A guest pays $1,000 for a week at your house. Airbnb takes its fee before the money reaches you. For most hosts on the single-fee plan, that fee is 15.5%, so $155 stays with Airbnb. That is only an example, but the sum is simple. Do it for the weeks you booked last year.
The fee is not the only cost. The guest who stayed with you three times is still Airbnb's guest. You do not have their email address, and the rules stop you from asking for it.
Many small owners then ask the same question. How do I get direct bookings, so that more of the money and more of the guest relationship stay with me?
This guide gives a practical answer. It covers what Airbnb allows, what you can build outside Airbnb, and how long the first direct bookings take. It does not promise a quick fix, because there is not one.
What the fee looks like
Airbnb's help page on service fees describes two plans. Under the split-fee plan, most hosts pay a 3% service fee, and the guest pays a separate service fee of 14.1% to 16.5% of the booking subtotal. Under the single-fee plan, most hosts pay 15.5%, and the rest typically pay 14% to 16%. On the single-fee plan, the whole fee comes out of your payout. Source: Airbnb service fees.
Check which plan you are on. Then look at last year's bookings and add up what you paid. That number shows how much a direct booking is worth to you.
A direct booking is not free. Your payment provider still charges a card fee. Look up its current rates and compare them with the platform fee you pay today.
Why Airbnb does not make direct bookings easy
Airbnb does not share your guest's email or phone number with you before a booking is confirmed (Airbnb Help Center). Its Off-Platform and Fee Transparency Policy also says you may not ask or encourage users to move "current, future or repeat bookings" off Airbnb. You may not offer a discount for booking elsewhere. You may not put links in your listing or messages that take people off Airbnb. Source: Airbnb Off-Platform and Fee Transparency Policy.
For repeated or severe violations, Airbnb says it may suspend or permanently deactivate your listings or account. We cover the details in Can you ask Airbnb guests to book direct?
So the answer to "how do I get my Airbnb guests to book direct" is not a trick. You do not ask them. The answer is to build a second way for people to find you, and to keep that way separate from your Airbnb listing.
What you can build outside Airbnb
The policy says nothing about owning a website, or about people who find you on their own. These five steps stay on your side of that line. We are not lawyers, and Airbnb decides how it applies its rules. If you are unsure about a case, ask Airbnb support in writing before you act.
1. A booking website with your own web address
Many owners have a website with photos and an email address. That is a brochure. A guest cannot book from it.
A booking website shows free dates on a calendar, shows the full price before the guest pays, and lets the guest book and pay in a few steps. It works on a phone, because most guests look on a phone. The web address is registered in your name, so it stays yours.
This is the part we build. You can see how it works on our vacation rental booking websites page. To judge any site you are offered, use our checklist of what a holiday-let website needs.
2. A name that people can search
Some guests see your listing and then search for the property by name. Use the same name for your listing, your website and your social pages. If a guest types that name into Google, your website should be the first thing that appears.
This costs nothing. It is also the step most owners skip.
3. People who already know you
The first direct bookings usually come from people who already know you. These are family, friends, neighbors, colleagues, and guests who stayed with you before you joined any platform. Tell them you have a website where they can book. They know you, so they need no persuasion.
Their friends come next. A guest who tells a friend about your house sends that friend to a search box. Give that friend a name to search for and a site to land on.
4. Social pages that show the place
A page on Instagram or Facebook with real photos of the house, the pool and the road to the beach gives people something to share. Put your website address in the page description. Post the season's free dates when you have them.
Keep these posts public and general. Post for anyone who follows you. Do not use Airbnb's messaging tool to send them to your page.
5. Local partners
Owners nearby, cleaners, property managers, restaurants and tour guides meet your future guests. A small card with your website address is enough. Ask them to pass it on when someone asks about places to stay.
What not to do
Some ideas look harmless and are not. Do not do these with guests who came from Airbnb:
- Do not message a guest to say "book direct next time".
- Do not put your website address in your Airbnb listing, your house manual messages or your reviews.
- Do not offer a discount for booking outside Airbnb.
- Do not ask for a guest's email address so you can send them your offers. The policy also bans using guest contact details for marketing.
- Do not ask a guest to review a stay on another website.
Vrbo and Booking.com have their own rules. We did not check them for this guide. Read them before you contact guests who came from those sites.
Keep your listings
You do not have to leave Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com. Most owners keep their listings, because the platforms bring guests who would never find a new website.
Instead, connect your calendars. When a guest books on one site, the dates close on the others. Calendar sync runs on a schedule. It does not update in the same second, so a short gap can exist. Nobody can promise that a double booking will never happen. A good setup makes it less likely, and sends an alert if a sync stops.
Your website is one more door into the same house. It does not replace the front door that works.
How long it takes
Be ready for a slow start. A new website does not bring guests by itself. In the first season, most direct bookings come from people who already know you, plus some guests who find you by name.
Over time, three things help. Past direct guests come back, because you can invite them. Their friends find you. And your site shows up in more searches as people link to it and share it. We do not know how fast this goes for your property, and nobody can know. Treat the first year as a start.
Three ways to get a direct booking website
You have three choices.
- Build it yourself with a booking tool. Tools such as Lodgify and Smoobu let you set up a site for a monthly fee. If you enjoy configuring software, this is a good choice.
- Hire a freelancer. You get a custom look, but you may need to find someone again for every change.
- Hire a studio that does the whole job. You send your listing link, and you get a finished site with your calendars connected and your payments set up.
We do the third one. At Dhriaan, we set up the site, the calendar links and the payment connection, and a person answers when something goes wrong. Guests pay by card through your own Stripe or PayPal account. The money goes to you and never passes through us.
If you like to do it yourself, do it yourself. The steps in this guide are the same.
Where to start
Do these three things this week, whichever way you build:
- Look up your fee plan and add up last year's fees.
- Choose one name for your property and use it everywhere.
- Make a list of 20 people who might book you or pass your name on.
Then get a site that can take a booking. If you want to see what yours could look like, send us your Airbnb, Vrbo or Booking.com listing link. We will reply with a mockup of your own booking page. It is free. Get my free mockup
