About one booking in five at Ben McCarthy’s short lets came direct. Those guests did not arrive through Airbnb or Booking.com. They found his properties by searching on Google and booked with him directly.
One booking in five, and still 7% on each
A direct booking should be the cheapest booking a host takes, because there is no marketplace in the middle. Yet Ben’s old software still charged 7% on every direct booking.
That software was Hospitable. Its help centre lists the “Direct Premium Booking Plan: 4% commission + 3% processing fee (applies per booking)”, which is the 7% Ben paid. The same article lists a Direct Basic Booking Plan at 1% commission on some plans. The article is dated 16 Sep 2026, and we read it on 28 Oct 2026.
What the fees mean on an £85 night
Ben’s properties let for about £85 a night, with linen and cleaning to pay for on top. On an £85 night:
- Airbnb’s host only fee is 15.5% for most hosts, according to Airbnb’s help centre. That comes to £13.18.
- A 7% direct booking fee comes to £5.95.
Fees bite hardest on single nights. Linen and cleaning still have to be paid for every stay, however short, so single nights were the hardest stays for Ben to price on the big platforms.
Direct guests booked straight away
There was a second catch. On Ben’s old software, a direct guest could book straight away once their ID was verified, with no other screening before the booking was made.
What Zugrow Direct Sites will do instead
Direct Sites will give hosts their own direct booking website on Zugrow Max. When it opens:
- 0% commission from Zugrow on every booking through the direct site. Standard Stripe card fees apply, paid by the host.
- Card payments through Stripe. Guests will pay by card, and the host can be paid as soon as they want after the booking has completed.
- Guests screened before they pay. Guest Vetting will screen each direct guest before they pay, with guest ID checks and a security deposit as options the host chooses.
- The same AI as on Airbnb and Booking.com. The Inbox agent will answer guest questions on the direct site, just as it does on both platforms.
To see what each of your own bookings pays in fees today, put your numbers into the direct booking savings calculator, or read more about the direct booking platform.
Your property, your money
Zugrow’s mission puts it simply: “It’s your property and your money. We supply the software.”
Zugrow Max includes everything in Pro, plus a digital guidebook for every property, 20 photo enhancement credits a year, priority support and free onboarding, and Direct Sites will open on Max. Zugrow is invite only: join the waitlist at zugrow.com.
Ben McCarthy is a co-founder of Zugrow.