TL;DR:
- Direct bookings save you 15–20% in OTA fees and give you full control over the guest experience
- You need three things: a professional website with a real booking engine (not a contact form), a strategy to get found (OTAs for discovery, your site for conversion), and a plan to bring guests back
- With Guesty Lite, launch a branded booking website that syncs with your calendar in real time. No code, no separate tools.
Every booking that comes through Airbnb or Vrbo costs you 3–15% in commission fees. On a $2,000 reservation, that’s $60 to $300 walking out the door. Multiply that across a year of bookings, and you’re looking at thousands in revenue that could stay in your business instead of subsidizing platform fees.
Here’s how to generate direct bookings for vacation rentals, step by step.
Why direct bookings change the math
Most hosts start on Airbnb. It makes sense. Built-in traffic, trust signals, and payment processing, all handled. But relying 100% on any one platform is a business risk, not a strategy.
Platforms update their algorithms, change fee structures, and shift policies. A listing that performed last month can drop in search tomorrow. Direct bookings give you a channel you own, so platform shifts are mere inconveniences, not emergencies.
With direct bookings, you own the data, and – more importantly – the guest relationship. Guests join your world. Your email list, your follow-up sequence, your loyalty offers. You can surprise them with a discount on their birthday. Send them first access to holiday availability. Turn a one-time visitor into someone who has “their place” in your market.
That’s how you build a brand, not just a listing.
The direct booking funnel
Think of the guest journey in four stages. Each one requires different tactics. Master all four, and you’ve built a direct booking engine that compounds over time.
Stage 1: Discovery
Get found by guests who don’t know you exist yet. This is where OTAs (online travel agencies) actually help. Airbnb and Vrbo are search engines with millions of users. Your job is to use them as billboards for your own brand.
Stage 2: Consideration
Prove your brand is worth booking directly. This happens on social media, Google searches, and anywhere a guest researches you before committing.
Stage 3: Conversion
Secure the booking on your own site. This requires a professional website with live availability, not a WordPress page with a contact form.
Stage 4: Retention
Bring them back. Email marketing, loyalty discounts, and a smooth booking experience that brings them back for more.
Use OTAs as billboards, not landlords
Here’s what happens more often than most hosts realize: A guest finds your property on Airbnb. They like what they see. Before booking, they Google your property name to see if they can find a better deal or learn more about you.
Hospitality experts advise using this behaviour to your advantage by “billboarding” your own brand and properties on OTAs. Let Airbnb get guests in front of your listing, then make sure the curious ones can find you independently.
Here’s how it’s done.
- Make sure your brand or property name is clearly displayed on your listings and headlines
- Include your brand name or logo in your listing photos. You can use services like BoxBrownie to insert your logo onto pillow covers, TV screens, and coffee mugs.
- Give each property a distinct, searchable name. For example, “The Juniper House at Red Rock” or “Harborview Loft”. Include this name in the listing title and make sure it leads to your direct booking site when Googled.
Build a real booking website (not a brochure)
A “Contact Us” form is not a direct booking strategy. Guests expect to see live availability and book instantly. Anything less creates friction that sends them back to the platforms.
Your direct booking website needs three non-negotiables:
A booking engine with real-time availability. Guests should be able to pick dates, see accurate pricing, and complete a reservation without emailing you. If your calendar doesn’t sync automatically with your OTA listings, you’ll create double-bookings and destroy the trust you’re trying to build.
Professional trust signals. High-resolution photos, a clear “About” section, and guest reviews. If your site looks like it was built in 2012, guests will assume your properties are managed the same way.
Secure payment processing. PCI-compliant processors protect both you and your guests. No one’s entering credit card details on a sketchy checkout page.
Building this from scratch takes time and money. Guesty Lite offers a no-code website builder that pulls your listing data automatically, including photos, descriptions, rates, and availability. The calendar syncs in real time, and payments process through the platform.
Get found: Google, social, and local search
A beautiful website means nothing if no one visits it. You need to get your property in front of potential guests outside the OTA ecosystems.
