![\"Ms](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/8e77aa0d30a9de05631a10571a46d99a84a10d6c.jpg\")
Camera IconMs Walker was recognised as one WA\u2019s leading entrepreneurs under the age of 40 in 2020. Credit: Matt Jelonek and Gabriel Oliveira\/ WA Business Awards<\/p>\nA WA holiday booking platform has been forced to shut down after eight years with its bid to take on the national market running out of financial runway.<\/p>\n
Aussie Holiday Stays \u2014 formerly known as WA HomeStay \u2014 was founded in 2018 with the aim of creating a cheaper, locally owned alternative to the major accommodation booking platforms.<\/p>\n
The platform charged guests a 5 per cent booking fee \u2014 compared with up to 20 per cent charged by other services \u2014 while promising better cash flow for accommodation owners.<\/p>\n
Founder and chief executive Amanda Walker had hoped to take the WA business national but the expansion proved too costly.<\/p>\n
In a statement posted to Instagram on Sunday, Ms Walker said the company had been unable to secure the funding needed to continue developing a national booking platform.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to send an email to thank everyone for their support of our dream over the last eight years,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cUnfortunately, over the last few months it has become clear that we do not have the runway to continue to push for a national booking platform.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ms Walker previously told the Canning Gazette the business was founded on the belief a local booking platform could be fairer to both owners and guests while giving back to the WA community and promoting sustainable tourism.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe are different because we only charge guests 5 per cent booking fee, compared to others that charge up to 20 per cent,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe believe a local booking platform is fairer to both owners and guests as it gives back to the WA community and promotes sustainable tourism at the same time.\u201d<\/p>\n
But as the company worked towards its national expansion, the cost and complexity of integrating with different property management systems became a major hurdle.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe haven\u2019t been taking reservations or advertising while we have been building to the different PMS,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Ms Walker said there had been strong support for an Australian-based booking platform, but the logistics of connecting to different systems ultimately proved too expensive.<\/p>\n
\u201cAlthough there is a huge amount of support for an Australian based booking platform, the logistics of connecting to different PMS meant we were not financially able to do it,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Camera IconMs Walker was recognised as one WA\u2019s leading entrepreneurs under the age of 40 in 2020. Credit: Matt Jelonek and Gabriel Oliveira\/ WA Business Awards<\/p>\n
The business had aimed to provide better cash flow for accommodation owners while keeping more tourism spending within WA.<\/p>\n
Ms Walker was previously recognised at The Australian Business Awards as one of WA\u2019s leading entrepreneurs under 40 for her work with the booking platform.<\/p>\n
She also ran the business through the COVID-19 pandemic, when travel was severely impacted.<\/p>\n
In her Instagram post, Ms Walker thanked customers who had supported the business and its expansion plans.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were blown away by your belief in us and your willingness to support us with your houses or reservations,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThank you and keep supporting those that are willing to give things a go.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A WA holiday booking platform has been forced to shut down after eight years with its bid to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":89692,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[323,152,335,4318,464],"class_list":["post-89691","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-perth","tag-business","tag-news","tag-perth","tag-small-business","tag-wa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89691","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=89691"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/89691\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/89692"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=89691"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=89691"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=89691"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}