Your calendar. Your guests. Your money.
Stop handing 15.5% of every booking to Airbnb.
Keep Airbnb and Booking.com for reach — and add a booking channel you own. Take bookings on your own website, synced with the platforms, with card payments direct. No platform commission, no monthly booking-software fee.
Book a discovery call✓ 20 minutes on the phone. You'll leave knowing exactly what a direct booking site would cost you — and save you.
See a working direct-booking website →Built for cottages · pods · glamping sites · apartments · guesthouses
Take bookings directly
Guests book through your own site, not only through the platforms.
No commission fees
Keep the 15.5% that would normally disappear from the booking.
Calendar sync
Book a date anywhere, your site, Airbnb or Booking.com, and it's blocked everywhere else.
Mobile-first performance
Fast, clean booking pages for guests comparing on the sofa.
TWO CHANNELS · DIFFERENT JOBS
Use the platforms. Don’t depend on them.
Airbnb and Booking.com are good at putting your property in front of people who have never heard of it. Your own site has a different job: giving returning guests, referrals and people searching your property name a trusted place to check dates and book direct.
One brings reach. The other builds a booking channel and guest base you own. The calendars work together, so you can use both.
Another booking, another £93 gone in fees.
Noticed your payout line change in June? UK hosts were moved to Airbnb's single 15.5% fee on 22 June 2026 — the cut you used to half-see is now deducted, in full, from payouts on new reservations.
You did the work. You bought the property, furnished it, cleaned it, answered the 11pm “Is there parking?” messages. Airbnb sent an email and kept 15.5%. Booking.com shows the exact commission in your agreement; sector research commonly places the base rate around 15%.
Worse, the platform keeps the relationship too. You have no direct route to invite the lovely couple from last summer back or give them a reason to return direct. Returning guests can help fill February — but while the platform controls the relationship, you may have to pay to reach them all over again. And if the algorithm buries your listing next month, your calendar empties and there’s little you can do about it.
The cut only moves one way
What started low has become 15%+ for many hosts.
2015
Airbnb host fee
~3%
2020
Guest fees rose
14.1–16.5%
Today
Many hosts now pay
15.5%
Direct booking keeps more of each reservation
Less commission. More revenue stays with you.
Booking.com is often around 15% too — and can cost more once discounts or visibility programmes are added.
A direct booking website fixes all three problems. Most pay for themselves inside 8–12 bookings.
Why those fees are unlikely to come back down
When Airbnb started, hosts paid 3% and guests paid a separate service fee that later reached 14.1–16.5%.
In June 2026, UK hosts were moved — no opt-out — to a single 15.5% fee deducted straight from payouts; for hosts who aren't VAT-registered, VAT on that fee takes it to roughly 18.6%.
Etsy sellers have watched the same pattern: its transaction fee rose from 3.5% to 5% in 2018 and to 6.5% in 2022. Shops above Etsy’s sales threshold must also participate in Offsite Ads, paying 12% on orders attributed to those ads. TikTok Shop launched its US referral fee at 2% in September 2023; by July 2024 it was 8%.
The playbook rarely changes: build the audience cheaply, then raise the rent once leaving costs more than staying. Nobody can tell you what the cut will be in three years — including the platforms. What you control is how exposed you are when it moves.
A host with only a platform listing pays whatever the platform decides. A host with a direct booking channel gets to shrug.
What you get
A direct booking website takes payments on your own domain, syncs calendars with Airbnb and Booking.com, and charges no commission on any stay.
Take bookings while you sleep
Guests check availability, pick their dates and submit — day or night. You approve each booking before anything's confirmed or charged.
Never get a double booking
Calendars sync across your site, Airbnb and Booking.com — and with owner approval on, nothing is confirmed until you've checked.
Stop paying rent on your own booking system
No commission, and no monthly booking software fee — the software is licensed for life. After launch you pay for hosting and nothing else.
Get found when AI does the looking
Property details, prices and FAQs are structured so Google and AI assistants can read them.
Win the booking made from the sofa
Fast mobile pages help guests finish the booking before drifting back to the app they came from.
Skip the admin
Booking confirmations, arrival details and check-in instructions can send themselves.
SEE IT IN ACTION
See a direct‑booking website working for real.
High Mourne House is a working demonstration built around a traditional Mourne cottage. Explore the property pages, check availability and follow the booking journey as a guest would.
Working demonstration · opens in a new tab
DIRECT BOOKINGS · REPEAT GUESTS · OFF-PEAK DATES
Build a guest list that's yours.
