The platforms, plainly

Airbnb~15% host fee

The browsing audience. Strongest for characterful places people send each other.

Booking.com15–18%

Volume, short notice, midweek. Hotel-style instant booking — set your cancellation policy strictly.

Vrbo~8% all in

Whole homes, families, longer stays. Quieter, but the bookings hold.

Agencies — Sykes, cottages.com & co~20%+ with VAT

Pricing, marketing and guest handling done for you. Hands-off, at a hands-off price.

Direct — your site, Google, repeat guests0% commission

Not cost-free: you carry the marketing, the payments and the trust problem. Worth it from year two.

fees move and vary by listing — check the current schedules before you commit

The plan

Start on two platforms, not five — enough coverage to fill a calendar, few enough to answer everyone fast. Get a channel manager the same week, before the calendars can collide; almost everyone learns the double-booking lesson exactly once. Spend properly on photography before spending anything on advertising as it's the highest-return money in the whole business. Do not skimp here. Then treat every guest who has already stayed as the cheapest booking you'll ever win again: a card in the property with a discount code when they book directly moves your best guests off commission altogether.

Reviews are the flywheel

Reply to every review, quickly and like a person. When one flags a fault, fix it inside the week and say so publicly. Every platform's ranking has a focus on response rate and review scores more than owners want to believe. Think of it as though your listing is never finished and can always be improved.

The platforms rent you demand. Repeat guests are the only demand you own.

Channel mix, pricing and guest messages are daily work. Send us your listing link and we'll tell you — freely, and probably bluntly — what we'd change first.

Fifty Spring We buy, refit and run short-stay property across East Anglia.