How to get direct bookings, without breaking the platforms’ rules.

First, the line you must not cross

Every platform lets you have your own website. None of them lets you use the platform to send guests there. Airbnb’s policy forbids asking or encouraging guests to move current, future or repeat bookings off Airbnb, links that take people off Airbnb in listings or messages, offering discounts to book elsewhere, and asking for contact details before a booking. Vrbo blocks messages offering “alternative booking methods, such as a personal website”, and repeated violations can get a listing suspended.

So the strategy is not “convert platform guests”. It is “be easy to find for anyone who looks for you”. The rest of this guide stays on the right side of that line.

1. Give your place a name guests remember

A guest who loved “2BR condo near the beach” can’t find it again. A guest who stayed at “Pine & Porch” can. Pick a name for the place, use it on the house, in the welcome book and on your social profiles, and register it as your domain. When someone searches it, your site should be the first thing they see.

2. Put a real booking site on that name

A page with a phone number is not enough. Guests expect what they get on Airbnb: photos, dates, a total price and a button. Your site needs live availability synced with every platform, card payment, and clear terms. Our direct booking guide lists everything it needs.

3. Look after the guests who book direct

Guests who book on your site are your own guests. With their consent you can keep their email, send a thank-you after the stay, and offer them dates next year. Keep it personal and rare: one good message a season beats a newsletter nobody opens. Follow the email rules that apply to you, like CAN-SPAM in the US and GDPR in Europe.

This is the one place where a returning-guest rate makes sense: on your site, for people who booked on your site.

4. Build demand that doesn’t come from a platform

• Local partners. Wedding venues, event organizers, hospitals, universities and companies with visiting staff often need places for people. A direct relationship with them is booking demand you own.
• Social media. Short videos of the place, the area and the seasons. Your profile links to your site, which is allowed: it’s your profile, not the platform’s.
• Your own content. A page about the area, the best months to visit, how to get there. It helps guests decide and gives search engines something to show.
• Word of mouth. Make it easy: a site with a clear name is easy to share.

5. Price the direct stay sensibly

On Airbnb’s single fee, the guest no longer sees a service fee, and you give up 15.5%. On your site you save most of that, minus a card fee. You can share part of it with the guest, but check your Booking.com contract first: under its standard terms US properties agree not to offer lower rates on their own website, while in the EEA there is no such obligation. Run your numbers in the fee calculator.

6. Make booking effortless

• Instant booking with real availability, not “send a request”.
• The full price before payment, cleaning and taxes included.
• A secure card payment, and an email confirmation from your own domain.
• Cancellation and house rules on the page, not hidden in a message later.
• A site that works on a phone: most guests will book on one.

What not to do

• Don’t put your website, email or phone number in platform listings or messages before booking.
• Don’t offer platform guests a discount to rebook directly.
• Don’t cancel a platform booking to rebook it on your site.
• Don’t add platform guests to a mailing list using the contact details the platform gave you.
• Don’t ask guests to review a platform stay on your website.

These come straight from Airbnb’s and Vrbo’s published policies, linked below. Breaking them can cost you a listing that is worth far more than a few direct stays.

Questions hosts ask