Most holiday lets don’t need their own website to get bookings, because Airbnb and Booking.com bring guests. But most would earn more with one, because every guest who books direct is a booking with no commission taken. For a let with regular returning guests, a direct booking site usually pays for itself within a season.
The point isn’t to leave the booking sites. It’s to stop paying them for guests who’d have found you anyway.
What the booking sites cost you
- Airbnb now charges most hosts a single fee of around 15.5% of each booking, taken from your payout. UK hosts moved to it in 2026.
- Booking.com charges commission on each stay, commonly around 15%, and more if you opt into its promotions.
On a week that earns £1,000, that’s roughly £150 each time. On thirty weeks a year, it’s thousands.
Some of those guests genuinely found you through the booking site. But many didn’t: returning guests, friends of previous guests, people who saw you locally or searched your name. Without your own website, they book through the platform because there’s nowhere else to go.
What a website does for a holiday let
- Returning guests book direct. Put your web address in the welcome book and the thank-you message. The second stay onwards is commission-free.
- Your name shows up in Google. When someone searches your property’s name, they find your site, not just your listing on someone else’s.
- You set the terms. Your own cancellation policy, deposits, minimum stays and house rules, without a platform in the middle.
- You keep the guest. Their email is yours, so you can let them know about late availability or next year’s dates.
What it needs to take bookings
A holiday let website doesn’t need to be big. It needs:
- Great photos, first, large and plenty of them
- An availability calendar that stays in sync with your listings, so you’re never double-booked
- A way to book or enquire, ideally with a deposit taken online
- Prices, or at least “from” prices by season
- The practical details: sleeps, bedrooms, parking, pets, Wi-Fi, check-in times
- Location and area guide: what’s nearby, how to get there
- Reviews from past guests
- Works perfectly on a phone, because that’s where most people browse
Booking systems and channel managers
If you have more than one property, or you’re already using a channel manager like Lodgify, Eviivo or similar, the best approach is usually to build your website around that system rather than replace it. They handle calendars, payments and syncing with Airbnb and Booking.com. Your website becomes the front door, and the booking engine sits behind it.
For a single let, a simpler setup often works: a synced availability calendar, a booking request form, and an online deposit link.
Do the platforms allow it?
Yes. You’re free to have your own website and take direct bookings. What you shouldn’t do is use a platform’s messaging to move a guest who found you there onto a direct booking for that stay. That breaks their rules. Returning guests and people who find you independently are a different matter.
Getting guests to your site
- Add the web address to your welcome book, emails and signs
- Set up a Google Business Profile for the property, where your type of let is eligible
- Offer returning guests a small thank-you for booking direct, like a late checkout
- Keep the site’s calendar and prices current
Every guest who books direct twice has paid for your website.
Already have a site for your let? Run the free website check to see how it performs on a phone, where most guests browse. And if you’re pricing a new one, here’s how much a website costs in the UK.
