Is my holiday rental too dependent on Booking.com?
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Short answer
If one platform sends you more than about half of your bookings, then yes: a change you do not control, to its commission, its ranking or the status of your listing, can change your whole year. Half is a rule of thumb rather than a law, but an owner at 80% or 90% is running a business whose order book belongs to someone else.
The fix is not to leave Booking.com. It is to build a second source of bookings beside it: a website with live availability, a way for a visitor to ask for dates, and a record of the guests who would come back. Stayem shows your direct share against each platform, and gives you the availability calendar, booking requests and payment schedule a direct booking needs.
What the dependence costs
Booking.com's commission is typically around 15% of the booking value, and published host guides put the range at roughly 10% to 25% depending on country and property type. Visibility programmes such as Preferred Partner add a few points, and so does letting the platform handle the payment. The same guides put the all-in figure for many owners between 17% and 22%.
Check your own number rather than trusting an average. Take last year's platform statements, add up everything that was deducted, and divide it by the value of the bookings. Owners are often surprised by the result.
What can go wrong when one platform holds your order book
None of this is a criticism of the platform. It brings guests you would not otherwise reach, and that is worth paying for. The risk is in the proportion:
- Terms change. Commission, programme fees and cancellation rules are set by the platform, and you are told about a change rather than asked.
- Ranking changes. Where your listing appears depends on rules you cannot see, and on what you pay for visibility.
- A listing can be paused. A dispute, a complaint or a verification check can take it offline while it is resolved, sometimes in high season.
- The guest is the platform's customer first. Contact details are limited, so a happy guest who wants to return usually goes back to the platform to find you.
- Your own name is not yours in search. Platforms advertise on property names, so someone searching for your rental by name may see the platform's ad above your own website.
How to reduce it without losing bookings
Keep the platform, and add a second leg in this order:
- Measure your mix first: the share of last year's bookings and revenue from each source. You cannot move a number you have not looked at.
- Give guests somewhere to land: a simple website for the property with photos, a description and a calendar showing your real free dates.
- Let a visitor act: a way to ask for specific dates on that page, so their interest does not end in a search for your listing on a platform.
- Be findable: search engines and AI assistants can only recommend dates they can read, so publish availability in a form machines understand, not only as a picture of a calendar.
- Get on Google Maps where you are eligible: a Google Business Profile shows your property, its reviews and your website link when someone searches your name. Google accepts hotels, B&Bs and guesthouses that receive guests in person, but its rules exclude individual holiday homes, so check before you apply.
- Collect reviews under your own name: a Facebook page for the property lets guests leave recommendations that belong to you rather than to a platform listing, and gives anyone who looks you up something of yours to find.
- Look after returning guests: someone who has stayed and wants to come back is the cheapest direct booking there is. Keep your own guest book.
- Have the direct paperwork ready: a deposit and balance schedule, clear terms and one document the guest can pay from, so a direct booking feels as safe as a platform one.
You may be allowed to charge less on your own website
For years, platform contracts required the same price everywhere. Since 1 July 2024, Booking.com no longer applies these price parity clauses in the European Economic Area, following the EU Digital Markets Act. An owner there may offer a lower price on their own website than on the platform.
Outside the EEA, including the United Kingdom, read your own contract before changing prices. Even a small direct discount, paid for out of the commission you no longer owe, gives a returning guest a reason to book with you.
How Stayem helps
Stayem leads your statistics with the share of bookings that came to you directly, then splits the rest across Airbnb, Booking.com, Vrbo and HomeToGo, with the year-on-year change in your direct share. That is the number this page is about, and you do not need a spreadsheet to see it.
Each property can have its own public page, and you can embed a live availability calendar on your own website, with a plugin if it runs on WordPress. The same open dates are published in machine-readable form, so search engines and AI assistants can read them. If you switch booking requests on, a visitor can ask for free dates, and nothing is blocked until you accept. A direct booking then follows your deposit and balance schedule, and blocks the same dates on your platforms through calendar sync.
What moving some bookings direct is worth
An illustration, for a property taking €80,000 a year in bookings and paying 18% all-in on its platform bookings:
| Share booked directly | Platform commission paid | Kept, compared with the first row |
|---|---|---|
| 5% | €13,680 | Starting point |
| 20% | €11,520 | €2,160 |
| 40% | €8,640 | €5,040 |
Illustrative arithmetic only. Direct bookings are not free: allow for bank or card fees and your own time. Commission ranges come from published host guides, checked on 8 October 2026; your own contract and statements are the only reliable source for your rate.
Common questions
Should I stop using Booking.com?
No. For most owners it is the largest source of new guests, and removing it would cost more than the commission saves. The aim is a healthier proportion, so that no single change can decide your year.
What share of direct bookings is realistic?
It depends on your location, how long you have been letting and how many guests return. Nobody can promise a figure, and Stayem does not. A sensible first target is that every returning guest and every personal recommendation books with you directly.
Can I charge less on my own website than on Booking.com?
In the European Economic Area, yes: Booking.com stopped applying price parity clauses there on 1 July 2024. Elsewhere, check your contract first.
Does Stayem replace Booking.com or take the guest's payment?
Neither. Stayem keeps your platform bookings and your direct bookings in one calendar, and gives your own website the tools to receive enquiries. It records payments rather than processing them: a direct guest pays into your own bank account.
How do I know whether my website is helping?
Stayem has a free website check that reads your site the way an AI assistant does, and reports what it could and could not work out, with a score and a list of fixes.
Know your direct share, then grow it
See how much of your year depends on one platform, and give your own website a live calendar. Free to start, no credit card.
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