Direct booking site – is it really worth it long term?

Question

Hi everyone,
Looking for real-world input from experienced STR owners.

I’m about to launch a large lakefront STR in Lake Whitney, TX — around 6 bedrooms, designed for 12–15 guests. The plan is to start strong with Airbnb/VRBO, but I’m already thinking ahead about the long-term setup.

I’m debating whether investing time and money into a direct booking website actually makes sense over time, or if it usually stays a side channel that doesn’t materially reduce OTA dependence.

In addition, I’d love input on:

• Whether it makes sense to build a direct booking site through a PMS platform, or go with a standalone solution
• Real ROI vs. marketing effort and ongoing maintenance
• Whether it truly helped with repeat guests or brand building
• At what scale this started to make sense for you (if at all)

Whether it makes sense to build a direct booking site through a PMS platform, or go with a standalone solution

Real ROI vs. marketing effort and ongoing maintenance

Whether it truly helped with repeat guests or brand building

At what scale this started to make sense for you (if at all)

Not looking for theory or vendor pitches — just honest, field-tested experience.
Thanks 🙏

Trent Reeve · Answer

my direct booking site is for 2 things, repeat guests that loved the stay and want to save channel fees, and I also look through Facebook groups for guests looking to book direct in Panama City beach. You will never get yourself in front of enough eyeballs vs Air/VRBO to make it worthwhile, but its a nice thing to have in your pocket. Thats why i use the PMS website and dont spend money on a super fancy site.

Ken Boone · Answer

So I grew my direct bookings from 5% to around 22% last year. I want to keep increasing that amount. But it takes a lot of work. I spent a lot of time in the first half of 2025 focusing on my website. I curated it to be a site that not only shows off my cabins, but provides a ton of information on the area. I have also spent a lot of time on social media and on facebook ads during that same time frame. During that time I pushed my direct bookings up to 22%, then we got to the second half of 2025 and I got wrapped up on a new STR project in a new location and that sucked up a ton of my time this year along with a few other things outside of STRs. Direct bookings dropped slightly for the second half of the year.

Like others have said you will not win the SEO war with airbnb/vrbo, so you have to drive people to your site. Repeat guests are the low hanging fruit for this, but I started driving organic bookings through my efforts. It takes a lot of work.

So it really depends on your goals and how much time you have. For me, I want to lessen my dependency on the OTAs. I have the time to focus on that, at least I did for the first part of 2025. I will be re-focusing on this effort again once I have this other property up and running. Not to mention it is a fun challenge for me to do this and I have an IT background.

But if you just want a place for repeat guests to book, just use whatever your PMS has for a website for that. That's all you need for those repeat guests. If you want to grow your direct bookings organically then you can still use what your PMS provides until you are at a point you want to do more. BUT.. it will take a lot of time and work and you have to decide if it is worth it.

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

Ultimately of course, we all want to have nothing but private bookings.

But building and maintaining your own website is hard and expensive, and getting it to the top of search results may be impossible for us little folks.

I used to market to existing guests by advertising in my units to contact me directly for future visits. Also get their contact info and send out special deals, etc....

I ended up with about 1/3 private bookings, 1/3 each for VRBO and Airbnb.....  That would be a good goal to set for starters.....

Lauren Kormylo · Answer

You'll get most of your bookings through Airbnb and Vrbo, but it's still worth it have a site for direct booking.  The reason is control.  The platforms give you almost zero control over your rentals, and it's getting worse all the time.  Now Airbnb won't even give you guests' phone numbers. If you've done any reading in STR groups, you've heard the horror stories about Airbnb delisting a rental for unknown reasons - they won't even tell you why for a week to 10 days, then you have to fight with them to get back on the platform.  Both have refunded guests for BS reasons or refused to hold guests accountable for damage.  And both platforms do almost zero vetting of guests, but when a party happens, it's YOUR fault and they take action against you.

I don't get a lot of direct bookings, but I use Houfy.com for them.  It's very cheap, it's similar to the other platforms, but you make the cancellation rules, you do the vetting, you can require a signed agreement if you want, and you take the payment (and no waiting till guests check in to get paid like the other platforms).  You can also import your reviews from Airbnb and Vrbo to Houfy.   However, just like having your own website, you will have to your own advertising to drive bookings to Houfy - because it's so cheap, they do almost no advertising themselves.

With a large property like yours, I think you definitely should have some form of direct booking available, especially for returning guests.  You are likely to get extended families that might come back every summer.  I have my Houfy info in my guidebook in my house, and I had a custom QR code fridge magnet made up on Etsy.  The incentive for guests to use it is to save on the platform fees.  You will have to have your own credit card processor, and can accept Venmo or Zelle if you want.  Don't forget to factor credit card fees into your direct booking prices.

