own site, widget, WhatsApp run with a system. The cost doesn't depend on how much you sell — a monthly fee, often between €50 and €150, covers all the bookings you can bring in — and every extra cover costs nothing. The point is to replace, not to suppress: you move the regular clientele, who would have found you anyway, onto the direct channel, and you leave the platforms to do their job on new customers. The final calculation writes itself: €10,000 in commissions against €1,200-1,800 of subscription, plus the customers' contact details coming back to you.
Frequently asked questions
- Do you pay commissions even if the customer doesn't show up?
- It depends on the platform: some charge only covers that showed up, others count the confirmed booking. If your contract charges for no-shows, the reminder with confirmation that cuts absences saves you twice: fewer gaps, fewer charges.
- Can you negotiate the commission with platforms?
- Sometimes, especially on high volumes or in areas with many restaurants: you ask for a reduced flat rate or better rates on the slow days. The negotiation margin stays theirs, though: list position and visibility are theirs to decide, and a better rate can cost you worse visibility.