How do I build a marketplace like Airbnb?

What Airbnb actually does

Airbnb’s product is a calendar with a payment attached. Everything else is trust.

Airbnb is a trademark of Airbnb, Inc., with which Kreezalid is not affiliated. This page describes Airbnb's publicly visible model so you can build your own version of it.

How to build it on Kreezalid, in 7 steps

A rental marketplace is the model Kreezalid’s rental solution is built for, so most of these steps are settings rather than work.

1. 1

   Choose what is being rented, and a rental template. Holiday homes in one region, artists’ studios by the day, campervans, photography gear. Start from the Spaces & venues or Peer-to-peer rental template, which arrive with the booking flow configured.

2. 2

   Design the listing with its amenities. Attributes per category — capacity, bedrooms, Wi-Fi, parking, pets allowed — plus a photo gallery and house rules. Guests filter on them.

3. 3

   Set availability and pricing. Each listing has a real-time calendar that prevents double bookings. Rates per night, day, week or month; the Advanced Calendar app adds hourly slots and syncs Google or Apple calendars for hosts.

4. 4

   Choose the booking flow and the deposit. Instant booking or a request the host accepts, and a refundable deposit per listing to protect hosts. Both are settings, not development.

5. 5

   Connect payments and set your commission. Stripe Connect takes the guest’s payment at booking, keeps your commission and pays the host out automatically. Set the rate per booking.

6. 6

   Add the map, host pages, reviews and messaging. Search by location with results on a map (Google Maps or Mapbox apps), a public page per host, reviews after each stay, and an inbox so guests ask before they book.

7. 7

   Brand it, recruit your first hosts, open. Theme editor, your own domain with SSL, your cancellation and damage policies written down, then invite hosts while the marketplace is private and switch to Launch when the first listings are live.

Rentals come with their own risks. Deposits cover everyday damage; for the rest, read which insurance a peer-to-peer rental marketplace needs.

What Airbnb’s model needs, and how Kreezalid covers it

The booking mechanics, sorted by what every plan includes, what an app adds, and what is yours to arrange.

What you will not get

Airbnb spends billions on what sits around the calendar. Four of those things are yours to arrange.

Building something closer to another platform?

Each of these pages maps a well-known platform onto the same building blocks.

• Build a marketplace like Amazon →A multi-vendor product marketplace: shared catalogue, seller onboarding, one basket split per seller, commissions and shipping rules.
• Build a marketplace like eBay →A C2C second-hand marketplace: listings by individuals, fixed prices with offers, payments through the platform, seller reviews — no auctions.
• Build a marketplace like Etsy →A makers’ marketplace: a shop per creator, handmade attributes, variants, reviews with photos and SEO on every listing.
• Marketplace templates →24 starting points by sector and model, each with its pages and its booking or checkout flow configured.

Go further

How rental marketplaces find demand and their first hosts, and the risks to cover before you open.

• How to build a rental marketplace →Checking demand, choosing a business model and the features renters expect.
• Insurance for a peer-to-peer rental marketplace →Which risks a deposit covers, and which need a policy.
• What Amazon, Etsy and Airbnb got right →Marketing, a solid platform and a seller recruitment plan: the three things the big marketplaces share.