Claim your Google Business Profile. This is free and takes 15 minutes. When travelers search “vacation rentals near [your location]” on Google Maps, you can show up in local results. Add your website link, upload photos, collect reviews. For properties in tourist destinations, this is low-effort, high-return visibility.
Use social media to show the experience, not just the space. Instagram and TikTok work because they sell the feeling of a stay, not just the square footage. Post the sunset from your deck. The coffee setup on a quiet morning. The trail is five minutes from your door. Link to your booking site in your bio, and mention it in Stories when you post availability.
Run retargeting ads. Once someone visits your website, you can show them ads on Facebook and Instagram reminding them to book. This is especially effective for guests who browsed but didn’t complete a reservation. You’re catching them while they’re still deciding.
You don’t need to do all of this at once. Start with Google Business Profile and one social channel. Add tactics as your direct booking volume grows.
Keep guests coming back
The most profitable direct bookings aren’t new guests, they’re return guests. Someone who stayed with you before, loved the experience, and books again without even checking Airbnb.
Building this repeat business requires two things: capturing guest information and staying in touch.
Build your email list from day one. Every direct booking should capture the guest’s email for more than just trip communication. With their permission, add them to a list for future offers. A simple “Book Direct & Save 10%” email to past guests before peak season can fill shoulder dates without you spending a dollar on ads.
Create a reason to come back. Loyalty discounts, early access to holiday availability, or even a handwritten note thanking them for their stay. Small gestures create the kind of goodwill that makes guests feel like they have “their place” in your market.
Automate the follow-up. Post-stay emails thanking guests and offering a return discount can run on autopilot. With Guesty Lite, you can set up automated messages that trigger based on booking status, so every guest gets the same professional touchpoints without you manually sending emails.
The goal isn’t to spam past guests. It’s to stay present enough that when they’re planning another trip, you’re the first call.
Handle direct bookings like a professional
Direct bookings mean you’re responsible for things OTAs normally handle: payment security, rental agreements, and guest vetting.
Payments: Use a PCI-compliant payment processor. This protects credit card data and shields you from liability. Guesty Lite includes integrated payment processing, so there’s no need to bolt on third-party tools or worry about compliance.
Rental agreements: Have guests sign a rental agreement before check-in. This sets expectations for house rules, cancellation policies, and liability. Automate it so the agreement goes out as soon as a booking is confirmed.
Guest screening: OTAs provide some verification, but direct bookings require you to do your own due diligence. At minimum, require valid ID and a signed agreement. For higher-risk bookings (large groups, holiday weekends), consider a security deposit or damage protection.
None of this is complicated, but skipping it creates liability you don’t want.
The bottom line
Direct bookings aren’t about abandoning OTAs. They’re about diversifying your revenue, owning your guest relationships, and keeping more of what you earn.
The playbook: Use OTAs to get discovered. Make your property findable outside of platforms. Build a website that converts. And create a guest experience worth repeating.
Start with one piece. A searchable property name, a Google Business Profile, a basic direct booking site. Then build from there. Every direct booking you capture is commission you keep and a relationship you own.
FAQ
Yes, with the right setup. Use a PMS like Guesty Lite to vet guests, collect signed rental agreements, and process payments securely. You get the same protections OTAs provide, you’re just running them yourself.
You don’t try to outrank Airbnb for “vacation rentals in [city].” That’s a losing battle. Instead, rank for your specific property name and build a following on social media that bypasses search engines entirely.
For most hosts, yes, especially early on. OTAs are great for finding new guests. Your website is for converting the guests who want to learn more, and for bringing past guests back without paying commission again.
Expect 3–6 months before direct bookings become a meaningful percentage of your revenue. The compounding effect of repeat guests, word of mouth, and search ranking takes time to build. But every month you’re not starting is a month of commission fees you won’t recover.
A branded website with real-time booking, one social media presence, and a Google Business Profile. With Guesty Lite’s website builder, you can have the first piece live in a day. The rest is execution and consistency.
Guesty’s talented marketing team is comprised of passionate professionals who share insightful industry knowledge and shape brand narratives. By bringing a diverse blend of expertise to the table, we are the visionary architects behind the Guesty brand and innovative campaigns that help people understand our product.
