How to avoid Airbnb and Booking fees
Platforms bring you guests, but they charge a lot for every night. Direct bookings let you keep a large part of that money, without leaving Airbnb or Booking.
For the same stay
What the platforms really cost you
Under its new rules, Airbnb takes 17% of the listed price. Booking takes between 15 and 18% depending on your listing’s options (visibility programmes, Genius discounts).
On €10,000 of bookings a year, that is €1,500 to €1,800 in commissions. For a gîte or a chalet let all year round, it quickly exceeds the cost of a website.
Should you leave Airbnb and Booking?
No. Platforms are still the best way to reach new guests. The idea is to keep them to find guests, and to move every booking that can be made direct: returning guests, word of mouth, people who find you on Google.
The solution: your own booking website
A website in your own name, with your photos, rates and calendar, where guests book and pay you directly. With no platform in between, the commission disappears and you can share it:
- 10% less for your guest, who has a real reason to book direct;
- 7% more for you, on every night booked.
What it takes for direct bookings to work
- Secure online card payment, including 3 interest-free instalments: guests need the same confidence as on a platform.
- A calendar in sync with Airbnb and Booking, so the same nights are never let twice.
- An automatically generated rental agreement, in French and English.
- Your Google reviews on display, to reassure guests from their first visit.
- A fast website designed for phones, where most searches happen.
- Good search visibility for your property’s name and your area.
How to bring guests to book direct
- Invite past guests to come back direct, at the best price.
- Put your website address on your social media, email signature and marketing material.
- Look after your Google listing and reviews: many guests search for the property’s name after seeing it on a platform.
- Follow the platforms’ rules: never use their messaging to divert an ongoing booking.
What it earns you
If €3,000 of your yearly bookings move to direct, about €510 in commission no longer goes to the platform: your guest pays less and you earn more, on every stay booked direct. The bigger your share of direct bookings, the bigger the saving.