Direct booking website: subscription or a site of your own?
How to read the chart, and the two services compared at equal cost. Lodgify Professional versus Air Estate Studio, with figures taken from both pricing pages on 21 October 2026.
The case studied
A host collects €30,000 a year in direct bookings, paid online by card. They own 1, 2 or 3 properties. They want a site in their own name where guests book and pay, with Airbnb and Booking calendars synced to avoid double bookings.
Two ways to get there: rent software by subscription (Lodgify is the market reference), or have a site delivered that belongs to them (Air Estate Studio).
Amounts include VAT: Lodgify’s prices, shown excluding tax, are increased by 20% VAT. Stripe fees (1.5% + €0.25 per payment with a European card, about €465 a year at €30,000) and the domain name are the same in both cases, so they are left out to keep the comparison clear.
How to read the chart
Cumulative cost over 8 years, VAT included
€30,000 of bookings a year collected online. Stripe fees and domain name, the same on both sides, not counted.
The horizontal axis is time, from launch to 8 years. The vertical axis is everything paid since the start: each curve is a counter that never goes down.
The Air Estate Studio curve starts at €1,990 on the day the site is delivered, then rises by €190 a year for hosting, backups and updates. It is the same for 1, 2 or 3 properties, because the site price includes up to 3 properties and the English version. It does not depend on turnover either: no commission, no transaction fee.
The Lodgify Professional curves start at zero, then rise each year by the subscription (€39 excl. VAT a month for 1 property, €61 for 2, €79 for 3, billed yearly) and a 1% transaction fee on online payments (€360 incl. VAT at €30,000). The more properties, the steeper the slope: €922 a year for 1 property, €1,238 for 2, €1,498 for 3.
The circles mark the moment the subscription has cost as much as the site of your own: 33 months for 1 property, 23 months for 2 and 18 months for 3. After 8 years, the total is €3,510 for Air Estate Studio, against €7,373, €9,907 and €11,981 for Lodgify.
The figures in detail
| Lodgify Pro, 1 property | Lodgify Pro, 2 properties | Lodgify Pro, 3 properties | Air Estate Studio, 1 to 3 properties | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| At the start | €0 | €0 | €0 | €1,990 |
| Each year | €922 | €1,238 | €1,498 | €190 |
| of which subscription or hosting | €562 | €878 | €1,138 | €190 |
| of which 1% fee on €30,000 | €360 | €360 | €360 | €0 |
| Total after 1 year | €922 | €1,238 | €1,498 | €2,180 |
| Total after 2 years | €1,843 | €2,477 | €2,995 | €2,370 |
| Total after 3 years | €2,765 | €3,715 | €4,493 | €2,560 |
| Total after 5 years | €4,608 | €6,192 | €7,488 | €2,940 |
| Total after 8 years | €7,373 | €9,907 | €11,981 | €3,510 |
| Break-even with Air Estate Studio | 33 months | 23 months | 18 months |
What would change these figures
- If turnover goes up, the 1% fee goes up with it and break-even comes sooner; the Air Estate Studio cost does not change.
- If Lodgify is paid monthly rather than yearly, the subscription is about 20% more expensive.
- If the Air Estate Studio site is hosted elsewhere, on a suitable server (Node.js), the €190 a year disappears.
- If you recover VAT, compare the amounts excluding tax: the gap narrows a little but the break-even remains.
- After 13 January 2027, the site creation goes from €1,990 to €3,890: break-even for 1 property then moves to about 5.3 years.
At equal cost, what do you get?
At the break-even point, both have cost the same: about €2,507 for 1 property, €2,351 for 2 and €2,279 for 3. It is the right moment to look at what each euro bought.
| Lodgify Professional | Air Estate Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| What you paid for | Software rental. The site, bookings, messages and guest records live in the platform. If the subscription stops, the site goes offline. | A delivered site that is yours: the domain at OVH, the Stripe account and the guest list are in your name. If you stop hosting, the site remains yours. |
| What is left to pay | €922 a year for 1 property, €1,498 for 3, plus 1% of every extra euro collected online. | €190 a year, whatever the turnover and the number of properties (up to 3). |
| Number of properties | The price depends on the number of properties (€562 incl. VAT a year for the first one). | Up to 3 properties included. Beyond that, on quote, with no recurring cost per property. |
| Languages | Several languages, depending on the template. | French and English included (site and contract). Other languages on quote. |
The services, line by line
The two do not offer the same things. The table follows what each pricing page announces; “not specified” means Lodgify’s pricing page does not mention it, not that the feature does not exist.
| Lodgify Professional | Air Estate Studio | |
|---|---|---|
| Website | No-code builder, templates to customise, custom domain. | Custom-made site, designed for phones first, in French and English. |
| Booking and payment | Built-in booking engine, online payment with an extra 1% Lodgify fee, manual collection possible. | Booking with dates and exact price, card payment in 1 or 3 instalments at no cost, paid directly to your Stripe account. |
| Security deposit | Pre-authorisation of the deposit, on bookings made through Lodgify. | Card imprint blocked on the day of arrival, released after departure, retained in one click with the reason sent to the guest. |
| Tourist tax | Not specified on the pricing page. | Calculated and collected with the stay. |
| Calendars | Channel manager: API connection with Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com, iCal for other sites. | Airbnb and Booking bookings automatically block the site’s dates. |
| Listings on platforms | Managed from Lodgify, listing on Google Vacation Rentals. | The site is your direct channel; your Airbnb and Booking listings stay managed on those platforms. |
| Messaging | AI-powered inbox, automated messages. | Messaging attached to each booking, before, during and after the stay. |
| Rental agreement | Not specified on the pricing page. | PDF generated automatically for each booking, in French and English. |
| Guest area | Not specified on the pricing page. | Each guest finds their booking, agreement, messages and payment status. |
| Guest list | Booking reports. | A guest list that belongs to you, with customers and bookings exportable at any time. |
| Rates | Dynamic pricing included. | Rates and periods managed from the admin, without dynamic pricing. |
| Reviews | Not specified on the pricing page. | Google reviews collected and highlighted. |
| Search visibility | Editable titles, descriptions and URLs. | Pages designed to be found on the property’s name and region, SEO follow-up included in hosting. |
| Support | Phone and e-mail, onboarding with a specialist. | A single contact, reply within 24 working hours, a 30-minute video call a year and two small changes included. |
| Going live | Immediate, on your own. | 10 working days after receiving photos, texts and rates. |
| Changes | Within the platform’s features. | On quote: features, languages, more than 3 properties, without changing site. |
| Several users | Co-host access. | Not provided. |
| Mobile app | Ultimate plan only. | Site designed for phones, no app. |
In short
A subscription lets you start fast, with nothing to pay upfront, and manage several platforms from one screen. Its cost follows your activity: every property and every euro collected online adds to it, for as long as you stay. A site of your own needs an upfront payment, then a fixed cost that no longer moves, and it belongs to you, with your data and your payment account. Within 18 to 33 months depending on the number of properties, the upfront payment is paid back. So the useful question is: for how many more years do you plan to rent?
Sources: lodgify.com/fr/tarifs (Professional plan, prices excluding VAT billed yearly for 1, 2 and 3 properties; FAQ: “0% booking fee”, “a 1% transaction fee applies to payments your guests make online”, “all prices exclude tax”); stripe.com/fr/pricing; airestatestudio.com (launch offer for a contract signed on or before 13 January 2027). Figures taken on 21 October 2026. 20% VAT added to Lodgify prices.