About BNBstays

What BNBstays is

BNBstays is a subscription-based direct booking and guest operations platform for short-term rental hosts. Instead of paying 15–20% per booking to OTAs, hosts get their own branded booking pages, host-owned payment-provider flows, availability tools, guest workflows, and full control over guest data.

The platform handles the technical layer: availability calendars, checkout, booking management, guest communication, verification workflow, and market-aware domains. Hosts handle hospitality, pricing strategy, taxes, refunds, and local compliance.

Why we built it

OTA fees erode margins on every booking. A host grossing $100,000 in annual revenue can lose $15,000–$20,000 to commission and service fees. Direct bookings fix that, but building a booking engine from scratch requires Stripe Connect onboarding, PCI compliance considerations, payment-provider diversity, recurring billing, and a guest-facing checkout that feels trustworthy.

We built BNBstays so hosts get a production-ready direct booking and guest operations layer without needing a development team. Every booking that comes through your own site is a booking that keeps more revenue in your pocket.

Key features

• Stripe Connect — Hosts connect their own Stripe account. Guest payments go directly to the host's Stripe. BNBstays never holds or escrows guest funds.
• Multi-provider direction — Beyond Stripe, BNBstays is designed for Mercado Pago (LATAM), Razorpay (India), PayPal (global), and Xendit (Southeast Asia), as long as guest payments remain host-owned and market-approved.
• Subscription billing — Flat monthly pricing ($9 Solo / $19 Host / $49 Pro). No per-booking commission. Subscriptions are managed through Stripe Customer Portal with automatic proration on plan changes.
• Direct guest relationship — Guest email, contact details, and booking history belong to the host. No OTA walled garden.
• Guest session authentication — HMAC-signed cookies for guest access to booking details and check-in information. No account creation required for guests.
• Availability sync — iCal import/export for syncing across platforms. Automated sync runs every 30 minutes.
• Booking timeouts — Unpaid bookings expire automatically to prevent hold blocking.
• AES-256 encrypted credentials — API keys for Razorpay, Xendit, and other providers are encrypted at rest using AES-256-GCM.
• Occupancy tax calculation — Configurable occupancy tax rates per listing, calculated at checkout for host remittance.
• Role-based access — Host admin panel with separate guest-facing booking views.
• GDPR-compliant cookie consent — Built-in consent banner with Google Analytics gated behind opt-in.

Who it's for

BNBstays is for vacation rental hosts who:

• Own or manage one or more short-term rental properties
• Already list on Airbnb, Vrbo, or Booking.com and want a direct channel
• Want to reduce OTA commission costs without building custom software
• Operate in markets that require diverse payment methods (LATAM, India, SE Asia, etc.)
• Need a reliable booking page to send guests to from their own website, social media, or email

Architecture

BNBstays uses Next.js (App Router) for the frontend and API layer, Drizzle ORM with PostgreSQL for data, and Keycloak for host authentication. Guest access uses HMAC-signed session cookies. The entire platform runs in Docker and is deployed via a single docker-compose command. Payment credentials are encrypted with AES-256-GCM at rest. All business logic lives in service modules with thin API routes.