Airbnb Hosts Are Building Their Own Direct Booking Website In Revolt

Some Airbnb hosts are taking matters into their own hands. After years of frustration with Airbnb and other short-term rental providers, short-term rental hosts are banding together and launching their own direct-booking websites in an effort to diversify their business.

Some of these websites were already under construction. However, following a turbulent two months in which the coronavirus pandemic caused widespread cancellations and many grew dissatisfied with Airbnb’s reimbursement policies, many hosts have recently prioritized their own direct-booking websites. Although these independent websites do not have the consumer base of a large service like Airbnb, they do give hosts more control over how they brand and market their properties.

Padilla and his team built their website with Squarespace and Lavanda PMS, a property management software service, which launched on April 23.

“We felt like Airbnb is doing what any rational business owner would do, which is ensure the survival of their company,” Padilla said. “That’s totally respectable, but we should do the same for us.

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