Direct booking websites for vacation rental hosts
A booking website under your own brand – with live prices, payments straight to your account and guest communication built in. Tailored to your properties, your rules and your workflows instead of a one-size-fits-all builder.
The problem
is what Airbnb keeps from every booking for hosts using a channel manager since late 2025.
Hostfully, Sept 2025in commission per year at €200,000 revenue through Airbnb – money that stays with you on direct bookings.
€200,000 × 15.5%guest contacts of your own: the platform masks email addresses. Guests who want to come back book there again.
The system, feature by feature
The screenshots show trawelltopia.com, one of the live sites. Your site gets the same building blocks – in your design, under your name and adapted to your properties and workflows.
1Your own photos & story2Booking box always visible01Your brand
Big photos, the story of your house and every important fact at a glance. Guests stay with you instead of comparing ten other listings next to yours.
1Price per night2Changeover day marked02Live calendar
Guests see free dates, the price of every night and your changeover days at once. Synced with Airbnb and Booking.com, so there are no double bookings.
1Extras = extra revenue2−5 % direct advantage03Transparent price
Cleaning, tourist tax and extras are included from the start. The direct-booking advantage and the comparison with Airbnb & Booking.com convince guests to book with you.
1Ratings per platform04Trust
Airbnb, Booking.com and Google reviews are pulled in automatically and translated for each guest. New guests trust what other guests say – not your marketing.
1Prices in the guest's currency05International
Guests from Norway, Poland or the Netherlands read your site in their language and see prices in their currency. Every language has its own URLs, so Google sends you guests from every country.
1Amount freely selectable06Vouchers
Guests give a holiday as a present: any amount, a personal message, a beautiful PDF by email. Redeemable for all your properties and all free dates.
1Login link instead of password07Guest area
Guests log in with a link by email and find their payment plan, receipts, arrival details and your digital guest guide. Fewer questions for you, more confidence for them.
08Mobile first
Large buttons, fast images and a booking box that's always in reach. Our pages score 90+ on Google PageSpeed mobile.
The part guests never see – and that saves you hours every week.
Messages from Airbnb, Booking.com, WhatsApp and email in one place. The AI answers from your own knowledge base (house rules, arrival, recommendations) and learns from your answers. You choose: approve every draft with one click – or let it send safe answers (check-in, Wi-Fi, directions) automatically.
e.g. 50 % on booking, the rest charged automatically before arrival. Security deposit as a card pre-authorisation.
Every guest becomes your contact – platform guests too. Newsletter sign-ups on the website and in your property's guest Wi-Fi, mailings with free dates to past guests in one click.
Bookings, changes, payment links, texts and prices – manage everything yourself. Daily backups included.
Gap nights, last minute, demand above last year – and amenities that would pay off, with investment and return. Ranked by confidence and margin impact. Apply with one click (undo included) – or simply ignore.
A guest asks on WhatsApp? Set a total price, send a link – dates, guests and a one-time code are pre-filled, payment runs as usual.
Who is behind it
Julian Schuldt has been building websites since he was 16 and studied e-commerce at FH Wedel near Hamburg.
With two holiday properties of his own in Croatia and a third one planned by a friend, he looked for a direct booking solution that handles several languages, a deposit with automatic balance payment and a clean channel manager connection – and found nothing that fit. So he built GastgeberDirekt.
Every feature comes from real day-to-day renting – and every setup is adapted to the host's properties.
Nothing off the shelf: design, languages, payment rules, extras and workflows are set up around your properties. If something you need is missing, it gets built.
Why direct bookings fail
Most host websites lose guests at the same points. We have built a solution for every one of them – and tested it with real guests.
Fees only appear at the end
Final price including cleaning, tourist tax and extras from the first click. No surprises at checkout – the most common reason guests abandon.
“Not available” – dead end
Instead of a no: the next free dates of the same length, minimum stay hints and a waiting list that notifies the guest automatically.
Double bookings
Live calendar from the channel manager, dates held during payment and released automatically if payment is cancelled.
Slow on mobile
Most guests book on their phone. Our pages score 90+ in Google PageSpeed on mobile – images, video and fonts optimised.
No trust
Real reviews from Airbnb, Booking.com and Google, the real people behind the house, company details and secure Stripe checkout.
Complicated checkout
One step to payment: card, Apple Pay, Google Pay, PayPal, Klarna – with the cancellation date shown right on the button.
Only in one language
Any language with translated URLs and prices in the guest's currency – that's how international guests find and trust you.
Lots of manual work
Confirmation, receipt, balance payment, arrival info, review request – automatic. Answers to guest questions drafted by AI.
Guests don't come back
Every guest becomes a contact. Newsletters with free dates and returning-guest codes turn one-time guests into regulars.
