Start with a realistic booking
Give each vendor the same example: your departure dates, rooms, party size, payment schedule and required preparation. Include a cancellation and a room change. This exposes meaningful differences more reliably than a checklist where every platform can tick “booking management”.
Separate the fee components
Record subscription, platform commission, processor charges, currency conversion, messaging, onboarding and optional services on different lines. Note the currency, billing period, region and plan. A monthly number cannot be compared directly with a revenue percentage unless the assumptions are explicit.
Use transparent arithmetic
Example: a $180 monthly subscription is $2,160 over twelve months before taxes or external fees. A hypothetical 2% platform charge on $100,000 of eligible sales is $2,000, before any subscription or processing. These are different fee components, not competing quotes. Do not add incompatible bases or present the example as a universal saving.
Ask what setup actually includes
Free onboarding may include different work from free migration or a custom website connection. Ask about records, formats, configuration, training, testing and later changes. Marnie offers free setup and integrations under an agreed plan; other providers also describe included services. The scope matters more than a “free” badge.
Use a blank comparison worksheet
For each proposal record: plan and review date; supported booking model; room rules; guest access; payment methods and currencies; messaging providers; implementation tasks; support route; all fee components; and unresolved questions. Leave unknowns marked “confirm” rather than treating missing public information as a feature the vendor lacks.
Decide on readiness as well as fit
Ask each provider to walk through your actual operating model. Try a booking for two guests, a changed room, an unpaid balance and a missing arrival time. Then ask your host to prepare the departure from the resulting information. This shows whether the software connects the work your team needs to do, beyond a list of features.
Use this comparison worksheet
Fill it with dated proposals. “Confirm” means unknown, not unavailable. Copy these rows for each provider.
| Question | Provider A | Provider B |
|---|---|---|
| Plan, currency, market and billing basis | Confirm | Confirm |
| Subscription and platform fee basis | Confirm | Confirm |
| Processor, conversion and messaging fees | Confirm | Confirm |
| Rooms, group payer and date model | Confirm | Confirm |
| Setup, migration, training and support scope | Confirm | Confirm |
| Demonstrated exception/failure handling | Confirm | Confirm |
| Total under the same sales assumptions | Calculate | Calculate |
Put it into practice
- Compare the same booking scenario and market.
- Separate subscription, platform and provider fees.
- Record evidence dates and unresolved items.
- Agree migration, setup, support and custom-work scope.
- Check demonstrated readiness before committing.