Also, very important - don't ever talk about direct booking in any of your messages to guests on Airbnb and Vrbo.  And if a guest ever asks about it on those platforms, say you don't do direct booking.  The platforms monitor your messages, and will delist you for that.

Mike Grudzien · Answer

Most of my booking are Airbnb 50%, VRBO 30%, returning guests 20%.I let Airbnb and VRBO do the front-end work.  I capture my guests with amenities/value and convert them into returning guests, privately.

Collin Hays · Answer

Back in 2005, we got 80 percent of our bookings direct, and 20 percent from VRBO.  In 2025, it was flipped. About 80 percent via VRBO.

VRBO and Airbnb are the rule makers in this space. You play in their sandbox, or you don't play at all.

Is it nice to have a direct booking site?  I suppose. But without VRBO, we'd close shop and find something else to do.  Not a good place to be in, but I'm sure most Amazon sellers feel exactly the same.

Dan H. · Answer

Some of my STR units pre-date Airbnb.   Direct bookings were a large source of the bookings.

Direct bookings reduce reliance on OTAs.   Direct bookings provide way more control on your bookings.

Times have changed. The OTAs are responsible for a very large percentage of the bookings. However, it is possible to obtain a large percentage of bookings via direct booking site.  The question is how much effort s required?

Mark Simpson.  “The book direct playbook” is a book to increase direct bookings.  he states direct bookings make up 70% to 80% of his bookings (late 2023 numbers).  I have not read the book but have heard his presentation on direct bookings.

@Garrett Brown (BP Employee) claims he is getting 80% of his bookings via direct bookings (late 2024 data).

I am jealous of their reduced dependence on the OTAs.

If all you do is have a direct booking site, you have done the bare minimum and you are likely to obtain results that reflect this.

Collect guest contact info off the OTA site (do not do this on the OTA platform).   Guest books, WiFi contact info grab, etc.  Collect the guest contact info.

Use a searchable name.   My mom had a unique name.   Her name is in the name of our 2 oldest STR units.   The name of the units are in the OTA description.  If you search for the unit name, the Airbnb site tops the search results but the direct booking site is on the front page and sometimes as high as the 2nd position.  Have a unique searchable name for your unit and use it in the description.  If you want, quote it.  Use a unique name that if a perspective guest searches for it, they will find your direct booking site on the first page.

Post on FB hospitality groups appropriate for your STR.

Pick up phone.  Thank the guests for their stay.  Use a VA, but make sure the VA is easy to understand.

Offline marketing.  Flyers, stickers placed, t-shirts.

Block out key dates to OTAs.  Stop gifting your best dates to OTAs.  If Taylor Swift comes to town, you do not need OTA to book the room.  FOMO.  If get close to date without booking you can open to OTAs.  Similar for World Cup.  My oldest friend has a basement STR in Seattle.  She is considering placing her primary up for use as an STR if the rate justifies the effort.  No need to se OTA for the number of tourists that will invade Seattle for the World Cup.

Note this is a partial list largely obtained from Mark Simpson’s presentation on direct bookings.

Good luck

Bruce Woodruff · Answer

I don't think that we regular folks can ever compete with the big guys in terms of Search Engines. So the value of having our own websites is very limited. With the right property though, I think a person could gain enough direct bookings - from repeat guests - to have a significant financial impact on their bottom line.

So worth it IMO to at least make a serious effort to attract former guests to return.....

Cliff H. · Answer

For god-sakes, yes: a direct booking site is 100% worth it. It’s not even as complicated as Mark S or others promoting direct booking books/etc make it out either since most contemporary PMS offer you a hosted direct site in their Goldilocks price tier solution anyway. That modest $5-10/mo extra will be more than made up on a your first direct booking that saves you AirBnB’s 15.5% commission, which on even a modest $6k in revenue saves you nearly $1k in fees.

As others have said, you should already have a way of capturing guests’ contact info outside of the channel, otherwise you’re just renting your customers and we’re all here to run a business, no?

Even in the worst case that you don’t lead capture as part of your booking, it takes all of 30 seconds to print a QR code of your direct listing site and have it up in your rental for guests to save or take with them.

Andrew Steffens · Answer

If you had a run of the mill 3/2 with no special amenities I would say it is probably not worth it but it seems as though with a good stand out property it can be a big plus.  You will want to devise a marketing strategy to go along with it.  StayFI, constant contact, etc is a good place to start.

Direct booking site – is it really worth it long term?

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