Is my own website worth it if I'm already on Booking and Airbnb?
Short answer: Yes, but not to replace the platforms. Your own site is for the bookings from people who already know you: returning guests, people a friend sent, and anyone who searches for the name of the house on Google. Those bookings do not need to pay anyone a commission.
The platforms bring strangers. Your site keeps the people who know you.
Booking and Airbnb are good at putting your house in front of people who have never heard of it. That is why they charge a commission on every booking, and for those bookings the price is fair.
The problem is paying the same commission for a guest who stayed with you last year, or for someone who saw the house on Airbnb and went to Google to look up its name. Without a site, that person goes back to the platform and books there. With one, they book with you.
When it pays off
- You have guests who come back or recommend you to friends.
- People already search for the name of your place on Google.
- You have more than one house, or rooms that are busy all year.
- You want to keep the guest's contact, to tell them about free dates or a second house.
If you have a single house, let for two months a year, the site can wait. A good Google profile and the platforms are enough.
What the site needs to have to work
- A calendar linked to the platforms. A booking on the site closes the dates on Booking and Airbnb, and the other way round. Without it, you risk two families at the door on the same day.
- Prices and dates in plain sight, with no need to ask for a quote.
- Booking and payment in two minutes, on a phone.
- Your guests' languages, not only Portuguese and English.
- The site linked to your Google business profile, so it shows when people search your name.
What to do this week
- Search for the name of your place on Google, in a private window. See what comes up first: your place or the platforms.
- Count how many of last year's bookings came from returning or recommended guests. Those are the ones you could have taken without commission.
- Check that you have a Google business profile, with recent photos and the right contact details.
Written by The W2 Collective team, in Santa Cruz, Madeira.
