Why I stopped relying on Airbnb for my best guests

I've been hosting on Airbnb for four years. Two properties — a stone house in the Hudson Valley and a cabin upstate. I'm not quitting Airbnb. But I've stopped using it for a specific group of guests, and it's saving me thousands of dollars a year.

Let me explain.

The moment it clicked

Last summer, a couple booked my Hudson Valley place through Airbnb. Great stay, left the place spotless, five-star review. Two months later, they messaged me: “We loved it. Can we come back for Thanksgiving weekend?”

Of course. I was thrilled. Repeat guests are the dream — you already know they'll treat your home well.

They booked again through Airbnb. $1,200 for three nights. Airbnb took about $180 between host and guest fees. For what? Matching two people who already had each other's phone numbers.

That's when I started doing the math. I had maybe 8-10 repeat guests or friends-of-friends booking per year. At an average of $150 in platform fees per booking, I was handing Airbnb $1,200-$1,500 annually for guests I could have found on my own contact list.

Why I didn't just “book direct”

Every host forum has this conversation. “Just take it off platform!” Sure, in theory. In practice, it's messy:

• Payment is awkward. Venmo for a $1,200 stay? No paper trail, no protection if something goes wrong.
• No damage protection. Airbnb's coverage isn't great, but at least it exists. Going fully off-platform means you're on your own.
• It feels unprofessional. Sending someone a Venmo request and a Google Doc with house rules isn't the experience I want to provide.

So most of us just kept eating the fees. Airbnb was the path of least resistance, even when it didn't make sense.

What I use now for repeat guests

Earlier this year I started using Guestlist. The idea is simple: you list your property, invite specific people via a link, and they book and pay through the platform. 7% total fee. No strangers, no algorithm, no Instant Book surprises.

I still use Airbnb for discovery — new guests finding me through search. But for anyone I already know? They get a Guestlist link.

Here's what that looks like in practice:

• Repeat guest from last summer? Guestlist link.
• Friend of a friend who heard about the cabin? Guestlist link.
• Someone from my neighborhood Facebook group? Guestlist link.

They see the listing, book the dates, pay through Stripe, and the money hits my account after their stay. Done. No 15% haircut.

The numbers

On a $1,000 booking, I'm keeping an extra $130. Across 10 repeat bookings a year, that's $1,300 back in my pocket. Over a few years? That's a new appliance. Or a month of mortgage payments.

And honestly, the fee difference is only part of it. The control is what matters most. I decide who gets access to my home. Not an algorithm. Not Instant Book. Me.

This isn't about leaving Airbnb

I want to be clear: I'm not anti-Airbnb. It's great for what it does — putting your property in front of millions of travelers. If you need discovery, Airbnb is hard to beat.

But once you've found great guests, why keep paying a middleman to reconnect you? That's the part that never made sense to me.

I think of it like this: Airbnb is how I find new guests. Guestlist is how I keep the best ones.

What I'd tell other hosts

If you're a host with repeat guests — and most of us are — think about how much you're paying Airbnb for people who would book with or without the platform. Pull up your last 12 months of bookings and check: how many were people you already knew?

You don't have to change anything about your Airbnb strategy. Just stop sending your best guests through it.

Your repeat guests already trust you. The question is whether you're going to keep paying 15% for that trust, or do something about it.