Free direct booking website for your Airbnb: take repeat guests direct

Quick answer

Why hosts take some bookings direct

Most hosts on Airbnb's single fee pay 15.5% of every booking. A guest who already knows your place and books again directly costs you StayPerk's 1% plus card processing instead, about 4% in all. On a $600 stay that is roughly $69 kept. Direct bookings also give you the guest's contact details and a relationship that no platform ranking change can take away.

How the StayPerk booking page works

1. 1
   Connect your Airbnb, Vrbo and Booking.com calendars on the StayPerk Calendar page. The booking page uses them, so a night booked anywhere shows as taken.
2. 2
   Set up the page: it fills in photos, amenities, check-in times and guest guidelines from your guest manual. Add your nightly and weekend rates, cleaning fee, weekly or monthly discounts, cancellation terms and how guests book.
3. 3
   Share the link with guests who found you directly or booked direct with you before, and on your own website and social media. Keep it out of anything Airbnb guests see during an Airbnb stay, such as Airbnb messages or a printed welcome book in the rental.
4. 4
   With two places or more you also get one page for all of them, where guests pick dates and see which are free. A property manager gets one page for every place they manage, across all the hosts they work for.
5. 5
   A guest picks dates and either books and pays straight away, or sends a request that you approve or decline in StayPerk.
6. 6
   Paid bookings land in your StayPerk Books as rental income, and the guest gets a confirmation with the address and a link to your guest manual.
7. 7
   Paste the calendar export link into Airbnb (Calendar, Availability, Connect calendars, Import) and into Vrbo. Approved direct stays then block those dates on both.

Taking payment

Connect a free Stripe account and guests pay by card on a secure Stripe page in your name. Stripe pays you out to your bank, less StayPerk's 1% and Stripe's card processing (about 2.9% plus 30 cents for most cards). If you would rather collect payment yourself, by bank transfer or a payment link, choose request to book and write how guests pay: it goes to the guest when you approve. If a stay is cancelled, StayPerk refunds the card in full or by your cancellation terms.

Stay within Airbnb's rules

Airbnb's Pricing and payment transparency policy says a reservation made on Airbnb is paid on Airbnb, and hosts may not steer Airbnb guests to book or pay outside it. Use the booking page for stays from people who found you directly or booked direct with you before, such as a referral or a visitor to your own site. Don't send the link in Airbnb messages, don't print it in a welcome book Airbnb guests read during their stay, and don't ask an Airbnb guest to cancel and rebook direct. Can repeat guests book direct under Airbnb's rules?

What to sort out before your first direct guest

• Insurance that covers short-term guests without a platform's damage protection.
• A damage deposit or a clear damage policy in your payment note.
• Local occupancy or tourist tax: on a direct booking you usually collect and pay it yourself.
• Any local permit or registration number your area asks you to show.
• A cancellation policy: what you refund, and by when.

What iCal can and can't do

Booking sites read iCal links every few hours, not instantly, so a night can briefly look free in two places. StayPerk checks every connected calendar again when a guest sends a request and when you approve it, and refuses dates that are now taken. Approve requests promptly so the gap stays short.