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Project · Holiday Home Booking
Airbnb charges hosts 15-20% per booking. Booking.com typically charges 15-25%. For a holiday let business running multiple properties across the Lake District, that commission was a permanent drag on revenue. The client wanted direct bookings — but not at the cost of double-bookings or constant manual calendar juggling.
Direct booking on owned domains
Both holiday let companies sell direct on their own websites — guests pay the operator, not a platform.
iCal channel sync
Continuous two-way iCal sync with Airbnb and Booking.com prevents double-bookings across nine properties.
Stripe at 1.4%
UK card processing replaces platform commission — 1.4% per transaction instead of 15-25%.
Deposit and balance handling
Configurable deposit at booking with the balance taken automatically a set number of days before arrival.
Two sites, one codebase
Bank House Apartments and Hillbeck Green run on the same plugin, each branded and configured separately.
Guest emails automated
Booking confirmations, balance reminders, and arrival information sent to every guest automatically.
Why direct, not 25%
On a single £600 booking, platform commission at 20% costs £120. Stripe at 1.4% costs £8.40. The saving on that one booking is over £110. Across nine properties, two companies, and a full Lake District letting season, the cumulative saving is significant — and the one-off build cost is recovered in commission savings within the first season.
This is not an argument for abandoning Airbnb and Booking.com. They drive discovery. The point is that once a guest has found the property, the owner should have the option of taking them direct on the next stay — and the technology should make that completely safe alongside the platforms.
Simplify Reservations
Flexible booking tools and availability management.
Support Visitors Instantly
Smart conversations directly through your website.
Built Around Your Business
Tailored systems designed for the way you work.
The Holiday Home Booking plugin (HHB) is a custom WordPress plugin. Each property is a structured record — name, location, capacity, base rate, seasonal rates, minimum stay rules, deposit percentage, balance-due lead time. Each booking is an event against that property with a guest, dates, and a payment status.
WooCommerce handles the cart and Stripe processes the payment. The plugin owns inventory — availability, blocked dates from iCal feeds, deposit handling, balance scheduling. The same codebase runs both client sites with different property data and different branding.
iCal sync
iCal sync is the engineering that makes direct booking safe alongside Airbnb and Booking.com. Every Airbnb booking is picked up by the iCal feed and blocked in the direct booking calendar automatically. Every Booking.com reservation does the same. Every direct booking pushes back to the platform calendars. One consistent view of availability across all channels — no manual calendar management, no gaps, no risk of a double-booking.
A configurable deposit is taken at booking. The remaining balance is charged to the same card a set number of days before arrival — typically 30 or 60 days, whatever the operator policy is. Booking confirmation, balance reminder, balance receipt, and arrival information emails all send automatically.
No manual chasing of guests. No missed balance payments. No payment links pasted into emails.
One codebase
Bank House Apartments runs at westlakesstays.co.uk with five properties. Hillbeck Green runs at westlakesstays.uk with four properties. Two separate companies, two separate brands, two separate domains — all powered by the same HHB plugin codebase. Updates roll out to both sites in one deployment. Each site has its own properties, its own seasonal rates, its own deposit and balance rules, configured independently.
Platform commission at 20% on a £600 booking costs £120. Stripe at 1.4% on the same booking costs £8.40. That £110+ stays with the operator on every direct booking, across every property, every season. Across nine properties over a Lake District letting season, the savings comfortably cover the build cost in the first year and accumulate cleanly every year after.
The platforms still drive discovery. Direct bookings capture the repeat visits.
What this proves
Holiday let operators can run direct booking alongside the major platforms without any double-booking risk and without giving up the discovery the platforms provide. HHB is live and proven across nine properties on two companies — taking real card payments from real guests on the operator own domains. If you run two or more holiday lets, the same plugin can be configured for your property portfolio.
1.4%
Stripe fee per UK card
15-25%
What platforms charge
4 weeks
Discovery to live
From £1,000
Tier 1 setup + VAT
Who else this works for
Client feedback
How we'd build yours
Discovery call. 30-45 minutes to map your properties, seasonal rates, deposit and balance rules, and which platforms you need iCal sync with.
Build & configure. HHB plugin deployed on a Technophobia-hosted WordPress install on your own registered domain. Stripe and WooCommerce wired in. Properties, rates and rules configured. iCal feeds wired to Airbnb and Booking.com.
Train & launch. Walk-through of the booking admin, balance handling, and channel sync. Then advertise your URL — on your listings, your social, your guest emails — and you are live.
Common questions
Paying Airbnb or Booking.com commission on every booking? Let's talk about direct bookings at 1.4% instead.
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