Direct booking news and tools for hosts

Direct bookings cut platform fees, give hosts the guest relationship and reduce exposure to a single channel's policy changes. This page collects The Host Report's coverage of the direct booking movement: website and booking-engine launches, payment and guest-verification tools, loyalty and repeat-guest tactics, Google Vacation Rentals updates and the platforms' responses. Stories run newest first and each one weighs whether the tool or tactic is worth a host's time and money.