Yes, you should continue to use the large Online Travel Agents (OTAs) such as Airbnb and Booking.com until you're confident that you have a big enough following that you can fill your properties from repeat bookers and word of mouth referrals. Airbnb and others spend billions on marketing each year and they're a great way for you to find new renters. But direct bookings are better for you: they cost less and put you in control.

Direct bookings cost less and put you in control. Airbnb, Booking.com and other large online travel agents (OTAs) typically take 15% to 20% of the booking cost whereas our direct bookings can cost less than 5% including payment fees. Direct bookings also give you more control: you set the cancellation terms, you manage refunds. You're not at the mercy of the OTAs' arbitrary decisions: no incomprehensible cancellations which can wipe out a summer season.

There is a one-off start-up fee of £1, $1 or €1 which you pay once you are happy with your property advert. You can upload unlimited property adverts.

If you choose direct Stripe payments, we charge a 3% payment fee for bookings made on both Rentalsystems and Clickstay.

If you choose Clickstay payments, we charge 10% commission.

Clickstay and Rentalsystems are two sides of the same coin.

Rentalsystems allows owners and agents to manage their properties: so create property listings, setup prices and availability and handle bookings. You can also use Rentalsystems to manage your owner tools such as creating a dedicated property page or an embedded calendar for your own website.

Clickstay is our listing site which lets you advertise your property to renters free of charge. There are no additional fees for direct bookings from Clickstay; you pay the same 3% fee (plus payment charges). We realise Clickstay doesn't have the same profile as Airbnb, Booking.com and others but thousands of people book with us and even one or two Clickstay bookings could save you hundreds of pounds, euros or dollars.

If you select Stripe payments, then the renter will pay directly into your Stripe account. You can easily set up a Stripe account when you set up your property advert in Rentalsystems if you do not have one already.

If you choose Clickstay payments, you will receive your money in Clickstay account once the booking has started.