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.
Really like the idea! More than half of my airbnb experience is crap. I'd love to use an alternative!
cool, I only wonder what happens when airbnb tech team notices it and investigate code of your plugin? ) are they able to add some guards against etc.? but anycase - great work, tx!
I downloaded the ext. and browsed about 10 pages on AirBnB but didn't see one that had a direct booking link. Do you need to select the property first or does it appear on the search page?
These type of google extensions are making the life a lot easier. Thank you for this
Such a brilliant and timely idea—OpenBnB truly feels like a win-win for both travelers and hosts, offering a refreshing solution to unnecessary fees. It’s amazing that it’s born from real-world experience, addressing a pain point that so many long-term travelers face. Can’t wait to see how it transforms the travel community! 🌍✨
I travel a lot and over the years have paid quite a bit in Airbnb fees, even when booking places from professional hosts with multiple properties.
I usually went with Airbnb because it gave me more peace of mind and fewer things to worry about during trips. If you can improve that experience even a little, that would be amazing.
It would really help if you could pull in reviews not just from Airbnb, but also from GoogleMaps, Booking, and other open sources. Or maybe even collect your own additional reviews. That would save a lot of time and make decision-making much easier.
Congrats on the launch, and good luck!! 🎉
This is going to be super helpful this summer planning some golf trips with the boys!
Hey Aniket! I saw you demoing your AirBnB MCP server at AI Tinkerers last week– this looks great too! Congrats on the launch :)
This is brilliant. As a fellow long-term traveler, I totally relate—those Airbnb service fees really add up! OpenBnB is a game-changer for both guests and hosts. I love how the extension makes direct booking super accessible without needing a sign-up. It’s empowering to see tools that give more control (and savings!) back to the user. Subscribed and rooting for your growth!
Airbnb fees have been quite high so it's great seeing a new tool to save, congrats on the launch!
Love this concept — it hits that sweet spot of saving money and building direct relationships with hosts. The browser extension is a genius way to keep the Airbnb UX while unlocking more value. Can’t wait to see where this takes you
I have mixed feelings about this. Airbnb creates a lot of value by simply aggregating and making it relatively easy to find places to stay. But I also understand the renter and owner's desire to save money off platform.
Out of curiosity, how are finding the direct booking and matching them to Airbnb listings, @atneik?
AirBnB is literally so capitalist, you've got the right pain point. Even I try my best to convince the hosts to book outside the app. Sometimes it works, sometimes the hosts are just too scared to violate Airbnb policies. I am wishing for your success. All the best! @atneik
What a brilliant idea—empowering travelers to save money and build a more personal connection with hosts! It’s so smart to leverage the Airbnb platform while offering guests a more direct option. I’m curious, how do you plan to expand this network of hosts and what kind of feedback have you gotten from users so far?
interested to see how this does in the wild. good luck with the launch, @atneik
