HI·06.6 · How to · 8 min
Price like you mean it
Commission is a cost, and costs belong in prices. Most hosts charge the same everywhere and quietly absorb the difference. Here’s the better way round.
The single most common pricing mistake I see is running the same nightly rate on every channel. Do that, and a £150 night pays you £150 direct but only about £127 through Airbnb. You’re not charging the same price at all; you’re just hiding a £23 discount inside the channel that least deserves one. The fix is to price each channel so you end up with the same money, then let direct be deliberately cheaper for the guest.
The maths, once, properly
To cover a commission you divide, you don’t add. If Airbnb takes 15.5%, the rate that leaves you whole isn’t your target plus 15.5%; it’s your target divided by 0.845. Wanting £150 in your pocket means listing at about £178, not £173. Small difference per night, but it compounds over a year, and getting it wrong is why so many hosts feel mysteriously short. The Commission Table has current percentages for each platform, and remember the fee usually applies to your cleaning fee too, so run the same division on that.
Mind the parity rules
Before you set your direct price gleefully lower, check what each platform allows. Booking.com operates rate parity clauses in many markets, meaning your public direct price isn’t supposed to undercut theirs. Airbnb doesn’t have a contractual clause, but its ranking tools lean on you about pricing all the same. The practical playbook most hosts settle on:
- Where parity applies, keep public prices matched and make direct win on things parity can’t touch: a friendlier cancellation policy, late checkout, a welcome basket, no booking fee.
- Discounts to a closed group are generally outside parity. A code emailed to past guests (guide HI·06.3) isn’t a public price. This is how much of the hotel industry handles it, and it works nicely for hosts too.
- Where parity doesn’t apply, price direct 10% under the OTA rate. You still bank more per booking than the OTA version of the same night.
Show your working to the guest
A line on your booking page along the lines of “book direct and save 10%; this is our own site, so there are no platform fees” converts because it explains why the discount exists. People are suspicious of unexplained cheapness. Explained cheapness is just a good deal.
A few habits that keep prices honest
- Review rates seasonally, not annually. A spreadsheet and an hour each quarter is plenty. If you’d rather automate, dynamic pricing tools exist, but don’t let one talk you into racing to the bottom in January.
- Hold your nerve on peak weeks. School holidays sell themselves. Discounting them on any channel is giving money away; peak weeks are exactly where your direct-first strategy should be strongest (more on that in guide HI·06.10).
- Don’t compete with your own listing. If your OTA rate ends up cheaper than your direct rate after their promotional programmes have had their way, guests will rightly book there. Check what your listing actually displays to guests once a season, because the platforms enrol you in discounts more enthusiastically than they mention.
If you want to feel the stakes in pounds rather than percentages, put your own numbers into the Leakage Calculator. Pricing properly is how you claw a chunk of that figure back without a single extra booking.
Prices sorted? The cheapest guests to win at those prices are the ones already sleeping in your beds. Guide HI·06.7 is about converting them.