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How direct booking works for STR owners
Direct booking sounds technical, but the moving parts are simple. Here's the whole picture — from your calendar to your bank account.
The short version
Direct booking just means a guest reserves your place on a site that's yours — not a marketplace. You set the rates, you own the guest relationship, and the payment goes straight to you. The three pieces that make it work are your calendar, your payments, and your brand.
iCal sync keeps every channel aligned.
Stripe pays you directly, as merchant of record.
Your own domain, design, and guest experience.
Keeping calendars in sync
The fear with a second booking channel is double-booking — two guests, one weekend. iCal solves it. You connect the calendar feeds from Airbnb, Vrbo, and anywhere else you list, and publish one OwnMyStay feed back to them. When a date books in one place, it blocks everywhere automatically, so availability stays honest across every channel.
Getting paid — you're the merchant of record
Direct payments run through Stripe, with you as the merchant of record. That means the booking money lands in your own account, on your own payout schedule — not held by a marketplace. OwnMyStay's only cut is a flat 2% booking fee; standard card processing (about 2.9% + 30¢) applies as it would anywhere you take a card. No monthly platform commission.
Your brand, your domain
A direct-booking site is a chance to look like the business you are. Guests land on your design, your photos, and your words, on your own domain — the kind of first impression that builds trust and repeat stays. When someone books direct once, they tend to come back direct.
Ready to see it in motion? Walk through how it works, browse real sites we've built, or read the real cost of OTA commissions.
Ready to keep more of every booking?
Build your branded direct-booking site free — you only pay a flat 2% when a guest books.