Build Your Own Airbnb Clone

Why build your own rental marketplace

If you wanted to build an Airbnb-style rental marketplace, you'd usually pay $10–$30K and spend months on development. In this video I'm going to show you how to build one in minutes using Prometora - no coding.

And this isn't just an Airbnb clone. You can niche this model into anything - surf camps, van life parking spots, digital nomad apartments. The marketplace model is repeatable.

What we're building - Swell Stay

A marketplace to discover and book unique surf camps around the world, called Swell Stay. We'll add a hero image, create one listing for a surf camp in Puerto Escondido, Mexico, set up payments using Stripe Connect, and run a real test transaction so you can see the whole flow.

Generating the marketplace

On Prometora I pick the rental marketplace template. I add the name - Swell Stay - and the description: "A marketplace to discover and book unique surf camps around the world." Create. A few seconds later we have the first version: featured rentals, "a better way to travel", FAQ.

I swap the hero image for a better one, change the headline to "Find your perfect surf camp - discover unique surf camps around the world", and remove the quick search chips. I clean up the navigation and add a link to the All Listings page.

Listing form for stays

In Store Settings → Listing Form: for a rental marketplace you could have both Experiences and Stays, but I keep it simple with just Stays. Stays is the typical Airbnb-style listing type - availability calendar plus a booking calendar for buyers.

Per-night price. No free listings. No immediate purchase - instead a date range (check-in / check-out). No rental duration limits. Location enabled. Skip additional guest pricing for now. Title, description, price required. At least one image required. The form ends up with daily, weekly, and monthly price fields, location, and availability dates.

Creating the first listing

I sign up as a seller and land in the dashboard. As a surf camp owner I create the listing: "Puerto Escondido Surf Camp", description "Puerto Escondido Surf Camp - all surf levels very welcome." Upload four images, pick the primary, set location to Puerto Escondido, Mexico.

For availability I open March, April, and May, skipping weekends - that gives me 65 available days. Base price $80/night, weekly $300, monthly $1,200. Skip seasonal pricing for now (Christmas, summer, etc. could go here). Publish.

Booking calendar in action

The listing page shows the surf camp at $80/night, the description, an approximate location pin, the image gallery, and a Book button. Today is the 25th, so the immediate dates show "Too soon - 24 hour notice", but March is open. I can't book on this account because I'm the seller. Booking flow is already working - picking four nights returns $320. There's also a Message Seller button.

Stripe Connect setup

In the back office: Payments → Stripe Connect. Always start with test keys. In your Stripe account, switch to test mode in the top-right, then Developers → Overview, and you'll see both keys. Copy the publishable and secret keys into Prometora and save. Now we can run real test transactions.

Test booking - request and approval

I sign up on a second account so I can act as a buyer. Pick three nights - total $240 - two guests, click "Request to book". The booking request is now waiting for host approval (response within 48 hours).

Both sides get an email. The buyer: "Your booking request has been submitted." The seller: "You received a new booking request - please review", with the dates, guest count, and total.

I log back in as the seller, see the pending request on the dashboard, add a quick message, and click Approve. The buyer gets the next email: "Your booking request has been approved by the host. Please complete your payment to confirm the booking."

Payment, payouts, and commission

The buyer clicks through, lands on the payment page, and Stripe Checkout opens. I add a Stripe test card, enter "Rasmus Test", and pay. Payment goes through. Confirmation email arrives with the booking number and amount paid.

The seller gets a "Payment received" email with booking details and earnings. As the surf camp owner I earn $216 - the marketplace fee is $24 (10% commission set in store settings, adjustable to whatever fits your strategy).

Back on the listing, the booked dates in March are now blocked - they can't be double-booked. Everything is working.

Outro

That's how easy it is to get going with your marketplace idea on Prometora. If you have any questions, send me an email or drop a comment. If you liked the video, give it a thumbs up and subscribe. See you in the next one.