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Stop paying Airbnb 15.5% to talk to your own guests
A direct booking website is a vacation rental owner's own site that takes reservations without an OTA in the middle. Airbnb now deducts a single host-only service fee of 15.5% from every payout. On your own site you pay roughly 3% in card processing and keep the guest, the email address, and the margin. Your Wish Digital builds these on WordPress with live availability, real-time pricing, and secure payment.
Live example Mount Snow Retreat
4 bedrooms · 4 nights · $385/night + $150 cleaning
Under the host-only model the guest pays exactly what you set — and Airbnb takes 15.5% of it out of your payout after check-in.
Illustrative. Direct view assumes a 5% book-direct discount and 3% card processing. Airbnb's fee applies to the nightly rate plus cleaning, pet, and extra-guest charges, but not to taxes.
The commission is no longer the guest's problem. It's yours.
Airbnb retired the old split fee, where you paid about 3% and the guest paid the rest at checkout. The whole thing now comes out of your payout.
Airbnb, host-only fee
Charged on the booking subtotal — nightly rate plus cleaning, pet, and extra-guest fees. 16% in Brazil and Mexico. Not charged on taxes.
Vrbo, pay-per-booking
5% commission plus 3% payment processing. Hosts connected through property management software often pay just the 5%.
Your own website
Card processing only. No commission, no guest fee, and the booking, the email address, and the repeat stay all stay with you.
The split-fee model ends this autumn
Airbnb is moving every remaining host onto the single host-only fee: 15 September 2026 for hosts outside the EU, 13 October 2026 for hosts inside it. Software-connected hosts were switched during 2025 and early 2026. After those dates there is no split-fee option left.
If you're repricing to absorb it, divide your target payout by 0.845 — adding 15.5% to your current rate leaves you short. Why owners are moving now →
Most vacation rental sites are a brochure with a phone number
They describe the property beautifully and then hand the booking back to Airbnb. Here's the difference between the two, line by line.
A brochure site
- "Book on Airbnb" button that sends the guest — and the commission — straight back to the platform
- Availability that's out of date the moment a booking lands somewhere else
- No way to take a deposit or a payment on your own terms
- Guest email addresses you never see, so no repeat marketing
- One page per property, rebuilt by hand every time the portfolio grows
- Nothing structured for search, so no traffic arrives that you didn't already own
A booking engine
- Live availability synced from OwnerRez, Hostaway, Lodgify, Guesty or Hospitable
- Real-time rates, minimum stays, and seasonal pricing pulled straight from your engine
- Card payment and deposit taken on your site, at roughly 3% instead of 15.5%
- Every enquiry and booking captured into your own list for repeat and referral stays
- Properties built as a content type, so listing number twelve takes an afternoon
- Location and area pages structured to earn search traffic later
We build around your booking engine, not the other way round
The website is the storefront. The engine handles availability, pricing, payments, and channel sync. Already on one of these? We build around it — no migration, no lost booking history.
| Engine | Best for | Why we'd pick it |
|---|---|---|
| OwnerRez | 1–5 properties | The deepest control over booking rules, quotes, and guest agreements. Our most common recommendation for owner-operators. |
| Hostaway | Still selling on OTAs | The strongest channel management if you're staying active on Airbnb and Vrbo while you build the direct side up. |
| Lodgify | A single property | Simplest setup and the fastest route to taking your first direct booking. |
| Guesty | Large portfolios | Built for portfolios with staff, multiple markets, and complex operations behind the calendar. |
| Hospitable | Messaging-led operations | Lightweight and fast, when guest messaging automation matters more than deep booking rules. |
Read our full comparison of vacation rental property management software →
"Will guests actually trust booking direct?"
It's the first thing every owner asks, and it's the right question. Guests use Airbnb partly from habit and partly because it feels like a safety net. The site has to replace that feeling rather than ignore it.
Payment security they recognise
Stripe or your engine's native processing, clearly badged at checkout. Guests trust the payment layer even before they trust your brand.
Terms stated before the deposit
Cancellation policy, damage deposit, and house rules up front rather than buried. Ambiguity is what sends people back to the platform.
Your reviews, on your own site
Platform reviews aren't portable, but they can be displayed. We surface them alongside Google reviews so your track record travels with you.
One clear reason to book direct
A best-rate guarantee, a longer-stay discount, early check-in. One concrete incentive makes the direct path the obviously better one.
Coast & Range Vacations
A premium vacation rental brand that needed to turn interest into confirmed stays without leaning on third-party platforms.
The site leads with clear property presentation and a booking flow that holds up on a phone at 11pm. Behind it, the structure absorbs seasonal traffic spikes, keeps content management simple, and takes new properties without a rebuild.
