Mark SimpsonHelping short-term rental hosts get the tools, tactics and training to grow direct bookings with confidence

Airbnb Is Quietly Taking 25% Of Your Profits (Here’s How To Stop It)

7 Jan 2026 · 1 min

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1:04

Mark Simpson explains that short-term rental hosts lose about 25% of profits to Airbnb and other OTAs due to fees and algorithm changes, and argues hosts are vulnerable when dependent on a single booking source. He presents a solution (Boostly) offering email templates, social content, scheduling tools and a system that increased one host's direct bookings to 68% within six months, positioning Boostly as more than a website builder but a full profitability system.

Chapters

The average host gives away 25% of their profit to Airbnb and other online travel agents, often thanks to hidden fees and random algorithm changes. Today, if your only source of bookings is coming from one place, you are vulnerable. You are building a brand on someone else's land, doing all the hard work but still giving away thousands a year and had very little control over the kind of guests you was attracting. Now this is something the OTAs deliberately block because they know that if you could reach out to your past guest directly, you won't need them anymore. We gave ready to use email templates that are proven to convert. We created content that she can use on her social media. We gave her content prompts and tools to schedule all of these posts in advance. The results are outstanding. In six months her direct bookings jumped to 68%. She doesn't have to work harder. Boostly isn't just a website builder. It's a a complete system designed to help short term rental hosts like you build a business that's profitable.