For exceptional villas in Croatia

Your villa has a story. Booking.com gave it a listing.

upclick builds story-driven, search-first websites with direct booking for Croatia's finest villas — so the guests already searching for you by name book with you, not through a platform taking 19%.

up·click/ˈʌp·klɪk/verb

to win back the click — and the booking — your guest was already trying to give you.

The quiet tax

15% is never 15%.

Booking.com, Airbnb and Expedia are known as OTAs — online travel agencies. They bring you guests, and they charge for it: in Croatia, Booking.com's commission carries 25% VAT on top, so a "15%" rate is really 18.75%. It leaves quietly, booking by booking, season after season. Forever.

18.75%

The real commission on a standard 15% Booking.com rate in Croatia, once VAT on the commission is added.

€656

What one €3,500 stay — five nights at €700 — quietly hands to the platform.

€18,000+

The typical annual platform bill for a villa grossing €120,000 through the OTAs.

The billboard effect

Your best guests are already looking for you.

They found you on Booking.com. Then they opened Google and typed your villa's name, hoping to book direct for a better price. What did they find? The same Booking.com page — and you paid 19% for a guest who was trying to reach you. With your own website ranked first for your villa's name, that same search becomes a direct booking.

Since the EU's Digital Markets Act, Booking.com can no longer enforce rate parity. You may legally offer better prices on your own site. Most owners don't know this. Now you do.
What we build

We build the front door.

A website worthy of a €700-a-night stay: your story told beautifully, found first on Google, booked directly — and always in sync with the platforms you already use.

01

Found first

SEO architecture that puts your villa at #1 for its own name — and climbing for "luxury villa" plus your island or region. In English, German and Croatian.

02

Booked direct

A booking engine on your own domain: real-time availability, secure payment, and best-rate perks that give guests a reason to book with you, not the platform.

03

Always in sync

Availability syncs automatically with Booking.com and Airbnb. No double bookings, no spreadsheet juggling. The OTAs stay your billboard — they stop being your cash register.

04

Effortless to run

Edit photos, prices and pages yourself — no developer needed. Sub-second loading for guests in Munich, London or New York. Built with eVisitor and fiscalization in mind.

Built on the modern web — Next.js, headless CMS, edge CDN — which, to your guests, simply means: instant, everywhere.

The math

See what direct bookings are worth to you.

Three sliders. Your numbers. No email required.

€150,000
80%
50%

Assumptions: 15% OTA commission + 25% Croatian VAT on the commission (18.75% effective); upclick at €7,500 build and €300/month care plan. Excludes OTA payment-processing fees and any growth in total bookings from a stronger direct presence — both of which would make your savings larger.

You pay the OTAs today
€22,500 / year
Commission + VAT on your current platform bookings
Commission you take back
€11,250 / year
Every year, on the bookings that move to your own site
The build pays for itself in
~12 months
After that, the savings are yours
Kept over 5 years, net of every upclick fee
€30,750
Build + five years of care plan already deducted

At these numbers, the math doesn't work yet — and we'll tell you so on the call, too. We only take on villas where direct booking clearly pays.

Pricing

Priced like what it is: a sales channel, not a brochure.

The Build
from €6,000
one-time

Story-driven design and copywriting in English, German and Croatian. SEO architecture, a direct booking engine with secure payment, calendar sync with Booking.com and Airbnb, and photography direction. Live in about four weeks.

The Care Plan
from €250
per month

Hosting on a global edge network, security and updates, calendar-sync monitoring, seasonal content and SEO upkeep — and support that actually answers.

Growth · optional
5%
of direct bookings

Google Ads on your villa's own name, email marketing to past guests, rate and season strategy. You only pay when you get paid — and it's still a third of what the OTAs charge.

Your OTA bill last year was likely €15,000–25,000. The Build costs a third of that. Once.

How it works

Four steps. One season ahead.

01

Story

We visit, we listen, we walk the grounds. Your villa's narrative takes shape — and we direct the photography to match it.

02

Build

Design, copy in three languages, SEO architecture and the booking engine — live in about four weeks.

03

Connect

Calendars synced with Booking.com and Airbnb, payments switched on, eVisitor-ready guest flows.

04

Grow

Rankings, content and your direct share compound season after season. The OTAs become your billboard — nothing more.

Villas book in winter for summer, and Google rewards a head start. Sites launched this autumn own their search results by next season.

Questions owners ask

Fair questions. Straight answers.

What exactly is an "OTA"?

An online travel agency — the booking platforms: Booking.com, Airbnb, Expedia and the like. They advertise your villa to the world and charge a commission on every stay. Useful as a billboard; expensive as your only sales channel.

Do I have to leave Booking.com and Airbnb?

No — and you shouldn't. The platforms are the best billboard in travel; we keep them working for you, with calendars perfectly in sync. What changes is where the booking happens: guests who search for your villa by name find your site first, and book there.

If I offer a better direct price, don't I lose money?

Most owners already price their platform listings 15–20% higher to absorb the commission. A 10% direct discount still nets you more per booking than the platform does — and the guest, their email address, and their next stay belong to you.

Is it even allowed to undercut Booking.com?

Yes. Since Booking.com's designation as a gatekeeper under the EU's Digital Markets Act, rate-parity clauses are no longer enforceable in the EEA. Advertising a better price on your own website is legal — and it is exactly what your guests are hoping to find.

How long until it pays for itself?

For a typical villa in our niche, the build pays for itself in roughly a year — often faster. Run your own numbers in the calculator above; if the math doesn't work for your villa, we'll tell you so on the first call.

Who writes and maintains the content?

We do. Interviews, story, copy in English, German and Croatian — then seasonal updates under the care plan. You can edit anything yourself, but you never have to.

upclick.me

Stop renting your own guests back.

Tell us about your villa. If we're a fit, you'll have the numbers — and the plan — within a week.