“It was clear from our initial discovery call that she had a deep knowledge of my industry and what we needed to include to best serve our clients. She made excellent suggestions for site functionality, recommended capabilities I didn't even know were available, and focused on building an optimized site from the ground up.”
— Lauren McCabe, Coast & Range Vacations
Priced for Your Portfolio, Not a Package
Every property and market is different, so we scope the work to yours — no inflated tiers, no paying for what you don't need.
Single property
One home, one market. Ideal for owners who want direct bookings from their own site instead of paying platform commission.
Get a quote →Multiple properties
Two to five homes, one or more markets. Location pages and structure that let every property strengthen the others.
Get a quote →Portfolio & managers
Six or more properties, or a property management brand. Scoped as a program, with reporting built for a portfolio.
Let's talk →Every quote comes with a defined scope and a straight answer on whether the investment makes sense for your numbers. We reply within the hour.
Before you get in touch
How much does Airbnb charge hosts in 2026?
Airbnb charges most hosts a single host-only service fee of 15.5% of the booking subtotal, deducted automatically from the payout. It's 16% in Brazil and Mexico, and a small number of hosts sit between 14% and 16%. It applies to your nightly rate plus cleaning, pet, and extra-guest charges, but not to local taxes. Guests no longer see a separate Airbnb service fee at checkout.
When does Airbnb's split-fee model end?
15 September 2026 for hosts outside the EU, 13 October 2026 for hosts inside it. Hosts connected through property management software were moved across during 2025 and early 2026. After those dates the old structure — roughly 3% from the host and 14–16% from the guest — no longer exists.
If you're repricing to absorb it, divide your target payout by 0.845 rather than adding 15.5% to your current rate. The two aren't the same number.
Is Vrbo cheaper than Airbnb for hosts?
On host-side fees, yes. Vrbo's pay-per-booking model is 5% commission plus 3% payment processing, around 8% in total, and hosts connected through property management software often pay just the 5%. Vrbo still charges guests a separate service fee at checkout, which affects conversion rather than your payout. Neither comes close to the roughly 3% you pay on your own site.
Does a direct booking website replace Airbnb or Vrbo?
No, and it shouldn't at first. It runs alongside them. Most owners start by shifting repeat and referral guests to direct, then reduce OTA dependence gradually as their own traffic grows. Cutting the platforms off before you have your own demand is how people lose a season.
Will a direct booking site actually get me bookings, or just sit there?
On its own it converts the people who already know you — repeat guests, referrals, and anyone searching your property by name. That alone moves real revenue off commission, and it's where most owners see the first return.
Guests who've never heard of you are a separate discipline. Our vacation rental SEO programs build the location pages, property schema, and Google presence that bring that traffic in.
What happens to my Airbnb reviews?
They stay on Airbnb — platform reviews aren't portable. We display them as social proof on your site and set up a Google review flow so you start building a review profile you own, independent of any platform.
Do I have to leave Wix or Squarespace?
Not necessarily, but most Wix and Squarespace sites hit a ceiling once you add properties or need real booking functionality. We build on WordPress because you own it outright and it scales with the portfolio.
Do I own the website afterwards?
Yes. The site, the domain, the hosting account, and the guest data are yours. Ongoing website care is available but never required to keep the site running.
Once the site is live, the work shifts to getting found. Ranking for the town, the amenity, and the trip is a separate discipline from converting the guests you already have.
Vacation rental SEOAlready built one with AI?
You made a site. The bookings still come through Airbnb.
This is the most common message we get from rental owners. You spent a weekend building something with an AI tool, it looks decent, and guests still book through the platform anyway — so you're still paying commission on people who already knew your name.
The site isn't the problem. What's missing is everything that makes a guest willing to book somewhere other than the platform they trust.
See how we fix AI-built sitesOr send us the URL — we'll tell you whether it's repairable before you spend anything.
- No real booking engineA contact form isn't a reservation. If a guest can't see availability and confirm instantly, they'll go back to the tab where they can.
- Nothing that earns trustPlatforms sell reassurance — reviews, guarantees, a name people recognize. A direct site has to build that itself, deliberately, or it feels riskier by comparison.
- Invisible when guests searchGenerated copy reads like every other rental listing, so it doesn't rank for your town, your property type, or the questions travelers actually ask.
- Not named in AI searchMore travelers now ask an assistant where to stay and get three names back. Nothing on a generated site gives it a reason to name yours.
Your guests are worth more than 15.5%
Tell us what you're running and we'll tell you exactly what it would take to bring the bookings home.
