Direct booking for Melbourne vacation-rental hosts
Keep the ~17% that booking platforms take, win back your repeat guests and grow a direct-booking channel in Melbourne — with your own branded website.
20,000+
active short-term listings in Melbourne
A$180
average nightly rate for rentals
~17%
lost to OTA fees on every platform stay
Why go direct in Melbourne?
Platforms add roughly 14–17% to the guest's total in service fees — and still take a host fee on top. On an average A$180 night in Melbourne, that is a meaningful slice of your rate handed over with every booking.
Booking via a platform
- Guest pays ~14–17% service fee on top of your rate
- You pay a host fee on each booking
- You don't own the guest relationship or data
- Your listing lives under platform policies
Booking direct
- Guests pay your full rate — no service fee on top
- Zero booking commission for you
- Every guest and stay saved in your own records
- Calendar sync stops double bookings automatically
Your guests pay the same — or less — and you keep the difference. See everything included →
The Melbourne market
Melbourne's laneways, sports events and coastal suburbs make it a major Australian short-term-rental market with dependable demand. Hosts here pay OTA commissions on a busy listing base. A direct-booking website helps Melbourne hosts capture repeat guests and keep more revenue.
Short-term-rental rules
Victoria applies a registration scheme and night caps for unhosted short-term rentals, with local council rules. Requirements vary, so always verify the current local rules.
Direct booking in Melbourne, answered
The questions Melbourne hosts ask us most — about rules, OTA fees and switching to direct bookings.
Yes, but Victoria requires registration for short-stay rentals and applies night caps for unhosted properties, with council rules on top. Verify the current requirements.
Guests usually pay around 14–17% in service fees on top of the nightly rate, plus a host fee. Direct booking returns that margin to Melbourne hosts.
Generate a branded property website from your listing with Stayolo, connect your calendar and Stripe, then invite past guests to book directly.
Around A$180 per night on average, with central and coastal properties commanding more. Direct booking keeps those rates for you.
Hosts who took back their bookings
We stopped giving 17% away
“I had no idea how much we were handing to booking platforms until we switched. Now repeat guests book through our own site at our full rate, and the calendar sync means no double bookings.”
Sarah M.
Vacation-rental host · Lisbon, Portugal
Repeat guests now book direct
“The website looked like something a designer would charge thousands for. We send every past guest the direct link and around a third of our stays now come in commission-free.”
James T.
Vacation-rental host · Edinburgh, United Kingdom
Set up in an afternoon
“I expected a nightmare setting up payments and calendars. Stayolo did it all — Stripe, the iCal sync, guest confirmations — and I published my site before dinner.”
Elena R.
Vacation-rental host · Barcelona, Spain
Guests trust it instantly
“The secure checkout and clear policies made my guests comfortable booking directly. It took a season to build momentum, but direct bookings now pay better than any platform stay.”
Marco B.
Vacation-rental host · Tulum, Mexico
Build your Melbourne booking website.
Paste your listing, get a branded bookable site, and start keeping the ~17% the platforms take.
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