In 2026, hotel management software in India costs about 250 to 600 rupees per room per month on per-room plans, or 3,000 to 20,000 a month on flat plans, which for an independent hotel comes to 25,000 to 1.2 lakh a year. Building your own costs 15 to 40 lakh and is only rational for a group.
For a 20-room hotel that is small money. The same hotel at 65 percent occupancy and a 3,000 rupee rate pays online travel agencies 12 to 29 lakh a year in commission, and for most hotels under 7,500 a night the GST on that commission cannot be claimed back. The software decision is worth an afternoon. The distribution decision is worth a lot more.
What does hotel software cost per room?
| Option | Typical price | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Hotelogix | About 250 to 600 rupees per room per month, minimum around 4,250 a month | The clearest per-room pricing in the market |
| eZee Absolute | From about 2,250 a month; a 10-room hotel can reach 27,000 a month with add-ons | Modules billed separately |
| DJUBO, StayFlexi and similar | From about 2,000 to 8,000 a month; StayFlexi lists a starter plan near $28 a month | Mostly quoted, not listed |
| Generic SaaS range | Basic 3,000 to 8,000 a month; standard 8,000 to 20,000 | For independent properties |
| Add-ons | Channel manager, booking engine, payment gateway, hardware | Budget separately; this is where the bill grows |
Most Indian vendors quote rather than list, so these are the bands reviewers and the vendors themselves published in 2026. For 20 rooms, the per-room plans come to about 60,000 to 1.44 lakh a year, and the flat plans to 27,000 to 2.4 lakh depending on modules. Per-room pricing is the hotel version of the per-unit model across Indian software: per flat in society apps, per bed in hospital systems.
The GST point that changes the sums
Since 22 September 2025, rooms up to 7,500 rupees a night are taxed at 5 percent without input tax credit, rooms above at 18 percent with credit, and rooms under 1,000 are exempt. Sources still disagree on whether the declared tariff or the price actually charged sets the slab, so check that with your accountant.
The consequence for costs: a hotel on the 5 percent slab cannot reclaim the 18 percent GST on its software, its hardware, or its OTA commission. A 20 percent commission is really 23.6 percent, and a 1 lakh subscription costs 1.18 lakh. Every figure below is quoted gross for that reason.
What does the first year actually cost?
A 20-room independent hotel, 65 percent occupancy, average rate 3,000 rupees: about 4,745 room nights and 1.42 crore in room revenue.
| Line | Annual cost |
|---|---|
| Property management system, per-room plan | 60,000 to 1.44 lakh |
| Channel manager and booking engine add-ons | Typically a few thousand a month, so 24,000 to 60,000 |
| Hardware: a front-desk machine, key cards, printer | 30,000 to 80,000 once |
| GST at 18 percent on the above, unclaimable on the 5 percent slab | 20,000 to 50,000 |
| Technology, first year | About 1.5 to 3.5 lakh |
| OTA commission, if half of nights come through OTAs at 15 to 25 percent, with GST | 12.6 to 21 lakh |
| OTA commission, if 70 percent do | 17.6 to 29.4 lakh |
MakeMyTrip and Goibibo typically charge 15 to 25 percent, Booking.com 15 to 20, Agoda 15 to 22, and promotional programmes push the effective rate to 20 to 25. Payouts through the OTA carry a further 1 to 3 percent processing fee. The hotel industry body has alleged rates up to 40 percent in some arrangements.
Where the money actually moves
Take the hotel above with 60 percent of nights through OTAs at 20 percent. Moving one night in ten from an OTA to a direct booking saves about 3.4 lakh a year, more than the entire technology bill. That is what the booking engine, the channel manager and a WhatsApp enquiry flow are for, and it is why the cheapest software plan is often the wrong one: a plan without a booking engine saves 30,000 a year and gives up 3 lakh.
The practical sequence for an independent hotel:
- A PMS with a channel manager, so rates and availability are right everywhere and nothing is double-booked.
- A booking engine on your own website, with UPI and cards, priced at or just under the OTA rate.
- A way for repeat guests to book without the OTA: WhatsApp, a phone number that is answered, a returning-guest rate. What an answering agent on WhatsApp costs is in our WhatsApp AI agent cost guide.
When is building worth it?
Never for one hotel. A custom property management system costs 15 to 40 lakh, then 15 to 25 percent of that a year to maintain, and it would have to reproduce the channel connections that the products already have.
It becomes rational for a group: ten or more properties under one management paying ten PMS subscriptions, or an operator with an inventory the products handle badly, such as beds rather than rooms, long-stay apartments, or a mix of homestays with different owners. There the build replaces many subscriptions and a central reservations view that no single-property product offers. The same crossover logic, with the arithmetic, is in our property management software guide.
What moves the price
- Room count, on per-room plans, and whether the vendor counts total or sellable rooms.
- Modules: point of sale for the restaurant, housekeeping, revenue management and a booking engine each add to a base plan.
- Channel manager connections, often priced per channel or per booking.
- Multiple properties, which moves you from a per-property plan to a group contract.
- Hardware and training, small per property but paid before the first guest.
How to read a hotel software quote
- Ask for the price with the channel manager and booking engine included. The base plan alone is rarely what you will run.
- Ask whether per-room means sellable rooms or total rooms.
- Ask what the booking engine charges per direct booking, if anything. Some take a percentage.
- Ask for the data export when you leave: guest history and rate history are yours.
- Count the OTA bill first. It decides which plan makes sense.
Questions people ask
How much does hotel management software cost in India?
About 250 to 600 rupees per room per month on per-room plans such as Hotelogix, or 3,000 to 20,000 a month on flat plans, which comes to 25,000 to 1.2 lakh a year for an independent hotel before add-ons. Add 18 percent GST, which hotels on the 5 percent slab cannot claim back.
What is the price of hotel software for a 20-room hotel?
Sixty thousand to 1.44 lakh a year on a per-room plan, plus 24,000 to 60,000 for a channel manager and booking engine, plus hardware of 30,000 to 80,000 once. A realistic first-year technology bill is 1.5 to 3.5 lakh. The same hotel's OTA commission is likely 12 to 29 lakh.
How much commission do OTAs charge hotels in India?
Fifteen to 25 percent of the room rate on the main platforms, 20 to 25 once promotional programmes are included, plus 18 percent GST on the commission and a 1 to 3 percent fee on payouts. Airbnb's host fee is around 3 percent.
Should a hotel build its own management system?
Not a single hotel. A custom system costs 15 to 40 lakh plus maintenance and has to reproduce channel connections the products already have. Groups of ten or more properties, or operators with unusual inventory such as beds or long-stay apartments, are the cases where a build pays.
What is the GST rate on hotel rooms in 2026?
Five percent without input tax credit for rooms up to 7,500 rupees a night, 18 percent with credit above that, and exempt below 1,000, since 22 September 2025. Confirm with your accountant whether the declared tariff or the transaction value sets the slab, because sources disagree.
Does a booking engine pay for itself?
Almost always. For a 20-room hotel at 65 percent occupancy and a 3,000 rupee rate, moving one night in ten from an OTA to direct saves about 3.4 lakh a year, against a booking engine cost of a few thousand a month.
Getting a real number
If you run one hotel, buy a PMS with a channel manager and a booking engine, and put your effort into direct bookings. If you run a group, or an inventory the products do not fit, the build question is real and we will price it honestly, including the case for not building. What we build is on our web and SaaS development page.