Do I need my own website if my holiday let is on Airbnb?

What does Airbnb do well for a holiday let?

Reach and trust. Airbnb puts your cottage, cabin or flat in front of travellers searching for somewhere to stay in your area, handles payments, and gives guests a familiar way to book. For a new let with no reputation yet, that is hard to match on your own.

It also handles a lot of admin: the calendar, messages and reviews all sit in one place. Keep using it. The question is whether it should be the only way to book.

What does Airbnb cost a host?

Airbnb charges a service fee on bookings. Its help article on service fees explains the structures it uses, including a single host-only fee that is deducted from the host's payout. It says most hosts on that structure pay 15.5%, at the time of writing. Check the article for what applies to your listing, because fees can change.

On a booking from someone who found you through Airbnb, that fee is often fair value. On a booking from a returning guest or a friend of a past guest, you are paying for an introduction you didn't need.

What does my own website add?

A place you control, that does a few things Airbnb can't:

• Direct bookings from returning guests and recommendations, without a platform fee on each one.
• Your own story: the area, what guests do during a stay, and why your place is different, without the limits of a listing template.
• Something to share everywhere: your Google Business Profile, social media, local tourism listings and printed cards in the property.
• A page Google and AI tools can read and quote when someone asks where to stay in your area.

What should a holiday let website include?

Everything a guest checks before booking, in one place:

• Good photos of every room, the outside space and the view.
• What it sleeps, the bed types and the bathrooms.
• Exactly where it is, and how far from the nearest shop, beach, ferry or station.
• What is included: linen, towels, Wi-Fi, parking, EV charging, and whether dogs and children are welcome.
• Check-in and check-out times, minimum stays and house rules.
• A live availability calendar and a clear "Book direct" button.
• Reviews from past guests, and a line on what people tend to do during a stay.

Most guests will look on a phone, so it needs to load quickly and make booking easy from any page.

How do guests book on my own website?

Through a booking engine or channel manager that connects to your own site and keeps your calendar in sync with Airbnb and any other sites you use, so you never double-book. Many of these tools also take payments and send confirmation emails.

Some can also connect your rates to Google's free booking links, which can show your own site in Google's results for places to stay. It is worth asking any provider you consider whether they support it.

How do I get guests to book direct without upsetting Airbnb?

Follow the platform's rules for guests who booked through it, and focus your direct-booking effort on the people who already know you: past guests who agreed to hear from you, people who find you by name, and recommendations.

Give them a reason. A simple perk for booking direct, such as a later check-out or a welcome hamper, says thank you without undercutting your listing. Our guide on getting more direct bookings covers this in more detail.

Does a website help me get found on ChatGPT or Google?

It helps. AI tools and Google build their answers from what they can find and check across the web. A clear website that says exactly where you are, what the property sleeps, and what makes the area worth visiting gives them something to recommend, alongside your listings and reviews.

Our guide on how hospitality businesses show up in ChatGPT and AI Overviews goes through it step by step. If you want help with your own site, see how our website builds work or ask for a tailored quote.