How to price a guided fishing trip, line by line.
This fishing lodge package price calculator works out what to charge per guest for a guided fishing or hunting package: guides and boats for each guided day, food, transfers, a share of the season’s fixed costs, agent commission and your target margin. Then it shows the break-even and what a slow season does to profit.
Your package price
The defaults are a made-up 6-night, 5-day fly-in fishing package in US dollars. Replace them with your own numbers; everything updates as you type, and the link in your address bar keeps them.
Cost and price per guest
| Line | Per guest | Share of price |
|---|---|---|
| Price to quote | – |
Season profit by occupancy and price
| Occupancy | Price −10% | Target price | Price +10% |
|---|
Each cell is the season’s profit after every cost and commission, with the margin on sales beneath it.
Markup or margin
Everything is worked out in your browser; nothing you type is sent anywhere. The link in the address bar keeps your numbers.
A 6-night, 5-day fly-in fishing package
An example with made-up inputs, to show the arithmetic. They are the calculator’s defaults, not a benchmark for any region.
The inputs, made up for this example: 12 guests a week when full, a 12-week season and 75% expected occupancy. One guide for every two anglers at US$300 a day, and US$120 a day per boat for the boat and fuel. Food at US$55 a guest a day, a US$950 floatplane charter per guest, and US$150 of licences charged at cost. Season costs of US$335,000: lodge and upkeep US$110,000, staff salaries US$165,000, insurance and permits US$28,000, marketing US$32,000. Agents take 10% and the target margin is 20%.
| Line | Per guest | How it is worked out |
|---|---|---|
| Guides | US$750 | 5 days × US$300 ÷ 2 guests per guide |
| Boats and fuel | US$300 | 5 days × US$120 ÷ 2 guests per boat |
| Food | US$330 | 6 days × US$55 |
| Floatplane | US$950 | Charged per guest |
| Season costs | US$3,102 | US$335,000 ÷ 108 expected guests (144 spots × 75%) |
| Cost per guest | US$5,432 | The lines above added up |
| Price before licences | US$7,760 | US$5,432 ÷ (1 − 0.20 margin − 0.10 commission) |
| Licences | US$150 | Passed through at cost |
| Price to quote | US$7,910 |
At that price the agent’s commission is US$776 and the lodge keeps US$1,552 per guest, which is 20% of US$7,760. Over 108 guests that is about US$168,000 for the season.
The season breaks even at 72 guests, or 50% occupancy: break-even guests = US$335,000 ÷ (US$7,760 × 0.90 − US$2,330 of variable cost per guest). At 60% occupancy and the same price the season makes about US$65,000. At 50% occupancy and 10% off the price it loses about US$50,000. The calculator’s sensitivity table shows every combination from 50% to 90%.
Why a 20% markup is not a 20% margin
Margin is profit as a share of the price. Markup is profit as a share of cost. They describe the same money from opposite ends, so the numbers differ:
- Margin = profit ÷ price
- Markup = profit ÷ cost
- Margin = markup ÷ (1 + markup), and markup = margin ÷ (1 − margin)
In the example, the lodge’s costs including the agent’s commission come to US$6,208 per guest and the profit is US$1,552: a 20% margin on the US$7,760 price, and a 25% markup on cost. Had the lodge simply added 20% to its costs, its margin would have been 16.7%.
| Markup on cost | Margin on price |
|---|---|
| 10% | 9.1% |
| 20% | 16.7% |
| 25% | 20% |
| 33.3% | 25% |
| 50% | 33.3% |
| 100% | 50% |
The calculator works from margin because agent commission is also a share of the price: price = cost ÷ (1 − margin − commission). Adding a markup to cost and then paying commission out of the price leaves less than you planned.
Season, guide ratio, transfers and occupancy
Length of the season
Season costs are shared over the guests you expect, so a shorter season puts more of them on each guest. In the example, a 10-week season instead of 12, at the same occupancy, raises the price to quote from US$7,910 to about US$8,800.
Guide-to-guest ratio
Guides and boats are divided by the number of guests each guide takes. Going from two anglers per guide to one doubles both lines: in the example that adds US$1,050 of cost per guest and US$1,500 to the price.
Transfers and the floatplane
A fly-in charter is one of the largest costs per guest. If it is part of the package, keep it under transfers and it carries margin and commission like everything else. If you bill it at cost as a separate line, enter it with licences and fees at cost instead.
Occupancy
The price assumes an occupancy. Fill fewer spots and each guest carries more of the season costs. That is why the sensitivity table is there: price at a realistic occupancy, then check what a weak season does.
Agent commission
Commission is a share of the price, so it is handled like margin, not added to cost. If a third of your guests come through agents at 15%, enter 5%.
High and low season
If shoulder weeks sell for less, run the calculator once for each season period with its own occupancy, then check that the periods together cover the season costs.
Pricing a hunting package
The method is the same: hunting days instead of fishing days, the guide ratio the hunt needs, vehicles instead of boats, and tags or trophy fees as costs passed through. Once the price is set, write the deposit terms with the deposit and cancellation policy generator.
Where Malvavisco fits
This calculator sets the price before the season. Malvavisco, administration software for remote lodges, keeps the records that tell you afterwards whether the price was right:
- Finance reports per currency. Charges, payments and overdue amounts in each currency on its own, with no automatic conversion, exported to XLSX or CSV.
- The guide and boat schedule. Guided days sold on each booking are scheduled with a named guide and the boats or vehicles they need, with overlap and capacity checks, so guide-days and boat-days are on record.
- A recorded-cost contribution report. For bookings arriving in a period, it subtracts the actual costs your team recorded against each booking from its net charges, by currency. It is not full accounting: costs nobody recorded are missing, and costs not tied to a booking are listed apart.
What it does not do: it does not price packages for you, and it cannot sell a package as one price yet. You set a nightly rate and per-person prices for guided days and extras. See how it works for fishing lodges or hunting lodges, compare lodge software, or ask for a demo.
Pricing guided trips and packages
Start from your own costs, not a competitor’s price: guides and boats per guided day, food, transfers and a share of the season’s fixed costs, then add your margin and any agent commission. Then compare with what similar trips sell for; if yours is higher, look at the guide ratio, season length and occupancy before cutting the margin.
There is no standard figure. Choose a margin that still covers your fixed costs in a weak season: check that the break-even occupancy in the calculator sits well below what you usually fill. A lodge that breaks even at 50% occupancy and usually fills 75% has room; one that breaks even at 70% does not.
You can include them, but charge them at cost: they are passed through, not a service you sell. Enter them as licences and fees at cost, so no margin or agent commission is added, and show them as a separate line on the quote.
The same way as a fishing package: hunting days instead of fishing days, the guide ratio the hunt needs (often one or two hunters per guide), vehicles instead of boats, and tags or trophy fees as costs passed through at cost.
Margin is profit as a share of the price; markup is profit as a share of cost. A 25% markup is a 20% margin. Because agent commission is also a share of the price, pricing from a target margin keeps the arithmetic straight.
Divide the season’s fixed costs by what each guest leaves after commission and variable costs: break-even guests = fixed costs ÷ (price × (1 − commission) − variable cost per guest). Divide that by the guests you could host in a full season to get the break-even occupancy.
