Live calendar & upfront pricing
Guests see real availability and an exact price — nightly rate, fees and taxes — before they ask a single question.
Direct-booking websites for independent hosts
Your property.
Your property.
Your guests.
Your terms.
HostUnbound builds beautiful direct-booking websites for short-term rental hosts. The booking engine, Airbnb and VRBO calendar sync, and verified-guest reviews all come built in. We handle the setup. You keep the guest.
Founding rate open to the first 5 hosts.
Synced with Airbnb & VRBO
The problem
You built the place. The platform owns the relationship.
Airbnb and VRBO are great at finding you a first guest. They’re less great at letting you keep one.
i.
The fee cut
Airbnb now takes 15.5% of every booking from hosts, and VRBO is moving to 12%. That includes repeat guests who already know and love your place.
ii.
Guests you can’t reach
Guest contact details stay inside the platform’s messaging. A great guest who’d happily come back every summer is hard to invite back directly.
iii.
Someone else’s rules
Search rankings, policies and fees change on the platform’s schedule, not yours. One update can push your listing down the page overnight.
Fee calculator
What could you keep?
Choose your platform and we’ll fill in its current host fee. Then match the sliders to your place. You don’t need to move every booking, and repeat guests and referrals alone add up.
%
$
%
Estimate only
You’d keep about
$0
more every year, after our plan.
Year one: $0, after the one-time $397 setup.
At these numbers, HostUnbound wouldn’t pay for itself yet.
Try more direct bookings, or a higher nightly rate.
Airbnb fees you pay today$0/yr
Fees you’d skip by booking 30% direct (after card fees)$0/yr
HostUnbound plan ($69/mo)$0/yr
See the math
Nights booked direct0
Direct stays (bookings)0
Nightly revenue from direct stays$0
Airbnb fees you’d skip$0
Card fees on direct stays$0
Fees you’d skip, after card fees$0
Plan, ongoing ($69 × 12)$0
You keep each year$0
One-time setup, year one only$0
You keep in year one$0
Counts nightly rates only, not cleaning fees or taxes. Card fees: Stripe’s 2.9% + 30¢ per booking (source, as of Oct 26, 2026). Plan: Standard, $397 setup + $69/mo.
What you get
The whole store, not just the storefront.
Your site isn’t a pretty page wrapped around someone else’s booking widget. It takes the booking itself, start to finish.
- A guest picks datesThey see a live price, your house rules and your cancellation policy.
- The dates are heldThey have 24 hours to pay you by Venmo or PayPal.
- You confirm in your portalMark it paid and confirm it. If nobody pays, the hold releases itself.
Request-to-book that protects you
Dates are held for 24 hours (you can change that) while the guest pays. You confirm in your portal. Unpaid holds release on their own.
Payments go straight to you
Guests pay you by Venmo or PayPal, with the amount filled in for them. Prefer cards? Stripe card checkout can be switched on, paid into your own Stripe account.
Agreement & cancellation, handled
Guests accept your rental agreement at booking, and we record which version they accepted. Your tiered cancellation policy is shown up front; you issue any refunds.
Verified-guest reviews, built in
Only guests who actually stayed are asked to review. Reviews publish automatically after 72 hours, and you can remove one only for a set reason, like spam or abuse. That’s what keeps them believable.
Guest emails on autopilot
The right note at the right time, sent for you:
- Booking confirmation
- Check-in details, 3 days before
- A friendly reminder, 1 day before
- A review request after checkout
Pricing rules that fit how you host
- Nightly and weekend rates
- Minimum and maximum nights
- Max guests and booking window
- Flat cleaning fee and buffer days
- Multiple tax lines, at your rates
- Seasonal pricing, set up for you
Two-way Airbnb & VRBO sync
We check your Airbnb and VRBO calendars every 15 minutes and send your direct bookings back out, so those dates get blocked there too.
A private owner portal
- Booking requests: mark paid, confirm, extend a hold or decline
- Color-coded calendar and manual blocking
- Log of every email and text sent
- Your settings and review moderation
Eight languages
Your site speaks to international travelers in eight languages, so more guests can read your rules and book with confidence.
Alerts when a request comes in
An email the moment a guest requests dates, so a hold never sits unnoticed. Text alerts are available too.
Your domain. Zero commission.
Fast, secure hosting on a domain in your name. We never take a cut of your bookings.
Straight talk
Calendar sync with Airbnb and VRBO isn’t instant, for anyone. We check their calendars every 15 minutes, but they refresh yours on their own schedule. Request-to-book means no direct booking is final until you’ve confirmed it, so you have time to block those dates everywhere else.
How it works
Four steps. We do most of them.
No templates to wrestle with and no plugins to research. You tell us about your place, and we build it.
1
Send us your listing
Share your listing links, photos, rates and house rules through a short form.
About 15 minutes2
We build it
We design your site, set up your pricing rules, and connect your Airbnb and VRBO calendars.
We handle it3
You approve
You get a private preview. Tell us what to change, and we’ll change it.