Platform terms restrict how you market to guests the platforms brought you — which is exactly why the guest list you build through your own website is worth so much.
Every direct booking, referral and enquiry through your own site is a relationship you own outright: yours to welcome back, with no algorithm in between.
When guests book direct
Confirmation, arrival details and follow-ups come from you, not a platform. Invite every direct guest to join your mailing list with a clear opt-in — stored on your site under UK GDPR.
When word spreads
A simple link for guests to pass to friends and family — so a recommendation lands on your website, not a listing page next to your competitors.
When you have dates to fill
Email your own list with quieter dates, cancellations or off-season offers. No visibility programme, no boosting fee — just you, talking to people who already love the place.
Included with your website: a branded QR code and print-ready guest card for your own marketing — signage, local partnerships and direct guests.
Every direct booking starts a guest relationship you own.
Start cautious. Go instant when you're ready.
Your site launches in request-to-book mode: guests pick dates and submit, and you approve every booking before anything is confirmed or a card is charged. You check your calendars, your changeover times, your gut — then click confirm.
Once you trust the setup, flip the switch to instant booking and automatic payment. Nothing gets accepted that you can't honour — from day one.
Who’s building it
Holiday-let owners are often sold a pretty brochure site with a “Check availability on Airbnb” button. That sends the guest straight back to the platform. But a booking form on its own is not enough either. Guests may find you on Airbnb, search your property name, and use your site to check the details and decide whether they trust you. The site has to do both jobs: sell the stay and make booking direct feel safe. That means secure card payments, genuine reviews, a clear cancellation policy, immediate written confirmation and a real name and number to contact — the things a cautious guest checks before pressing Book.
That's the gap I built this service to fix. One person — me, Peadar — builds your site, sets up your calendar and payments, and answers the phone afterwards. No account manager, no handoffs, no ticket queue.
And the words matter as much as the build. The site is written to help the guest book, not just admire the property.
You get:
✓ Your site, your domain, your data
✓ Fixed price agreed up front
✓ Clear handover and training
✓ Optional Website Care & Improvement if you want it
✓ No lock-in
How it works
Three steps from first call to first direct booking: a 20-minute call, a fixed-price build with calendar and payments, then launch and training.
Book a call
Tell me about your property and your bookings. If a direct site doesn't stack up for you, you'll hear it straight and it costs you nothing.
Get your site built
Design, booking calendar, payments, OTA sync and your property content, all handled for you at a fixed price agreed up front.
Take your first direct booking
Go live, get shown how to run it in plain English, and keep every penny except the card fee from then on — no commission, ever.
The maths
Say your average stay is £600. Airbnb's cut: £93.
Booking.com’s rate is property-specific, but sector research commonly places the base commission around 15%. Same problem, same fix.
2
direct bookings a month
=
£2,232
extra in your pocket every year.
Your website stops being a cost and starts being the highest-paid cleaner you’ve ever hired — except it works nights.
A direct booking isn't free — Stripe takes a card fee like any card machine. Call it £9 on that £600 stay. £9 to a card processor versus £93 to a platform.
Your own figures will likely vary.
THE 15.5%
How to slice up the 15.5%
Every direct booking hands back the cut the platform used to take. On a £600 stay that's about £93, less roughly £9 to the card processor. Call it £84 that used to leave the room and now stays in it.
The interesting question isn't whether you get it. It's how you spend it. One pot, three ways to divide it, and none of them is wrong.
One pot. Three sensible choices.
Keep it all.
Charge the same as the platform and pocket the difference. The guest pays what they'd have paid anyway. You just stop handing £84 of it to Airbnb. It's the simplest option, and on a first-time booking it's often the right one. You're not there to undercut yourself for a stranger who found you through a listing you're already paying for.
Give it all away.
Price your direct site well below the platform and let the guest take the whole saving. Fills a quiet week fast, but you've given back margin you didn't need to. A tactic for dead dates, not a standing policy.
Split it. A little to everyone.
Keep most of the pot and hand the guest a small, permanent slice. Say 5%, which is £30 on that £600 stay. You still keep around £54. The guest gets a real, dependable reason to book direct every single time. Not a discount code that expires and leaves them feeling short-changed on the next visit.
Why sharing a little usually wins
If only you win, the guest has no reason to leave the app they already trust. If everyone wins a little, something better starts to turn.
Guest saves 5%
No commission
Sharing is free
They come back
and they book direct again
and round it goes again
That's the virtuous circle. The 5% isn't a discount off your income. It's funded entirely by the fee you no longer pay. And it buys the one thing the platforms rent back to you at 15.5% forever: a guest who returns on their own.
