Answers · Direct bookings
How do I take direct bookings for my holiday rental?
Short answer
You need a link a guest can book from, a way to be paid, written terms, and your dates blocked on the platforms you list on. You do not need a full website to start. In Airflow, each listing has a booking page and a shareable booking link: the guest picks dates, sees the price, pays a deposit or the full amount by card into your own Stripe or Paystack account, and gets a confirmation and a guest portal. The booking goes into your calendar and your accounts automatically.
What hosts worry about, with reason
On a platform, the platform takes the payment, enforces the cancellation policy and deals with disputes. Take a booking yourself and those jobs are yours. Hosts who take direct bookings over email and bank transfer often have no deposit, no written terms and no record beyond a message thread.
The other risk is practical: a direct booking nobody remembered to block on Airbnb. The steps below exist to cover those points before the first direct guest books.
How to do it with Airflow
- 1
Set your price and rules
Nightly rate, seasonal rates, minimum stay, cleaning fee, and a cancellation policy, in writing, where the guest reads it before paying.
- 2
Connect payment and set a deposit
Connect Stripe, or Paystack for cards and M-Pesa in Kenya. Choose a deposit at booking with the balance due before arrival, or full payment up front. Bank transfer can be offered too.
- 3
Block your other calendars
Exchange calendar links with Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo so a direct booking closes those dates and their bookings close yours.
- 4
Share the link
Send your booking link to an enquiry, put it on your social profiles and in your email signature, or embed the widget on your website. For a guest who books by phone, add the booking yourself and send them a payment request.
One direct booking, start to finish
What happens after a returning guest opens your booking link.
| Guest books | Dates held while they pay; deposit taken by card |
|---|---|
| Confirmation | Confirmation code and a link to their guest portal |
| Calendar | Dates blocked in Airflow and in the calendar link other platforms read |
| Balance | The portal shows what is owed and when, with a way to pay |
| Accounts | A draft invoice in your accounting package, payments recorded against it |
The guest pays you. Airflow takes its commission from the card payment and does not hold the rest.
Where direct guests come from
Mostly from people who already know the place: returning guests, their friends, people who search for the property by name after seeing it elsewhere, and followers on social media. Give every guest a reason and a route to come back, such as your own name on the welcome information and a guest portal carrying your brand rather than a platform's. For new guests, the same listing can go on Airflow Stay, which is launching soon and will show travellers places that book direct, on a map and inside published trip routes. Listing is free and takes a switch, so hosts who list now are in from launch.
Is it worth it?
A direct booking saves the platform's commission and gives you the guest's contact details. It costs you card fees, a small commission and the work the platform did for you. For returning guests the sums are clearly in your favour; for strangers, the platforms still do the marketing. Most hosts keep both.
Other ways to do this
Airflow is one option. These are the others, and when each is the better choice.
- Bank transfer and email
- No software and no commission. Also no deposit protection, no automatic calendar blocking and no record beyond your inbox. Use written terms at the very least.
- A payment link from Stripe or PayPal
- Takes a card payment safely. You still handle availability, terms, confirmation and the calendar yourself.
- A PMS booking engine
- Property management systems include a booking engine tied to their channel manager. Appropriate for larger portfolios.
What Airflow does not do
- Airflow does not provide damage protection or host insurance of the kind a platform includes. Consider a security deposit and your own insurance.
- Airflow does not issue refunds for you, and disputes and chargebacks on card payments are handled between you and your payment provider.
- Airflow Stay, where travellers will find places that book direct, is launching soon. You can list now; it is not a source of bookings yet.
Common questions
Do I need a website to take direct bookings?
No. A booking page with its own link is enough to start, and every Airflow listing has one. A full website on your own domain is an add-on for when you want it.
How do I take payment for a direct booking?
By card through your own Stripe or Paystack account, with a deposit and balance if you choose, or by bank transfer. The money goes to you, not to Airflow.
How do I avoid double bookings with Airbnb?
Exchange calendar links. A direct booking in Airflow blocks the dates Airbnb reads, and Airflow reads Airbnb's calendar every hour. Dates are also held while a guest is checking out.
What does it cost to take a direct booking?
A commission on bookings paid through your Airflow booking page, at a rate set by your plan, plus the card provider's processing fee. The rates are on the pricing page.
Can I add a booking a guest made by phone?
Yes. Add it by hand. If it is already paid when you add it, it carries no Airflow commission. If you send the guest a payment request and they pay through Airflow, it carries your booking page rate.
Can guests cancel?
On the terms you set, so put your cancellation policy in writing before you take a booking. Airflow does not issue refunds for you: you decide what is due and refund the guest from your own payment account.
Try it on your own bookings
Forward a few booking emails and look at what Airflow builds from them. A card is needed at sign-up.
Start with Airflow See plans and pricing