A direct booking website lets guests book with you, not through an OTA.
If you run a B&B or holiday let in the UK, you already know the maths. Airbnb takes around 15.5% per booking. Booking.com takes 15% or more. On a 120 pound room night, that is 18 to 19 pounds gone before you have paid for breakfast, laundry, or heating.
Here are five approaches owners are actually using to keep more of what they earn.
1. Build a direct booking website (one-time cost, zero commission)
The most direct fix. A simple website with an integrated booking engine means guests book with you directly and you keep 100% of the rate.
The key question is cost structure: subscription platforms charge monthly forever, while a one-time build has no ongoing platform fee. For a property doing even modest volume, the one-time option pays for itself within the first year.
A hand-built direct booking site. One-time cost, zero commission on every booking.
The maths is simple: at 15% OTA commission, a B&B doing 100k in annual bookings pays 15,000 a year to middlemen. A one-time website build costs a fraction of that.
2. Use your Google Business Profile properly
Many B&B owners set up their Google listing and forget it. A complete profile with photos, a booking link, and regular review responses turns "B&B near [town]" searches into direct enquiries. It costs nothing.
This is the highest-ROI free channel most owners ignore. When someone searches "bed and breakfast near Windermere", your Google listing appears before any OTA result. Make sure the "Book" button points to YOUR website, not Booking.com.
3. Collect emails at checkout
Every guest who books through an OTA is a guest you paid commission to acquire. A simple "join our mailing list for 5% off your next direct booking" card at checkout turns OTA guests into repeat direct bookers.
Repeat guests are the highest-margin bookings you will ever get. No commission, no acquisition cost, and they already trust you.
4. List on commission-free directories
Platforms like Houfy charge no commission. They will not replace your main channels, but they cost nothing to join and every direct booking through them is pure margin.
Think of these as free lottery tickets. Low effort to list, and every booking that comes through is 15% you would have lost elsewhere.
5. Make your own site the cheapest option
Put a clear "book direct and save" message on your website and in your confirmation emails. Many guests default to OTAs out of habit, not loyalty. A small direct-booking incentive (even 5%) still leaves you far better off than paying 15% commission.
The bottom line
You do not need to leave Airbnb or Booking.com entirely. You need them to become your discovery channel, not your cash register. Every booking that moves from OTA to direct is 15% back in your pocket.
Treat OTAs as your marketing department. Treat your own website as your cash register.
I build direct-booking websites for UK B&Bs and holiday lets. No templates, no monthly platform fees.
More at directbook.uk