Understanding YouLi Platform Booking Fees
This FAQ answers all your questions about the YouLi platform booking fee, when it applies and when it doesn't, including how to drop it to 0%
What is a Platform Booking Fee?
A platform booking fee is a common charge used by many travel Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platforms. It is typically charged in addition to your monthly or annual subscription and any payment gateway transaction fees.
What Platform Booking Fee Does YouLi Charge?
Depending on your subscription plan:
YouLi charges a platform booking fee of between 0% and 2%.
A key difference with YouLi is that this fee only applies to payments processed through an integrated payment gateway connected to the platform.
Payments made outside of YouLi — such as direct bank transfers or payments collected through external payment links — do not incur a YouLi platform booking fee.
Importantly, YouLi does not charge booking fees across your total trip revenue. The fee only applies to eligible transactions processed through the platform.
When evaluating travel platforms, it is important to understand exactly what revenue any booking fee is calculated against.
Which Payment Gateways Does YouLi Support?
As a business, you have many choices to accept credit card payments (as well as other payment methods).
YouLi is a software platform and allows you to connect to the major gateways in the market.
Supported integrations include:
- Stripe
- Square
- PayPal
- Authorize.Net
- Cybersource
We remain gateway agnostic, giving you flexibility to choose the provider that best suits your business.
Any payment made via these connected/integrated gateways will incur the YouLi Booking Fee based on your plan.
Did you know?
YouLi also allows different gateways to be connected to different trips in the same account. Allowing you to partner with other companies who need to be the merchant of record, or even run multiple brands in the same account.
Does YouLi Hold My Funds?
No. YouLi does not hold customer funds.
Payments are processed directly by your chosen payment gateway and deposited into your account. YouLi simply facilitates payment collection and tracking within the platform.
For example, if a traveller pays $100 via Stripe:
- Stripe deducts its standard processing fee
- YouLi deducts the applicable platform booking fee
- The remaining funds are deposited directly to you
The YouLi fee is automatically deducted at the time of payment, so there are no separate invoices to manage.
If a payment is refunded or cancelled, the associated YouLi platform booking fee is also refunded.
Does YouLi Support Automatic Payments on a Schedule?
Yes! We call it AutoPay and you can enable it on Stripe connected accounts.
How Can I Reduce or Eliminate Platform Booking Fees?
We understand that margins in travel can be tight. As your subscription level increases, your platform booking fee can reduce — and on certain Enterprise plans, it can reduce all the way to zero.
When comparing vendors, it is worth asking whether there is a pathway to eliminating booking fees as your business grows.
Why Platform Booking Fees Matter
In multi-day group travel, booking values are often high, meaning even small percentage-based fees can add up quickly.
At the same time, many jurisdictions are limiting or prohibiting payment surcharges passed on to travellers. This means operators increasingly need to absorb payment processing costs themselves.
For this reason, it is important to choose a platform that gives you flexibility in how you collect payments and helps minimise unnecessary fees.
YouLi supports multiple payment methods — including fee-free options such as bank transfer — helping you reduce payment-related overheads while maintaining a seamless checkout experience for your customers.
To learn more about optimising payment collection and reducing booking costs, contact the YouLi team for a demo.
Want to discuss your particular payment methods and fees?