02/09/2026
🏨 Airbnb wants to help hotels get “direct” bookings.
Airbnb is testing a new option where hotels/hosts can share a special booking link with their own customers, with a lower commission. (6%)
How does this sound to you?
If we go back in time, we remember that Booking.com tried something similar before.
In 2019, Booking.com launched BookingButton, a commission-free booking engine that hotels could add to their own websites and social media. At the time, Booking.com said 87% of small and medium properties didn’t have an online booking engine.
A year later, Booking.com announced it was discontinuing BookingButton and other BookingSuite tools.
So… what has really changed?
Are there still that many hotels and accommodation businesses that don’t have a way to accept online bookings?
Or is the bigger problem not having a booking engine, but getting customers to actually use it?
And if a hotel brings the customer itself, should it really have to pay another platform to complete the booking?
Airbnb’s approach may make things easier and cheaper for small businesses owners.
But is this what hotel owners actually need?
Or will we see another attempt to solve a problem that hotels can already solve themselves?
What do you think? 👇
📩 At Netwist, we help hospitality businesses look at what they already have, website, booking engine, Google presence and online sales, and find what’s actually missing.
Contact us for a free consultation.