A direct booking website so the commission stays with you
Every booking that comes through an app pays it a commission. Every guest who books on your own website doesn’t. Here’s the maths, what the website needs, and how to send guests to it.
By Manan Agrawal, Founder · Updated October 28, 2026
To get direct bookings without booking-app commission, you need your own booking website and a habit of sending guests to it. Put the link on your Google Business Profile, Instagram bio and WhatsApp, and give past guests a reason to book direct. SitesPlaced gives homestays and small hotels that website free, with a booking engine and 0% commission.
The commission maths, with a worked example
Booking apps (OTAs, short for online travel agencies, such as Booking.com, MakeMyTrip, Agoda and Airbnb) charge a commission on every booking they bring. The rate is in your contract and differs by app and programme, so this example shows three rates side by side.
Assumptions for this example (change them to your own numbers): a 6-room homestay, an average price of ₹3,500 a night before GST, 55% of nights sold across the year (about 1,200 room-nights, or ₹42 lakh in room revenue), and 60% of those nights booked through apps.
| 10% commission | 15% commission | 20% commission | |
|---|---|---|---|
| One 2-night stay (₹7,000) | ₹700 | ₹1,050 | ₹1,400 |
| A year of booking-app stays (₹25.2 lakh) | ₹2,52,000 | ₹3,78,000 | ₹5,04,000 |
| Kept a year if a quarter of those book direct instead | ₹63,000 | ₹94,500 | ₹1,26,000 |
Illustrative only. All figures are worked out from the assumptions above, before GST. Your own commission rate is in your contract with each app.
At a 15% rate, this homestay pays ₹3,78,000 a year in commission. If one in four of those guests books on the homestay’s own site instead, it keeps ₹94,500 a year.
Direct bookings aren’t free either: there’s a website, your time, and maybe some ads. On SitesPlaced the website and the booking engine cost ₹0 on the Free plan, and your own domain is ₹199 a month (₹2,388 over a year), with 0% commission on every booking. Set that against the savings line in the table.
What does a direct booking website need?
A guest who leaves a booking app for your site gives up the app’s familiar checkout. Your site has to feel just as safe and be just as quick. That means:
- ✓A calendar that shows what’s free and each night’s price, so nobody has to ask.
- ✓The total for the stay, GST included, before the Book button.
- ✓Rooms with real photos, beds, how many people each sleeps, and amenities.
- ✓Check-in and check-out times, how guests pay, and the cancellation policy, in plain view.
- ✓A WhatsApp button for the guest who wants to ask first.
- ✓Getting-here directions with distances and a map.
- ✓One calendar shared with your app bookings, so you never sell a night twice.
- ✓Fast pages on a phone, and your own domain so the link looks like you.
SitesPlaced has every one of these. The live demo shows them on a sample homestay in Himachal. Two limits to know: guests can’t pay online on the booking page yet (you collect any deposit by UPI or bank transfer after confirming), and app bookings are added to the calendar by hand rather than synced. For a small stay, both take a few minutes a day.
How to send guests to your booking site
A booking website only earns its keep when guests land on it. These five places cost nothing:
Google Business Profile
Add your site as your website, and as your booking link where Google offers one for your category. Both are free. Google can also read your rooms and prices from the structured data your SitesPlaced site publishes.
Instagram
Put the booking link in your bio, add it to stories with a link sticker, and pin a highlight called “Book” that shows how it works.
WhatsApp
Add the link to your WhatsApp Business profile, save it as a quick reply for every “is it available?” message, and share it on your status before long weekends.
Past guests
They already trust you. Message them before their usual season with your link and a small perk for booking direct.
At the property
A small card in each room or at the desk with your website address, so the next stay starts on your site, not in an app.
Booking apps still have a place
Booking apps are good at one thing your website can’t do on its own: putting you in front of travellers who have never heard of you. For a first stay, that can be worth the commission. Many hosts keep a listing or two for exactly that.
The commission adds up on the second, third and tenth stays, the guests who already know you and would happily book with you if it were just as easy. A direct booking website makes it just as easy. With SitesPlaced it’s free to run, keeps every booking in one calendar, and takes nothing per booking, so every guest you move from an app to your own site is money you keep. See the free booking engine, the homestay website builder or everything in SitesPlaced Hospitality.
Start taking direct bookings
Pick the Homestay & Stays template, add your rooms and prices, and publish. Put the link on Google, Instagram and WhatsApp. 0% commission on every booking, and ₹199 a month only when you want your own domain.
Start your stay’s website — free →The booking engine, unlimited bookings and the dashboard are all on the Free plan.
Frequently asked questions
How do I get direct bookings for my hotel or homestay?
Give guests a website where they can see what’s free, see the full price and book with you, then send everyone you can to it: your Google Business Profile, your Instagram bio, your WhatsApp Business profile and your past guests. Offer a small perk for booking direct. SitesPlaced gives homestays and small hotels that website free, with a booking engine and 0% commission.
How much commission do booking apps charge hotels?
It depends on the app, your contract and any promotion programmes you join, and it’s charged on every booking the app brings. Check the rate in your own contract. The worked example on this page uses 10%, 15% and 20% so you can see what’s at stake at each level.
Can I get direct bookings without a website?
Yes, by phone and WhatsApp, and many small stays do. The catch is that guests can’t see what’s free or what it costs without asking, and the calendar lives in your head or a notebook. A booking website answers both at any hour and keeps one calendar for every booking.
Can I add a booking link to my Google Business Profile?
You can add your own site to your Google Business Profile for free, as your website and, where Google offers the option for your category, as a booking link. Since 30 July 2025 hotels can no longer type their room rates into the profile themselves; the free booking links in Google Hotels come through Google’s integration partners, and SitesPlaced is not one. Your SitesPlaced site does publish structured data that Google can read, including your rooms and prices.
Will direct bookings clash with my Booking.com or Airbnb bookings?
Not if you keep one calendar. SitesPlaced sells each room-night once, and you add booking-app reservations by hand when they arrive, because there is no automatic sync yet. When a direct booking comes in, close the same dates on the apps.
What should I offer guests to book direct?
A reason that isn’t only a lower price: free breakfast, early check-in, late checkout, a bonfire evening or a pickup from the bus stand. Check your booking-app contracts before you advertise lower prices on your own site.
Which is better — Booking.com or a direct booking website on SitesPlaced?
Booking.com is better at reaching travellers who don’t know you yet, and for a first stay that can be worth its commission. A direct booking website on SitesPlaced is better for everyone who already knows your name, such as returning guests, Instagram followers and people who find you on Google Maps: there’s no commission, you get the guest’s phone number, and it’s free to run. Use Booking.com to be found, and your own site to be booked again.
