Do You Need Your Own Website If You're on Airbnb?

The short answer: You do not need a website to take bookings, because Airbnb does that well. You need one if you want to keep your guests, meaning their names, their email addresses and the choice of where they book next time. In November 2026 Airbnb charges most hosts a single 15.5% fee on every booking, repeat guests included. A small website that collects repeat bookings and enquiries is the cheapest way to stop paying that fee on guests who already know you.

Part of our series on direct booking websites that convert.

Most hosts start on Airbnb for good reasons. The listing goes live in an afternoon, the guests arrive without any marketing from you, and the payment side is handled. If that is all you have today, you are not doing anything wrong.

The question is what you are building. Airbnb is a shop on someone else’s high street. This post is about when it makes sense to own a second door.

What Airbnb gives you

Be fair to the platform first.

• Demand you did not have to create. Guests searching Airbnb are already in the mood to book.
• Trust. Reviews, verified payments and a familiar checkout do a lot of work for a host nobody has heard of.
• Admin handled. Payments, messaging and a calendar in one place.

For a new host with one or two units, that is a real service, and the fee is the price of it.

What Airbnb does not give you

This is where the website question starts.

Your guest list. Airbnb controls how you contact guests and keeps the relationship inside its own messaging. When a stay ends you cannot simply add the guest to your own mailing list. If they want to come back, the easiest route is to search Airbnb again, where you sit next to every other listing.

Your price on repeat stays. Airbnb currently charges most hosts a single 15.5% fee (Airbnb service fees, as summarised in our OTA commission guide, checked 15 November 2026). It applies to a guest’s first stay and to their fifth. On an illustrative £400 booking that is £62, every time.

Control of the page. Your listing sits in a template. You cannot decide the order of the photos, add a page for corporate bookers, or explain a minimum stay in your own words. Airbnb can also change its rules, fees or search ranking, and your calendar has no say.

Visibility outside Airbnb. A guest who searches Google for “serviced apartments near [your hospital or office]” will not necessarily see your listing. A website with a page for that location can.

When a website is worth it

A website is not a first step for everyone. It earns its place when one or more of these is true:

1. You get repeat guests. Contractors, relocating families and people visiting a hospital often come back. They already know you.
2. You take longer stays. Corporate and relocation bookers often compare suppliers and ask for a quote. A listing gives them nowhere to do that.
3. You have more than a handful of units. The fee adds up and the case for a direct route gets stronger with each apartment.
4. You want to be found in your area. Our guide to local SEO and Google Business Profile covers how guests find you without a platform.
5. You are worried about relying on one channel. One suspended listing or one fee change should not be able to stop your income.

If none of these apply yet, keep your effort on the listing and reviews. A website you do not feed is a brochure nobody reads.

The smallest website that is worth having

You do not need a booking engine on day one. A useful first version has four things:

• A clear homepage that says where you are, who you host and what a stay costs from.
• A page per apartment with proper photography, house rules and a map. Our post on property listings that convert applies here too.
• A way to ask or book. An enquiry form is enough to start. When you are ready for live availability, read choosing a booking engine.
• A Google Business Profile pointing at it, so people searching your area find a link that is yours. See Google’s free booking links.

How guests get to it without breaking Airbnb’s rules

Read Airbnb’s current terms yourself before you do any of this, because they change and they differ for hosts using property management software. The general principle most hosts work to is to keep the booking on Airbnb until the stay is over, then invite the guest back through your own channels.

The safe, ordinary routes are the ones that do not involve taking a live Airbnb booking off the platform:

• Put your website address on your Google Business Profile, your business cards and your email signature.
• Leave a card in the apartment saying where to book next time.
• Tell people who contact you outside Airbnb, such as friends of past guests and employers, where to find you.
• Run a clear, consent-based mailing list for people who sign up on your site. Our email marketing guide shows how.

Do the sums before you decide

Take your last 12 months and count the stays from guests who had stayed before or who came through a referral. Multiply their booking value by 15.5%. That is the fee you paid on guests who might have booked direct. Compare it with the cost of a website and the time to run it.

The number will be small for some hosts and large for others. It is your number, which is the point. For the wider picture, see reducing OTA dependency and direct booking strategies.

The aim is not to leave Airbnb. It is to stop paying commission on guests who would have booked with you anyway.

If you want the foundations in a sensible order, download the free cheat sheet. It starts with what to set up first.

Frequently Asked Questions

Do I need a website if I am only on Airbnb?

No, you can run a legitimate short-let business on Airbnb alone. A website becomes useful when you want to keep repeat guests, appear in Google searches for your area, or reduce reliance on a single platform.

Will having my own website get me in trouble with Airbnb?

Owning a website is not against Airbnb’s rules. What matters is how you use it. Check Airbnb’s current terms on taking bookings off the platform, and do not try to move a live Airbnb booking elsewhere.

How much does Airbnb charge hosts?

In November 2026 Airbnb charges most hosts a single 15.5% service fee, and says the remaining hosts typically pay 14% to 16%. Check your own payout statement for what applies to you. Details are in our OTA commission guide.

Can a website replace Airbnb?

For most hosts, not on its own. Platforms bring new guests you would not otherwise reach. A website works best as a second channel that captures repeat and referred guests and the people who search for you directly.

What should I put on a first website?

A homepage, a page for each apartment, an enquiry form and a link from your Google Business Profile. Add live booking later, once you have enough demand to justify it.