Install OpenBnB extension to instantly find direct booking links while browsing Airbnb and save on fees.

Hi Hunters! My wife and I have been slow traveling around the world for last 3 years, and our top travel hack that has saved us most amount of money is to book directly with Airbnb host. We usually rent for a month so savings in fees are easily ~$300 - $500 on each stay, i.e. about 15-20%. Not every host offers it we respect that, but there are so many hosts out there that would rather have you book directly via their website and we as guests want the same. The problem is these hosts can’t promote or say that on Airbnb. This inspired me to build OpenBnB.org, where I’ve started collecting direct booking websites of hosts. So far, I have around 1,500 hosts representing 150,000 listings – most of them in USA. The idea is to give guests more options to book, and hosts another channel to distribute their listings. The first solution is a browser extension that makes it really easy to find the direct booking website of hosts when you’re browsing Airbnb. It just a one-time easy install with no sign ups. It: 1) highlights all the directly-bookable listings on the search page, 2) lets you search listings only from hosts with direct booking option and then of course 3) gives you the direct booking link on the listing page. What I like about this solution is it doesn’t require guests to go to a different website; they can just browse Airbnb (largest inventory of short-term rentals) as usual and get more options to book when available. Other than savings, I think there is something about the direct relationship with hosts and guests, without any intermediaries. The cool think is I estimate about 20-33% of Airbnbs can be booked directly! That means I’ve only collected around 6 to 9% of all directly-bookable listings around the world. What do you think? Try it out and let me know if this is useful. I’m also planning to spin up a website that only has listings from these hosts, kind of like a meta-search engine for vacation rental websites.

Built something similar a few months ago (also launched on PH)…I did not continue building it as I noticed people were just enjoying the safety of Airbnb and were not comfortable booking on a different (unknown) website. Maybe you can solve that, good luck!!!

@fliellerjulian Not so sure, I remember the launch of getaway .direct and thought this was a great idea, as we often check outside Airbnb and book there. However, Julian launched in December, not really my main time to book on Airbnb. And I remember the pricing was a bit expensive just to try out, I think there was no free trial.

Some estimates say that 20% of Hotel guests find the hotel on booking .com d book directly with the hotel. Why not for Airbnb?

@fliellerjulian @tomm_p "20% of Hotel guests find the hotel on booking .com d book directly with the hotel" -- I've always done that after working in hotels; you'll generally get better services at the hotel if you've booked directly vs. 3rd party site. I get the point about customers feeling safer on airBnB, but also their fees have gotten so out of control that I bet most customers would be willing to "risk it" and book direct if that was an easy option (I.e. they can use @OpenBnB instead of googling / digging for the contact info and going back and forth with the host).

@fliellerjulian @tomm_p @leah_madden Agree. My estimate tell me about a 1/3rd listings in USA have a direct booking option but hosts can't tell you that. So yes, do google haha or better use OpenBnB

My last three stays were all booked directly and had no problems at all. Austin, SF, New York (they couldn't even list on Airbnb because of the ban).

@fliellerjulian Hmm interesting because I've had a different experience talking to guests. They trust professionally hosted websites, like those from property management software. Moreover, they know they can trust the host because of high ratings on Airbnb and just save money by booking direct.

I wonder if the guest sentiments are different outside of USA.

This could revolutionize travel budgeting! Are you planning to expand beyond the U.S. to regions like Europe or Southeast Asia soon?

@desmond_ren1 Hi Desmond, thanks for your comment. Though my current focus is on US, it totally works and is available for hosts to add their websites outside of US right now. I do plan to focus beyond soon.

OpenBnB

Book homes directly while browsing Airbnb

Book homes directly while browsing Airbnb

OpenBnB

Book homes directly while browsing Airbnb

Book homes directly while browsing Airbnb

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