Direct booking for Sydney vacation-rental hosts
Keep the ~17% that booking platforms take, win back your repeat guests and grow a direct-booking channel in Sydney — with your own branded website.
25,000+
active short-term listings in Sydney
A$220
average nightly rate for rentals
~17%
lost to OTA fees on every platform stay
Why go direct in Sydney?
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$220 night in Sydney, 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 Sydney market
Sydney's harbour, Bondi and inner-city districts support Australia's largest short-term-rental market, with strong year-round demand. Hosts here pay OTA commissions on premium bookings. A direct-booking website helps Sydney hosts capture repeat guests and keep more of every stay.
Short-term-rental rules
New South Wales applies planning rules and caps on short-term letting for non-hosted rentals, with a registration scheme. Rules vary by area, so always verify the current local requirements.
Direct booking in Sydney, answered
The questions Sydney hosts ask us most — about rules, OTA fees and switching to direct bookings.
Yes, but New South Wales applies night caps for unhosted short-term rentals and a registration scheme, with local council rules on top. Verify the current requirements.
Guests typically pay around 14–17% in service fees on top of the nightly rate, plus a host fee. Direct booking keeps that margin with Sydney hosts.
Create a branded booking site from your listing with Stayolo, sync your calendar and Stripe, and route returning guests to your own booking link.
Roughly A$220 per night on average, with harbour-front and beach properties commanding premium rates. Direct booking preserves those rates.
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 Sydney booking website.
Paste your listing, get a branded bookable site, and start keeping the ~17% the platforms take.
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