Booking Direct vs. a Platform like Airbnb or VRBO
Every listing site will tell you that you are getting a good deal. Here is the plain arithmetic of what happens when you book one of our homes direct instead. We are not here to knock the platforms. They are good at helping people discover a home, and plenty of our guests spot us there first. But once you have found the right place, there is a simpler way to book it.
Where the money goes on a platform
When you book a vacation home through a large listing platform, part of what you pay goes to the platform itself. How that shows up depends on the site. Vrbo, for example, typically adds a service fee at checkout somewhere between six and fifteen percent. Airbnb now charges most hosts a single fee of about fifteen and a half percent, which means it is folded into the nightly rate rather than listed as a separate line. Either way, the money comes from the same place: the price of your stay.
To put numbers on it, on a $3,000 week a platform cut of fifteen percent is around $450. None of that money improves your stay. It pays for the platform.
Book with us directly and that layer disappears. Same home, same beds, same kayaks at the bottom of the yard, without the platform’s cut in the price.
What stays exactly the same
Booking direct changes the price, not the stay. You get the same home, the same standard of cleaning, the same well stocked kitchen and the same welcome. Our homes are set up for families and friends to gather, and that does not depend on which website you used to reserve. We would rather you spend the difference on something you will actually enjoy, like a good dinner out or an extra afternoon on the water.
Our best rate, guaranteed
We guarantee that booking direct gets you our best available rate. There is no version of our calendar where the platform is cheaper, because the platform has to add its margin to whatever we charge, whether that margin appears as a fee at checkout or inside the nightly rate.
No booking fees
No outside service charges appear at checkout. What you are quoted is what you pay, with taxes and any cleaning fee shown clearly before you confirm. We would rather you see the full number early than be surprised by it at the last step.
You get a direct line
This is the part that does not show up in the price but matters most when something goes wrong. Book direct and you have the phone number of the people who host the home. Not a ticket queue, not a call center reading from a script, and not a message thread with a platform sitting in the middle of it. If the WiFi drops or you cannot find the paddleboard pump, you call us and we sort it. The same goes for smaller questions, like arriving later than planned or wondering where the extra towels are kept. It feels like a minor thing until you need it, and then it is the whole trip.
And we can be flexible
Platforms enforce rigid rules because they have to apply them across millions of listings. We do not. If you need a slightly early arrival, an extra night either side, or advice on which home actually suits your group rather than the one with the best photographs, we can have that conversation. Tell us who is coming, whether it is a family reunion, a milestone birthday or a long weekend with friends, and we will point you to the home that fits. Our Experiences guide has ideas for what to do once you are there.
Ask us about cancellation terms too, since they vary by home and length of stay and we will always tell you straight.
How it works
Choose your home, pick your dates, and you will see the full price before you confirm. From there we take care of the details, and we will be in touch before you arrive so that check in is easy.
The short version
Same home, lower price, and a real person on the other end. There is no catch and no loyalty program to join. It is simply cheaper without a middleman.
Book direct for our best rate, or browse our homes and check availability first.
