Best platform for direct bookings on your STR?

Question

We own two short-term rentals and I am working on building our own direct-booking website.

It started as a way to avoid paying platform fees, but Airbnb is adding new rules on November 20 that limit our ability to have guests sign a separate rental agreement and to collect information like a driver's license. That makes having our own booking process even more important.

For those of you who already take direct bookings:

1. Which platform or booking software do you recommend, and why?

2. What would you do differently if you were starting over?

3. Is anyone else affected by Airbnb's new rules, and how are you handling guest agreements and ID verification?

Thanks in advance. Happy to share what we learn as we build it.

Lee Futcher · Answer

Hi @Maria Janos,

I'll leave the software question to the hosts here, but I can speak to your second question from the guest side. My wife and I have spent the past four years living mostly in short-term and monthly rentals, so we've looked at a lot of listings and booking pages.

For a guest, three things make a direct booking feel safe. Real photos and reviews they can check somewhere else, a clear total price with the cleaning fee and taxes shown before checkout, and a cancellation policy written in plain language. When any of those is missing, most people go back to the big platforms where they feel protected.

If I were starting over as a host, I'd also keep the rental agreement and ID step short and explain in one line why you ask for it. Most guests are happy to do it when it feels like a normal part of booking rather than an extra hurdle at the end.

Best of luck with the build,Lee

JD Martin · Answer

Good luck and it will probably be a bust, honestly speaking. I tried several direct booking sites and even built our own direct booking site on our business website, but there's a number of problems that are difficult to overcome:

• VRBO/AirBnB/Booking have some ridiculous share of the market (globally, almost 100%), so if you are not on those platforms you are almost guaranteed not to be seen by those looking.
• The heavy slant of all 3 towards the buyer (the guest) against the host means that more buyers are drawn to those sites especially when dealing with an unknown entity (you).
• You are unlikely to have enough money to create effective marketing outside of those 3 platforms.

VRBO/AirBnB/Booking have some ridiculous share of the market (globally, almost 100%), so if you are not on those platforms you are almost guaranteed not to be seen by those looking.

The heavy slant of all 3 towards the buyer (the guest) against the host means that more buyers are drawn to those sites especially when dealing with an unknown entity (you).

You are unlikely to have enough money to create effective marketing outside of those 3 platforms.

The best route to direct booking tends to be repeat guests, or a location with a very tight inventory that can be marketed through local contacts - small beach/ski communities, for example, where word-of-mouth and local realtor & management groups can be effective.

I am out of the STR business now (finally, thank God), and our direct booking never surpassed 5% of all bookings.

Matthew Tregoning · Answer

For your second question, I'd map what happens after a guest clicks Book before spending much time on the site design. Who notices a failed payment, confirms the reservation, handles a date change and records a refund? For two homes, I'd want that process visible in one place to both the host and any co-host covering the inbox. Test the guest-facing confirmation and the cleaner's notification as part of setup. A polished website is useful, but the handoff into everyday operations is what I'd prioritize first.

Melissa Haworth · Answer

Hi Maria, the November 20 change is coming up a lot with owners here on the Florida coast too. What I'm seeing is people keeping the Airbnb side simple and moving the rental agreement and ID check into their own direct booking flow for repeat and referral guests. Hospitable, OwnerRez and Lodgify are the names I hear most for direct booking sites, so it might be worth demoing a couple and seeing which one feels easiest to run day to day. Would love to hear what you land on.

Best platform for direct bookings on your STR?

Best platform for direct bookings on your STR?

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