414. Hosting Hotline: Is Building A Direct Booking Site Worth It?

Welcome back to the Hosting Hotline! This is an Ask Me Anything where each week we’ll answer your questions on Airbnb, STRs, real estate, and everything in between.

Samantha asks:

We have two beach properties only listed on Airbnb and Vrbo. We're getting ready to get a PMS with the website builder so we can start doing direct bookings. As we were syncing everything up, I realized our host fee on Airbnb would change from our current 3% rate to the dreaded 15%. We can adjust our pricing to offset it, but is it really worth it? We get about 95% of our bookings from Airbnb, and I'm nervous about how our listings will compare to others in our area. Another idea is to still get a PMS and sync it with Vrbo, but not sync it with Airbnb to avoid that fee, or make a direct booking site through Squarespace and not use a PMS. That also makes my head spin, so I would love to hear your thoughts.

(00:00:00) Introduction

(00:02:34) Choosing Data Over Drama

(00:05:48) The Fee To Connect To A PMS

(00:07:02) The Dangers Of Listing Only With Airbnb

(00:08:34) Direct Booking With Return Guests

(00:11:40) How We Would Approach This Decision

Thanks to everyone who submitted questions. To hear your voice on the show and send a question to Sarah and Annette, submit your burning hosting questions at: hostinghotline.com.

Resources:

• Click here for full show notes

• PriceLabs

• Key Data

• Video: How To Create A Direct Booking Site For Your Airbnb Business

• Airbnb Essentials Checklist: hostchecklist.com

Thanks for Visiting is produced by Crate Media.

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