Your call4
Go live
We launch on your domain. Share the link with past guests and start taking direct bookings.
Zero commission
Example properties for illustration.
Why HostUnbound
Other sites give you a storefront. We give you the store.
Most direct-booking websites still depend on booking software you pay for separately. Ours comes with the booking engine built in, and a real person builds it for you.
| Feature | HostUnboundDone for you | Website-only builders Embedded booking widget | DIY template platforms Build it yourself |
|---|---|---|---|
| Booking engine included | Included | Needs separate booking software | Varies by plan |
| Separate booking software to pay for | None needed | Usually required | Often an add-on |
| Two-way Airbnb & VRBO calendar sync | Built in | Through your booking software | Varies |
| Request-to-book date holds | Built in | Depends on your software | Varies |
| Verified-guest reviews on your site | Built in | Rarely | Usually manual |
| Who builds it | We do, for you | Often you | You do |
| A real person to email | Yes, by name | Varies | Help docs, mostly |
| Commission on your bookings | Zero | Check your software | Check the fine print |
This is a general comparison of common approaches, not of any specific company. Features vary by provider and plan.
A note from the founder
“Hosts deserve to own their guest relationships.”
I started HostUnbound after watching friends who host pour everything into their places, then hand a chunk of every booking, and every guest relationship, to a platform that can change the rules whenever it likes.
A direct-booking site shouldn’t take a weekend of tutorials and three subscriptions. You should be able to send us your listing and get back something you’re proud to share with past guests. When you have a question, you email me, and I answer.
JustinFounder,
HostUnbound
HostUnbound
Pricing
Flat pricing. Zero commission.
One setup fee to build your site, one monthly fee to keep it running. We never take a cut of your bookings.
Founding rate · limited to 5 hosts
Founding Host
The full build for our first five hosts, in exchange for honest feedback while we grow.
$197 one-time setup
then $49 / month
- Everything in Standard, at the founding rate
- A custom site, built for you
- Booking engine, calendar sync and verified reviews
- Automatic guest emails and owner portal
- Hosting on your domain, with zero booking commission
- A direct line to the founder
- Your feedback shapes what we build next
Standard
Your own direct-booking website, built and run for you.
$397 one-time setup
then $69 / month
- A custom site, built for you
- Booking engine, live calendar and request-to-book
- Two-way Airbnb and VRBO calendar sync
- Verified-guest reviews and automatic guest emails
- Owner portal with email alerts
- Hosting on your domain, with zero booking commission
- Email support from a real person
No contract. Cancel anytime. Your domain (usually $10–20 a year) is registered in your name. Payment processing fees go to Venmo, PayPal or Stripe, not to us.
Not sure yet?
Let’s talk it through, host to host.
Book a short call. We’ll look at your listing together, run your numbers, and tell you honestly whether a direct-booking site makes sense for you.
Book a call →Do I need separate booking software?
No. The booking engine is part of your site: the calendar, quotes, request-to-book, payments, agreements and reviews all come built in. There’s no extra booking tool to subscribe to.
Does it sync with Airbnb and VRBO instantly?
No, and we’d rather tell you now. We check your Airbnb and VRBO calendars every 15 minutes and publish your direct bookings back to them, but Airbnb and VRBO refresh imported calendars on their own schedule, which can take a few hours.
That’s why direct guests request to book. Their dates are held, you confirm, and you can block the dates on Airbnb yourself the moment a request lands, so a double booking has to get past you first.
How do payments work? Do you touch my money?
Never. Guests pay you directly: by Venmo or PayPal (the amount is filled in for them), or by card through Stripe if you turn it on, into your own Stripe account. We strongly suggest business accounts rather than personal ones. Normal processing fees from those services still apply.
Who handles taxes?
You do, but your site does the math. You enter your rates (for example, state sales tax plus a county tourist tax) and they show as separate lines at checkout. You collect and remit them; we don’t file taxes for you.
Can I keep my Airbnb and VRBO listings?
Yes. Most hosts keep them running. Your site sits alongside them, the calendars stay in sync, and over time more of your repeat and referral guests can book with you directly.
Can you bring over my Airbnb reviews?
We don’t copy reviews from other platforms. Your site builds its own verified-guest reviews from guests who book with you directly. Those reviews belong to your site, and nobody else controls them.
What do you need from me?
Your listing links, a link to your photos, your rates and fees, house rules, payment handles, your Airbnb and VRBO calendar (iCal) links, and the domain you’d like. The start form walks you through it, and it takes about fifteen minutes.
How long until I’m live?
Most of the wait is usually gathering photos and details. Once we have everything, we build your site, send you a private preview, make your changes, and launch when you say so. We’ll give you a target date when we kick off.
Is there a contract?
No. It’s month to month, and you can cancel anytime. The setup fee covers building your site; the monthly fee covers hosting, the booking engine, sync, emails and support.
Ready when you are
Give your best guests a door of their own.
Tell us about your place. We’ll take it from there.