Every booking that comes through a travel marketplace comes with a bill, and the marketplace keeps the relationship with your guest. A bed and breakfast direct booking website is how a small inn takes some of that back, without pretending the marketplaces are not useful.
This guide compares what the big listing sites charge, what booking engines for small inns cost (with each vendor’s pricing page cited), and what your own website has to do to win a guest who found you somewhere else. It is honest about when a marketplace is still worth paying for.
If you serve overnight visitors in a tourism-driven area, you may also want our broader guide to tourism website design, which covers how the visitor, the destination and the reporting fit together. If your inn also hosts weddings, see our guide to wedding venue websites.
Already know what you need? Request an estimate and we will reply with scope and a price range for a sensible first phase.
What the marketplaces actually charge
Fees change and often vary by property, so treat this as a snapshot and read the source before you decide.
- Airbnb. As of October 2026, Airbnb’s service fee help page lists two fee structures and says it is moving all home hosts to the single fee, phasing out the split fee. Under the split fee, most hosts pay 3% and guests pay a separate service fee. Under the single fee, the whole fee comes out of the host payout: most hosts pay 15.5%, and the rest typically 14% to 16%. The page says the single fee is already mandatory for most hosts, including those who use property management software, and that once a host switches to it, they cannot switch back.
- Booking.com. As of October 2026, Booking.com’s sign-up FAQ does not publish a percentage. It says the commission percentage is shown at the “Agreement” step of registration, is charged per booking, and is invoiced monthly. Per the same page, no commission is charged on no-shows unless you set up a no-show charge, and none on guests who cancel under a free cancellation policy.
- Expedia. We could not retrieve a published commission rate from Expedia’s partner site for this article, so we are not quoting one. Ask for the rate in writing before you sign.
A worked example using only the Airbnb number: on a $200 night booked at the single-fee rate of 15.5%, the fee is $31. A direct booking of the same night through a commission-free booking engine keeps that $31, minus whatever payment processing costs. Five nights a month of that is not life-changing. Two hundred nights a year is $6,200 in marketplace fees, before the processing you would pay on direct bookings, and that is real money for a small inn.
Why you probably still need the marketplaces
Marketplaces are advertising with a long reach and a pay-on-results model. New inns, off-season weeks and midweek nights are where they earn their fee. Dropping them entirely is a mistake for most small properties, and we would not recommend it.
The better goal is to change the mix: list on the marketplaces, but make it easy for guests who already know you, past guests and anyone who finds your own site to book direct. A page that says “book direct for our best rate and a late checkout” only works if the rate really is better, and if the booking takes three steps and not eleven. Check the terms of each listing site before you advertise a lower price on your own site, because some have rules about rate parity.
Booking engines for small inns
A booking engine lets guests see availability and pay on your site. Many small inns pair it with a channel manager, which keeps calendars in sync across your site and the listing sites so you do not double-book. Pricing as listed by each vendor as of October 2026:
- Sirvoy lists a free plan for one room, a Starter plan, and a Pro plan that includes the channel manager, and states 0% commission and fees on its booking engine. Its page lists prices in euros.
- Beds24 lists a base account from €15.50 per month, with a channel manager add-on, and states that it never charges commissions on bookings. Connected listing sites may still charge their own.
- Smoobu lists plans from about $32.50 per month (billed in euros) with a 0.9% booking fee on the Flex plan and 0% on its prepaid plans, with prices depending on your number of units.
- Eviivo lists single-property pricing from $50 per month, with optional per-room add-ons and a $0.50 processing fee per confirmed booking, excluding taxes.
- Cloudbeds uses quote-based pricing. Its FAQ says direct reservations through its booking engine are commission free, with commissions applying to metasearch offers.
Payment processing is a separate line on almost all of them, so compare the total on your real booking volume rather than the headline monthly price. The two things that matter most are a two-way calendar sync that works reliably and the ability to export your guest list.
What your site needs to win the direct booking
Someone who found you on a marketplace will often open your own website to check you out. That visit is a test. Here is what it has to pass.
- Real availability on the first screen. A date picker above the fold, not a “contact us for rates” page.
- The total price, early. Show the nightly rate, fees and taxes before the guest enters a card. Surprises at the last step end bookings.
- Photography of every room, and the things guests ask about: bathroom, bed size, breakfast, parking, stairs, pets.
- A clear reason to book direct. A better rate, a free upgrade, a late checkout, flexible change terms. Pick one and mean it.
- Plain policies, in plain words: cancellation, check-in, quiet hours, children.
- Real reviews and a real owner. A photo and a few sentences from the person who will greet them is worth more than a stock paragraph about charm.
- Fast, mobile-first pages. Many guests will see your site on a phone first.
- A way to collect email from people who are not ready to book, and a follow-up that goes out.
Then connect the booking engine to the site so the guest never feels they left. A booking page on a mismatched third-party domain is where an inn can lose the trust they spent the rest of the site earning.
One line on Washington lodging tax
In Washington, the Department of Revenue’s special hotel/motel tax page describes a consumer tax on lodging stays of fewer than 30 consecutive days, collected from the guest and reported by the lodging business. Rates vary by location, and not every location levies it. Make sure your booking engine shows the right taxes at checkout, and ask your accountant what applies to your property; this is not tax advice.
When a custom build makes sense
Most inns should not build their own booking system. The established engines solve calendar sync, payments and taxes, and those are expensive problems to get wrong. Custom work starts to make sense when your inn is part of something bigger, such as several properties with different rules, packages that combine rooms with events or dinners, or bookings that need to feed a back office you already run. Our guide to custom software for small business lays out the filter we use before quoting, and it regularly ends with “buy the product.”
The honest verdict
Use off-the-shelf if you have one property and a handful of rooms. Pick a booking engine from the list above, keep your marketplace listings, and put your effort into a fast, honest site with great photos and a direct-booking reason that is true. For many inns, a well-built site on a standard platform is all that is needed. Our website design packages cover that layer.
Talk to us if your current site is the weak link, if you need booking to connect to the rest of your operation, or if you are weighing a custom system and want a second opinion on whether you should.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do booking sites charge a bed and breakfast?
It varies by site and sometimes by property. Airbnb publishes its host fees on its help pages: under the single-fee model, which it says it is moving all home hosts to, most hosts pay 15.5%. Booking.com does not publish a single percentage and shows your commission during registration. Whatever the number, get it in writing, then compare it with the cost of a booking engine that charges no commission, plus payment processing, on the guests who book direct.
Should a B&B stop using Airbnb and Booking.com?
Usually not. Marketplaces bring new guests, fill off-season and midweek nights, and charge on results. The smarter move is to keep the listings while making it easy for repeat guests, referrals and anyone who finds your own site to book direct at a rate or perk that is actually better. Review each site’s terms before advertising a lower price on your own website, because some include rate parity rules.
What does a small inn need in a booking engine?
Reliable two-way calendar sync with the listing sites so you never double-book, secure payments with deposits and clear cancellation terms, correct tax handling at checkout, and an export of your guest list. A channel manager is useful if you list on several sites. Compare the full monthly cost including payment processing and any per-booking fees, and check whether the booking page can match your own site design.
Does my B&B need a custom booking system?
Most do not. Established booking engines handle calendar sync, payments and taxes, which are costly problems to solve from scratch. A custom system can make sense if you run several properties with different rules, sell packages that combine rooms with meals or events, or need bookings to feed a back office you already have. If you have one property, start with a standard engine and a strong website.