Your call, every time
This is a framework, not a rule. Keep it, give it, or split it, and change your mind by season, by guest, by date. The point of a direct booking site isn't that it forces a strategy on you. It's that, for the first time, the 15.5% is yours to divide however you like.
Frequently asked questions
Straight answers on calendar sync, double bookings, Stripe payments, cancellations, GDPR and running your own direct booking website day to day.
Do I have to come off Airbnb or Booking.com?
No — and you shouldn’t. The platforms are good at finding you new guests. Your own site is where repeat guests, referrals, and anyone Googling your property name book you commission-free. They run side by side, with calendars kept in sync.
Will guests trust booking on my own website?
Some first-time guests will still prefer a familiar platform — and you don’t have to stop using one. Your direct website gives other guests a credible alternative, with secure card payments through Stripe, immediate written confirmation, plain-English cancellation terms, genuine guest feedback and a real person they can contact. It works particularly well for people who find you through your own marketing, arrive through a recommendation or already know and trust the property. You’re not asking every guest to abandon Airbnb. You’re giving the right guests a professional way to book directly — and every one of those bookings is commission-free.
How will anyone find my website?
Three ways, in order of value: guests on your own mailing list who chose to hear from you, people who search your property name after seeing it anywhere, and local searches like “cottage with hot tub near Warrenpoint”. Your property details, prices and FAQs are structured so Google and AI assistants can read and quote them. Platform terms restrict marketing to guests acquired through Airbnb or Booking.com — another reason the list you build through your own website matters so much.
What happens if someone books the same weekend on Airbnb and my site?
It can’t be confirmed behind your back. Your site launches in request-to-book mode — you approve every booking, so you check your calendars before anything is accepted. The calendars also sync automatically between your site, Airbnb and Booking.com, typically updating within the hour. Belt and braces.
How do guests pay me?
By card, straight into your own bank account through Stripe. You choose the rules: full payment up front, a deposit now with the balance due before arrival, or card-on-file for damage cover. The money never passes through a booking platform — or through me.
What about cancellations and refunds?
You set the policy — flexible, moderate or strict — and the site enforces it. Refunds go back to the guest’s card in a couple of clicks. No more arguing with a platform’s resolution centre over your own money.
What does it cost?
A fixed price, agreed in writing before any work starts. No hourly billing, no surprise extras. You’ll get an exact figure on our call once I’ve seen your property and setup — most builds pay for themselves inside 8–12 direct bookings.
Are there monthly fees after launch?
Hosting is an ongoing cost, and your domain also needs renewed. The exact figure will be confirmed before work begins. The booking software on your site is licensed for life, so there is no monthly booking-software fee added by me.
Can I show guest reviews on my own site?
Yes — genuine guest feedback belongs on your site. The cleanest route is collecting reviews directly from guests after their stay, which your site can automate, so the feedback is yours outright. You can also factually mention your track record — years hosting, hundreds of stays, Superhost status — in your own words. Platform badges and logos can’t be reproduced without permission, so I build your reassurance on feedback you own rather than borrowed branding.
I've got more than one property — does that change things?
It works in your favour. One booking system runs them all — each property gets its own page, calendar and pricing, and guests can check availability across all of them in one place. The fixed price scales with property count, agreed up front as always.
Can I change my own prices and block dates myself?
Yes, from day one. Seasonal rates, minimum stays, last-minute discounts, blocked dates for your own week in July — all yours to change, no developer required. The handover includes plain-English training, and it’s shorter than you’d expect.
Who looks after the site after launch?
You continue dealing directly with me after launch.
If you want ongoing help with WordPress updates, backups, security and general site care, an optional Website Care & Improvement plan will be available. Alternatively, I can hand the website over properly for you to manage yourself.
How long until I'm taking bookings?
The timescale depends on the booking setup, the amount of content required and how quickly property information is supplied. I’ll confirm the expected schedule before the project starts.
Is guest data handled properly?
Yes. Card details are handled entirely by Stripe — they never touch your site. Guest details are stored on your own site under UK GDPR. You can give guests a clear choice to hear from you about future stays, helping you build a direct guest base without the platform standing between you.
Keep the next 15.5%.
Book a free 20-minute call. You'll get a straight answer on whether a direct booking site makes sense for your property — and an exact fixed price if it does.
✓ No pressure, no jargon, no obligation. Just the person who'd actually build it.
20 minutes on the phone. You'll leave knowing exactly what a direct booking site would cost you — and save you.