PROJECT · HOLIDAY RENTAL

Apartamento Bajamar — Tenerife Norte with a tourist licence.

A holiday apartment with views of the Teide and natural pools five minutes away. It was performing well — good occupancy, a score of 9 on Booking, a steady flow of guests. But every booking, the first and every repeat, went through Booking or Airbnb. Between 15% and 20% commission on the price. Every time. With no channel of its own to break the cycle.

01 · PROJECT OVERVIEW

Technical specifications of the delivered project.

Specifications Apartamento Bajamar · website with its own engine
Client
Apartamento Bajamar · private owner
Sector
Holiday rental · licensed tourist accommodation
Location
Bajamar · Tenerife Norte · Carretera General de Bajamar
Tourist licence
VV-38-4-0093899 / T1546 · displayed in the footer site-wide
Languages
Spanish, English, French · human translation, not automated
Technology
Custom PHP · booking engine with dynamic server-side calculation · no WordPress, no Lodgify, no Smoobu
Live website
02 · STARTING POINT

A €100 booking. Who keeps each euro.

The apartment was already performing well — good reviews, high occupancy, a steady flow. But between 15% and 20% of every booking stayed with the platform. This is what the owner earned on a typical €100 booking before the project, compared with the direct channel.

Breakdown of a €100 booking Average OTA commission 15-20%
Total price What the guest pays
100 € total
Booking · Airbnb commission What the platform keeps
−17 € per booking
Direct channel · own website What the owner receives
100 € commission-free
On a typical €100 booking, the difference is €17 retained through the owner's own channel. Across the apartment's annual occupancy, this amounts to accumulated savings of several thousand euros a year — and the price does not rise for the end customer: they pay the same, but the money goes entirely to the owner.
03 · BOOKING ENGINE

The engine calculates the price before moving to confirmation.

It is not a form that says "check availability". It is a system with dynamic server-side calculation: per-person pricing, a cleaning fee, length-of-stay discounts, a refundable/non-refundable option, date validation and a minimum number of nights. The guest sees the exact price before confirming — and books without leaving the website.

Booking engine · dynamic calculation Commission-free
Check-in
15 Jun 2026
Check-out
22 Jun 2026
Guests
2 people
Nights
7 nights · minimum 3 ✓
Refundable rate Free cancellation up to 5 days before
Base price
Non-refundable rate −5% extra · no changes or cancellation
−5%
7 nights × €85 / night (2 people) 595 €
Final cleaning 45 €
5% discount · non-refundable rate −32 €
Total payable 608 €
Calculation validated server-side · 0% intermediary commission
04 · QR STRATEGY

How the cycle is broken of paying commission every time.

The first booking may still come from Booking. The second, the third, the one from a recommended friend — no longer. Inside the apartment there is a sign with the direct URL and a QR code. Every guest who walks in sees the booking address with no intermediaries. The platform pays its commission only once per acquisition; the owner's own channel handles repeat bookings and word of mouth.

Acquisition cycle · from platform to own channel One commission per guest · not per booking
Step 01
First booking via OTA

The guest discovers the apartment on Booking or Airbnb. The platform charges 15-20% on the first booking. This is accepted as an initial acquisition cost — once per guest.

17% commission
Step 02 · pivot
Physical QR code in the apartment

A sign with a QR code and direct booking URL on display in the apartment. Every guest who walks in, regardless of their original channel, sees it. No sales push — just the information made available.

100% exposed
Step 03
Repeat bookings and direct recommendation

The same guest's second booking — and the one from a recommended friend — comes through the owner's own website. Commission-free. The owner retains 100% of the price and obtains the customer's details for loyalty.

0% commission
A sign with a QR code does not work without a website that genuinely allows booking. A booking engine does not work without a website that convinces the guest that booking direct is more convenient and cheaper. The two go together.
05 · TECH STACK

The same technical rigour as an industrial platform.

A holiday apartment competes with Booking, Airbnb and 40 other apartments in the same area. And when a guest shares the link with a friend, what appears in the WhatsApp preview decides whether they click. Every technical layer is designed so the website performs as an acquisition tool, not a digital brochure.

Booking engine
Dynamic server-side calculation Date validation Minimum nights Refundable/non-refundable rate Cleaning fee
Typed schema.org
LodgingBusiness VacationRental Open Graph per language
Internationalisation
hreflang ES · EN · FR Human translation Google Business linked
Security
reCAPTCHA Server-side validation CSRF protection CSP headers
Performance
WebP compression Native lazy loading No heavy libraries
Compliance
Cookies with granular consent Tourist licence displayed Legal notice · privacy
06 · RESULTS · 16 WEEKS

From depending on platforms to building a channel of their own.

Verifiable data over the first 16 weeks after launch. The share of direct bookings grows over time as the repeat and recommendation channel builds up — the first booking still pays commission, but from the second onwards the acquisition cost is zero.

Verifiable indicators · 16 weeks post-launch Figures estimated from average occupancy + average price
+22%
Commission-free bookings as a share of total volume
0%
Commission on bookings via the owner's website
~1,800
Commission savings over 4 months
100%
Guests exposed to the direct URL
#1
"apartamento bajamar tenerife"
3
Languages with their own rankings
Ranked searches · Google Spain 2026
#1apartamento bajamar tenerife #1alquiler vacacional bajamar tenerife norte #1piscinas naturales bajamar alojamiento #1holiday apartment bajamar tenerife
Figures estimated from average occupancy and average price per night · the share of direct bookings grows progressively as the repeat channel builds its history.

Is the holiday rental 100% dependent on platforms?

A first conversation with no commitment. We understand the property, the current operation, the channels — and define which of the services — or which combination — makes the most sense for your case.