Host on your own terms.

Direct bookings, without the spreadsheets or the platform tax.

Keep what's yours

$20/month flat. No cut of your bookings. Ever.

Why hosts switch

Better than by hand. Better than the big platforms.

If you book by hand

Now, your bookings create themselves

Just paste an email thread with a potential guest. Downwind reads the email and builds the booking: Dates, contact info, rate, fees, notes and more.

No spreadsheet, no retyping. You just got your weekends back.

Downwind
Paste an email, book in seconds
sarah.chen@gmail.com9:41 AM
Lake house in July?
Hi! We were the family with the golden retriever last summer. Any chance July 12 to 19 is open? Happy to send a deposit to hold it. Thanks! Sarah
you9:58 AM
Absolutely! Same rate as your last stay: $2,400 for the week. See you in July!
Create Booking from Email
Paste email thread…
From: Sarah Chen <sarah.chen@gmail.com>
Hi! We were the family with the golden retriever last summer. Any chance July 12 to 19 is open? Happy to send a deposit to hold it. Thanks! Sarah
From: you <hello@lakehouse.com>
Absolutely! Same rate as your last stay: $2,400 for the week. See you in July!
Parse Email
Reading dates, names, pricing
New Bookingfrom sarah.chen@gmail.com
First name
Sarah
Last name
Chen
Guest email
sarah.chen@gmail.com
Check-in
Jul 12, 2026
Check-out
Jul 19, 2026
Booking total
$2,400
Nights
7
Notes
Returning guest. Bringing the golden retriever.
Create Booking
Booking created
Sarah Chen · Jul 12 to 19 · $2,400
Booking link ready to share
a guest emails you
Your guest · Airbnb
?
Sarah C.
Last name hidden until check-in
hidden by Airbnb
hidden by Airbnb
Message via Airbnb only
You receive$2,028 of $2,400
Their fee−$372
+$372 kept
Your guest · Downwind
SC
Sarah Chen
Direct booking · Jul 12
sarah.chen@gmail.com
(508) 867-5309
Reply directly
You receive$2,400
If you list on Airbnb or Vrbo

Their fees end and your business grows.

You book with guests directly, so nothing is skimmed off the stay. The guest's info and the repeat booking are all yours.

Repeat guests book with you, not through them.

What Downwind Is

One place for seeing every booking to completion.

Not a listing site, but the back office behind it. However guests find you, Downwind manages logistics for rental agreements, payments, and communication.

Downwind
Upcoming bookings4 arrivals
S
Sarah Chen
Jun 12 – 19
Partially Paid$2,400
M
Marco Pereira
Jun 21 – 26
Fully Paid$1,850
D
Dylan Haffa
Jul 2 – 9
ACH Processing$2,734
O
The Olsens
Jul 14 – 18
Awaiting Payment$1,200
One calendar
Every booking, every source.
Payments handled
Deposits and balances collect themselves.
Guests stay yours
Their details live in your account, not a platform's.

Six different tools.
One place where bookings manage themselves.

Guests sign and pay on their own. Downwind sends the emails and fills the calendar.

GuestInOut$
Chen6/126/192400
Pereira6/216/261850
Haffa7/27/92734
Spreadsheets
INBOX
Balance due for your stay
to: guest@email.com
Email threads
JUNE
Paper calendar
MEMO: balanceNo. 1042
$1,850
A checkbook
Dylan confirmed! Check Jul deposit
Sticky notes
Paymo
Dylan H. paid you
Lake house balance 🏡
+$2,734
Request sent
Deposit · pending
$600
Payment apps
Downwind
Your guest's view
Complete Your Booking.
Review & Sign
Payments
All Set
Rental Agreement
Guest signature
Agreement Signed
your guest gets one link
Simple, Honest Pricing

We take $20. They take $1,020.

Flat monthly fee. No cut of bookings. No fees on guests.

If you book $6,000/month
$2k – $15k
Big platform
3% host + 14% guest
$1,020
Downwind
Flat monthly · no cut
$20
Payment processing (via Stripe) is passed through at cost — ~2.9% for cards, ~0.8% for bank transfers (capped at $5). The market rate. No markup.
Questions

What I get asked first.

I ran a rental myself. These are the questions I’d want answered before I trusted a tool with my bookings.

Don’t see yours? Ask me

$20 a month, flat. We don't take a cut of your bookings, and we don't add a dime to what your guests pay. Be aware of the same fees charged for card/bank payment processing that literally every business deals with, but that's it. We don't mark anything up. The major platforms will quietly pull a thousand dollars a month out of the same bookings, but not us.

You pick how guests pay: card, bank transfer, or the old way with a check or Venmo. Card and bank payments use a payment processor called Stripe and go to your account, never ours. We don't hold money or see guest payment info.

You can cancel a booking with one click. We void the open invoice(s), so Stripe won't bill your guest. We also make it easy to send back money they already paid, all or in part (i.e. for damage or cancellation fees, if it comes to that).

Your guest reads it and signs on the same page where they can pay. We date it, save it as a PDF, and send copies to both of you. E-signing is a legally enforceable signature method. We provide a template agreement onto which you can set your own rules (pets, cancellation terms, etc), or you can upload your own version and we'll tack the booking details onto it.

No. Your guest gets one link. They open it, read the agreement, sign, and pay, all in one spot. Nothing to download, no account to make. The less we ask of them, the faster you get paid.

Nope, list wherever you want. Downwind takes over once the guest wants to book directly with you. For Airbnb guests, the key is next season: with Downwind, now the guest can book directly with you as seamlessly as they could on Airbnb, but this time you keep all the money.

You cancel! That's also what the trial is for. Do a real booking through us with guest payment enabled and see how it feels. If it isn't saving you time, no stress.

Your rental.
Your guests.
Your rules.

14 free days to see if Downwind
fits the way you host.

Reclaim your Sundays
Two weeks free · no platform ever takes a cut