Direct booking websites for short-term rentals
A direct booking website lets guests check your real availability, get a price and pay you, without a marketplace taking a commission. BnB Console gives every property one: a live calendar, quotes from your own pricing rules, Stripe checkout, and your own domain when you want it.
Free for unlimited properties · 2% only when a booking lands · See what commission costs you
0%
commission on Pro
2%
on Free, only when you're booked
10 minutes
to add a property and publish
Your Stripe
account: payouts go to you
Why hosts add one
Stop paying commission on guests who already know you
Marketplace commission is charged on every booking, including the ones the marketplace did nothing to earn. A guest who stayed last summer and books again, a friend they referred, someone who searched your property by name: on Airbnb, every one of them costs you 15.5%.
A direct booking site is where those guests go instead. It doesn't need to replace your listings to be worth having; it only needs to catch the bookings you already own.
A past guest books again
- Through Airbnb
- 15.5% host fee
- On your site, Free plan
- 2% booking fee
- On your site, Pro plan
- 0% booking fee
Card processing goes to Stripe on direct bookings: 2.9% + 30¢ on US cards.
Included on both plans
What you get with each property
A booking page, live availability, payments and the messages that follow. Below, each one at work in a demo business.
Booking page
A booking page guests trust, at your own address
- Photos, description, amenities, sleeping arrangements, house rules and a map
- Real availability and the full price, itemised, before anyone pays
- When you price an OTA higher, guests see what they save by booking with you
- Add-ons such as early check-in or firewood, picked as the guest books
- A free address straight away, or your own domain when you're ready
Live availability
One calendar, so the same nights are never sold twice
- Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com stays arrive through their calendar feeds
- A direct booking closes the same dates everywhere else
- Requests, blocks and owner stays hold their nights the same way
Cedar Ridge A-Frame
October
Your booking page
No double booking
Payments
Paid straight into your own account
- Stripe checkout: card, Apple Pay and Google Pay
- A deposit when they book, the balance charged automatically before arrival
- A card kept on file for a damage deposit, if you want one
- You're the merchant of record: payouts and refunds stay yours
Jonas Berg · Cedar Ridge A-Frame
Oct 8 → 11 · 3 nights
$1,285.77
Deposit · 30%
Paid when they booked · Visa ending 4242
$385.73
Balance
Charged automatically 14 days before arrival
$900.04
Paid out by Stripe to your bank account. You're the merchant of record.
Booking widget
Already have a website? Book on it
- Dates, guests and the full price, without sending the guest anywhere else
- The same live availability and booking rules as your booking page
- Paste it into WordPress, Squarespace, Wix or any site that takes embed code
Your real prices in every quote
The same rules that drive all your quotes: seasons, day-of-week, last-minute, early-bird and long-stay adjustments, with fees, a fee per pet and taxes added before the guest pays.
Read the guideThe messages that follow, sent for you
Confirmation, house rules, an arrival guide and a review request go out from your business on schedule, and guests' replies land back on the reservation.
Read the guideWant the whole site designed, not only the booking form? See the vacation rental website builder.
Pricing
What it costs
Both plans include the booking site, calendar sync, pricing rules, the guest inbox and payments, with unlimited team members.
Free
$0/ month
2% booking fee, only on bookings you receive
- Unlimited properties and team members
- Your booking site, calendar sync, pricing rules, guest inbox and automatic messages
- Online payments through Stripe; the fee collects itself
- Nothing to pay until you're booked
Pro
$29/ month · 2 properties
then $10 per additional property per month
- Everything in Free, with a 0% booking fee
- AI assistance: reply drafts, review replies and price changes in plain words, with 100 AI credits a month
- Approve each booking before the card is charged, or take bookings without upfront payment
- Record cash and bank-transfer payments by hand
- Hide the BnB Console credit on your booking pages, portfolio page and widget
- Pays for itself past $1,450 a month in direct bookings
Card processing is separate and goes to Stripe, not to us: 2.9% + 30¢ on US cards. Bank transfer costs far less on a large booking. Compare it against marketplace commission.
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
What is a direct booking website?
A direct booking website is your own website where guests book and pay you without going through a marketplace. You set the terms, you hold the guest relationship, and no platform takes a commission on the reservation. It normally needs a live availability calendar, a quote engine and a payment processor to work — otherwise it is a brochure, not a booking site.
Do I have to leave Airbnb to take direct bookings?
No, and most hosts should not. Airbnb is good at finding first-time guests. A direct booking site is for the guests you have already earned — repeat stays, referrals, and anyone who searches your property by name. Keep the listing for discovery and take the rest direct. The calendar syncs both ways so the same dates cannot be double-booked.
How much does a direct booking website cost?
BnB Console's Free plan gives every property a direct booking site with live availability, your pricing rules and online payments, and charges 2% per booking you receive through it. Pro removes that fee for $29 a month covering 2 properties, then $10 per additional property per month, and adds AI assistance and approving each booking before the card is charged. You also pay your card processor — Stripe is 2.9% + 30¢ in the US — because someone has to move the money.
How do guests pay on a direct booking site?
Through Stripe, on a hosted checkout page. Payments are made directly to your own Stripe account, so you are the merchant of record, payouts follow your own schedule, and refunds stay under your control. You can take a deposit at booking and charge the balance automatically before arrival.
Can I use my own domain?
Yes. Every property gets a free address immediately, and you can point your own domain at it whenever you are ready. You can also embed the booking widget on a website you already have, which is the faster route if you have an established site.
How long does it take to set up?
About ten minutes for a first property: add the address and capacity, set a nightly rate, upload photos and publish. Connecting Stripe and syncing your Airbnb calendar are each a few minutes more, and neither blocks going live.
Set one up this afternoon
Adding a property takes about ten minutes and publishing is one switch. Nothing is charged until a guest books.