Invisible on Google
Technical SEO, structured data, guides on your destination and a page per language – built to rank, not just to look good.
In short: in principle almost everything can be solved – and if something is missing, we build it.
Compared
| Compared | GastgeberDirekt | Channel manager website | Custom agency website |
|---|---|---|---|
| Design | Tailored to your brand | Template, often like many others | Tailored |
| Multilingual with translated URLs | Any language | Often limited | At extra cost |
| Deposit + automatic balance payment | Built in | Depends on provider | Usually bought in |
| Guest area, check-in, extras | Built in | Rarely | Rarely |
| AI inbox & CRM | Built in | No | No |
| Experience as a host | From day-to-day rental practice | Software vendor | Rarely |
| Your own requirements & special features | Built on request | Hardly possible | Yes, at high cost |
| Ready in | 2–3 weeks | Days | Often months |
Statements about other solutions are general assessments and vary by provider.
Do the maths
Move the sliders to your numbers. The calculation is deliberately cautious: payment fees are already deducted.
Regulars, referrals and Google searches for your name are the first direct bookings.
Airbnb keeps 15.5% from hosts connected via a channel manager.
Calculation: additional direct revenue × (commission − approx. 1.8% payment fees). The direct share is your goal, not a guarantee – realistically it grows over 1–3 seasons.
Ways to work together
You decide how much you want to do yourself. You can switch between models at any time.
You set prices, rules and restrictions – that's it.
Price on request
You maintain texts, photos and settings yourself – and save.
Price on request
You take over the complete setup and run it yourself.
Price on request
Founding hosts: the first hosts get special terms in return for an honest reference.
Stripe fees, your domain and your channel manager are paid directly to the provider.
Everything from one source
Technical SEO, structured data, fast pages, guides for your destination – in every language.
Any language with translated URLs, translated by AI and checked where it matters.
On request we work with a professional property photographer – photos, drone and short video for your listing.
House descriptions, room-by-room info, FAQ and guides – written for guests and for Google.
Campaigns for your name and destination, newsletters to past guests – optional.
Need something special? Owner reports, own pricing logic, other channel managers – we build and host it.
ID document + selfie check during online check-in via Stripe Identity – €1.25 per verified guest (Stripe's price, passed on 1:1, no markup). Off by default, switch it on per property.
How it works
15 minutes via video or phone: your commission share, your guests, your goals.
freeWe show you the system live and send an offer tailored to your properties, including your savings calculation.
within 24 hoursDesign, texts, languages, connecting your booking system and payment provider, test booking with you. Nothing changes in your existing system.
2–3 weeksUpdates, backups and support. New features are added automatically.
ongoingWant to run it all yourself sooner or later? For a small transfer fee you get full access to code, hosting and accounts – with a personal introduction.
optionalQuestions
With the system you already use. Hostaway is connected out of the box; Smoobu, Guesty, Lodgify, Beds24, Hostfully, Avantio and others are connected via their interface – we take care of it. Prices, availability and bookings keep running in your system, nothing changes for you.
No. The platforms stay your shop window for new guests. Your own site captures the bookings that want to come to you anyway: regulars, referrals, Google searches for your name – and guests who want to save the platform fee.
Through Google in every language you offer, your reviews, newsletters to past guests and hints in your guest communication. On request we also manage Google Ads.
You do. Domain, Stripe account and guest data are in your name. The money goes straight to you – we never see it. And if you want, you can take over the complete setup – code, hosting and accounts – at any time.
No. In the all-inclusive package we take care of everything – you only decide which prices, rules and restrictions you want. If you prefer to do more yourself, you manage texts, photos and settings in the admin area and get a discount.
Yes – that is the point. Every setup is adapted to the host: special pricing and payment rules, owner reports, other channel managers, extra services, your own app. Development and hosting from one source.
Yes. Restrictions, seasons, long-stay and early-bird rules, extras, deposits and cancellation terms are set up the way you work – and stay in sync with your booking system.
No. The admin area suggests price changes (gap nights, last minute, demand) and amenities that would pay off for your properties – with the expected effect. You decide: apply with one click, adjust or ignore.
Usually yes. Guidebooks, upselling, ID checks, dynamic pricing, review or messaging tools: we connect them where it makes sense – or build the function straight into your site, so you may be able to cancel a paid subscription.
After the minimum term you can cancel monthly and get a full export of your data. Or you take over the whole setup (code, hosting, accounts) and run it yourself – we hand everything over properly.
Free website check
We look at your online presence beforehand and tell you honestly whether your own booking site is worth it for you – and what it should be able to do for your properties. Even if the answer is “not yet”.
