Direct booking vs platform fees: what you actually keep on a $2,400 stay
A plain, worked comparison of what a booking platform takes versus taking the stay directly, run on a $2,400 booking, so you can see where every dollar goes.
On a $2,400 stay, a platform adds about 14% to what the guest pays ($336) and takes about 3% from your payout ($72), so $408 leaves with the platform: the guest pays $2,736 and you keep $2,328. Take the same stay directly and that $408 is gone. The guest pays $2,400, you pay about 2.9% card processing (roughly $70) plus a flat $20 a month, and you keep about $2,330. The guest pays less, you keep about the same, and the platform is out of the middle.
- A platform adds roughly 14% on top of the guest's price and skims about 3% from your side. On $2,400 that is $408 gone.
- Direct, the guest pays the actual $2,400. Your only real cost on the booking is card processing, about 2.9% (roughly $70).
- Downwind is a flat $20 a month, not a cut of each stay, so it does not scale up as your rate does.
- On the booking itself you keep about the same either way. What changes is that the guest pays less and the platform stops taking a piece.
- Platforms earn their fee finding a guest you'd never have reached. Paying it again on a repeat guest who already knows your place is the waste.
Where does the money actually go on a booking?
Take a one-week stay at $2,400. That is the number you'd set either way. What differs is who touches it before it lands in your account.
A platform works from both ends. It adds a service fee to the guest, so the price they see at checkout is higher than your $2,400. Then it takes a host fee out of your payout. Both are quiet. The guest sees one total, you see another, and the gap is the platform's.
What does a platform take on a $2,400 stay?
Platform fees move around, but the shape holds: about 14% added to the guest, about 3% off the owner.
On $2,400, 14% is $336 the guest pays on top. Your 3% is $72 out of your payout. Add those and $408 leaves with the platform. The guest pays $2,736. You keep $2,328.
The $2,400 stay, on a platform. Guest pays $2,736 ($2,400 + $336). You keep $2,328 ($2,400 − $72). The platform keeps $408. Same stay, same dates, same guest.
What do I keep if I take the same stay directly?
Direct, the guest pays your price. $2,400, not $2,736. There is no service fee stacked on top.
Your cost is card processing, about 2.9% on the charge, which is roughly $70 on $2,400. There's no per-booking cut beyond that. Downwind is a flat $20 a month whether you take one booking or ten, so it doesn't grow with your rate. Card fee off the top and you keep about $2,330 on the stay.
Direct vs platform: the numbers side by side
| On a platform | Direct with Downwind | |
|---|---|---|
| Your nightly total | $2,400 | $2,400 |
| Added to the guest | +$336 (about 14%) | $0 |
| Guest pays | $2,736 | $2,400 |
| Taken from your side | $72 (about 3%) | about $70 card processing (2.9%) |
| Fixed cost | none | $20/month flat |
| You keep on the stay | $2,328 | about $2,330 |
| Leaves with the middleman | $408 | about $70 |
The row that matters is the last one. On the platform, $408 of value walks off on one week. Direct, the only cost is the card fee the bank charges no matter who runs the payment. The guest pays $336 less, and you keep roughly the same. Nobody gave anything up except the platform.
The guest pays less, you keep about the same, and the $408 in the middle just isn't there anymore.
So when is a platform worth its fee?
When it brings you a guest you'd never have found on your own. A first-timer searching a map who lands on your place, books, and shows up. That reach is real, and $408 is a fair price for it. I don't begrudge the platforms that part.
The waste is paying the same $408 a second time on a guest who already knows your place. The couple who stayed last August and emailed asking about next August. They found you once. You don't need to rent the introduction again. Send them a direct link, take the $2,400, keep the relationship and their email address, and skip the cut entirely.
Rule of thumb I use on our Cape place: platforms to meet new guests, direct for anyone who's stayed before or reached out to me on their own. The first is worth paying for. The second isn't.
Frequently asked questions
Isn't the direct number basically the same as the platform, so why bother?
Your take is about the same, roughly $2,328 versus $2,330 on a $2,400 stay. What changes is the $336 the guest no longer pays and the $408 that no longer leaves with the platform. The savings show up as a lower price for the guest and a relationship you own, not as a bigger payout for you on that one booking.
Where does the 2.9% card fee come from if I skip the platform?
That's the payment processor charging to run the card, and it applies to any card charge anywhere. On $2,400 it's roughly $70. A platform pays the same processing fee out of the $408 it takes; direct, you pay it and nothing else on top.
Is the $20 a month per booking or a fixed cost?
Fixed. It's $20 a month no matter how many bookings you run through it. On a $2,400 stay it doesn't scale up the way a percentage cut does. Take a few bookings a month and it's a small flat line, not a piece of every guest's payment.
Do the platform fee percentages ever change?
They move around by platform and over time, which is part of why they're hard to plan against. The 14% on the guest and 3% on the owner used here are round numbers for the comparison. Check your own payout statement against what the guest was charged and you'll see your real split.
Is it worth moving a brand-new guest off the platform to save the fee?
No. If the platform introduced you to a guest you'd never have reached, the fee bought you that guest and it's fair. The direct move pays off on repeat guests and people who found you on their own, where you're not paying for an introduction you already have.
Collect your first direct payment.
Downwind sends the payment link, blocks the calendar, and collects the balance for you. $20/month flat, with no cut of your bookings.
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