HI·04 · Working reference

Tools

The tools that make direct booking work, with the verdicts vendors won’t give you. Every entry has a “skip if” because every tool has one. Nothing here pays us, there are no affiliate links, and the one entry that’s ours is labelled.

Last reviewed Aug 2026

Direct booking engines & websites

The core of independence: somewhere a guest can book you without a middleman. None of these take commission. You pay a subscription and standard card fees instead.

Lodgify

from ~£13/mo

The default answer for a first direct-booking website. Templated, but competent.

Use if: You want a bookable website this week without hiring anyone.
Skip if: You already have a strong brand website. Bolt a booking engine onto that instead.

Boostly

one-off + hosting

WordPress-based direct booking sites, plus genuinely good marketing training for hosts.

Use if: You want to own the site outright and learn the marketing side properly.
Skip if: You hate WordPress, or want a single monthly bill that covers everything.

OwnerRez

from ~$40/mo

The power-user favourite. Bookings, legal agreements, damage deposits, the lot.

Use if: You run several properties and want everything programmable.
Skip if: You have one cottage and limited patience. The learning curve is real.

Channel managers & PMS

These keep calendars synced while you rebalance your channel mix. You still list on the OTAs. The point is controlling the ratio, not pretending they don't exist.

Hospitable

from ~$29/mo

Excellent automation and messaging, and its direct-booking side is improving fast.

Use if: Guest messaging eats your evenings and you want it automated well.
Skip if: You need deep trust-accounting or agency features. Look at a full PMS instead.

Uplisting

from ~$100/mo

Clean, reliable multi-channel sync with a bookable direct site included.

Use if: You manage 5–50 units and value dependable sync over bells and whistles.
Skip if: Budget is tight and you only have one or two listings.

Beds24

from ~€10/mo

Astonishingly capable for the money. The interface won't win awards.

Use if: You're technical, thrifty, and want maximum control per pound.
Skip if: You want something your co-host can learn in an afternoon.

Payments, email & the repeat loop

The unglamorous plumbing that turns one stay into two. Card fees of roughly 1.5–2.9% are the entire "commission" on a direct booking.

Stripe

~1.5–2.9% + 20p

The boring, correct answer for taking direct payments, deposits and payment links.

Use if: Almost always. Most of the booking engines above use it underneath.
Skip if: Your booking engine already bundles payments at a comparable rate.

MailerLite

free to 1,000 subs

Simple email marketing that a busy host will actually use.

Use if: You're ready to email past guests a couple of times a year (see HI·06.3).
Skip if: You have no guest emails yet. Fix that first, it costs nothing.

Google Business Profile

free

The highest-leverage free marketing asset a host can own, and most never claim it.

Use if: Always. Guide HI·06.2 walks through doing it properly.
Skip if: Never. It's free and it's your name on the map.

Getting found without the OTAs

Places guests can discover you that don't take a percentage, or take a much smaller one. Where a listing is ours, we say so.

Houfy

free / optional fees

Community-driven book-direct listings with a loyal host following, strongest in North America.

Use if: You want a commission-free listing surface and some book-direct community.
Skip if: You expect OTA-level booking volume from it. Treat it as a bonus channel.

StayDirectly

low fee

A growing book-direct marketplace worth watching.

Use if: You already have direct-booking infrastructure and want extra exposure.
Skip if: You need guaranteed volume today.

Findstaygo OURS

see site

Ours, so judge it with extra scepticism. It's early days, and the incumbents above are fair comparisons.

Use if: You want to support independent discovery channels and add another surface.
Skip if: You only add channels with proven volume. Fair enough. Check back later.

Prices are ballpark figures at the review date and they move often, so check with the vendor. Missing something good? We take recommendations seriously, especially for tools that compete with ours.