Book direct. Keep the 15%.
Why a booking site of your own is the single biggest lever an independent host has, and how to move guests onto it without losing the channels.
· Overviu
Every guest who books on your own site is a guest you don’t pay a channel commission on. On £40,000 of bookings a year, a 15% commission is £6,000. That is the number this site is built around.
Where the 15% goes
Channels earn their fee by finding you guests you would not otherwise reach. That is fair for a first stay. It is much less fair for the returning guest who already knows your place and searches for it by name.
Four ways to take a direct booking
- A booking site, ready on day one. Every Overviu plan includes one, on a free subdomain or your own domain, such as book.yourvilla.com. Link your website’s “Book now” button to it, whatever your site is built with.
- The WordPress plugin. Install it, enter your booking site’s address in its settings, and add a shortcode to any page or sidebar. Your availability calendar shows on your own site; guests pick their dates there and continue to your Overviu booking page to pay. No developer needed.
- The website widget. Copy the snippet from Overviu Settings and paste it into Wix, Squarespace, Webflow or any plain page. It is the same calendar, and it picks up your colours and font so it matches your site.
- Build it your way. Use our npm packages for JavaScript, React and Vue, or the API for listings, live availability, prices and bookings. See the API reference.
Keeping the calendars in sync
Dates booked on your own site are shared with Airbnb, Booking.com and Vrbo within minutes, so there is no risk of a double booking. Dates only, never guest details.