Every booking that comes through Airbnb or Booking.com hands a slice of your money to a platform. A direct-booking website lets you keep it. We build bespoke, brand-led websites and booking systems for Scottish holiday lets, self-catering properties and serviced apartments, so guests can find you, book with you, and come back to you.
The commission you are paying, in real numbers
The platforms are useful for being found, but they are not cheap. On a typical booking they take roughly:
- Airbnb: around 15% from the host on most listings.
- Booking.com: commonly 15% or more, before card fees.
- Vrbo: around 8% all in.
On a property earning in the region of £25,000 a year, moving even a third of your bookings onto your own site, where the fee is close to nothing, puts roughly £750 to £1,300 a year back in your pocket, per property. Across a few units it pays for the website many times over. Here is the full breakdown.
What we build
A direct-booking site is only worth having if guests actually book. We build the whole thing to convert:
- A bespoke, branded website designed around your property, not a template every other let is using.
- A clear booking flow, with availability, rates and secure payment, so a guest can book in a couple of taps.
- Fast, mobile-first pages built to be found on Google, with the local content that wins searches, a proper guide to what is nearby, done the way The John Muir does it.
- The option to connect your channel manager or the OTAs, so your calendar stays in sync and you never double-book.
We build the system, not just the shopfront
This is where we are different. Most people who build holiday-let websites stop at the website. We are a software studio first, so we can build the system that runs the property behind it too. We built the operations system for Blok, a Scottish serviced-apartment and holiday-let operator, covering onboarding, cleaning and turnovers, tasks and contractors, all in one place. If you run more than one unit, that is the difference between a nice website and a business that runs itself.
Bespoke, a platform, or a template?
| SYNF, bespoke | SaaS builders | Template shops | |
|---|---|---|---|
| The look | Designed around your property | One of their templates | One of their templates |
| You own it | Yes | No, rented monthly | Usually not |
| Booking system | Built or connected to fit you | Theirs, as is | Basic plugin |
| The system behind it | We build that too | No | No |
| Scottish and local | Yes | No | Sometimes |
Platforms like Lodgify and Bookster give you a template and a monthly bill. We design a brand and engineer the booking and management system around how you actually run your lets, and you own it. When a template will do, use one. When it will not, that is us.
Built for Scottish operators
Every short-term let in Scotland now needs a licence, and some areas need planning permission on top. We build with that in mind, so your licence number and the guest information you have to display sit on a site you own and control. Read our plain-English guide to Scottish short-term let licensing.
What it costs
Human-designed websites start from £2,000, and a booking or management system from £150 a month, or a one-off build you own outright. We agree a fixed price after a short call, so you know the number before you commit.
A real example
The John MuirA branded direct-booking website for an independent Helensburgh serviced apartment, giving the let its own home online.See the case study →Common questions
Will a direct-booking website stop me using Airbnb?
No, and it should not. Keep the platforms for being discovered, and use your own site to win the repeat guests and direct bookings you would otherwise pay commission on. Direct works best alongside the platforms, not instead of them.
How much commission will I actually save?
It depends on your bookings, but moving even a third of them onto your own site typically saves in the region of £750 to £1,300 a year per property, because your own site charges close to nothing per booking.
Do I still need a channel manager?
If you list on several platforms, a channel manager keeps your calendars in sync, and we can connect your site to it. If you run one or two properties, we can often keep it simpler.
Can you connect Airbnb and Booking.com?
Yes. We can sync your availability so a booking on one channel blocks those dates everywhere, and you never double-book.
Do you build the booking system, or use existing software?
Either. We can build a booking system around exactly how you run your lets, or connect a tool you already use. We will tell you honestly which suits you.
Do you work with holiday lets outside Scotland?
Yes. Being a Scottish studio, we know the Scottish licensing and market especially well, but we build for operators anywhere.
