Repeat guests booking through Airbnb
A family who stayed at one of your cottages last year wants to return. They search for the cottage and find it on Airbnb before your website. They book there, and the channel takes its commission, on a guest you already had. Meanwhile your own website shows availability that is a day out of date and sends guests to a booking page that looks nothing like the rest of the site.
You would like more direct bookings, but the website does not make it easy.
Why direct bookings stay low
Agency websites are often built as brochures with a booking engine bolted on. Availability comes from a feed that updates slowly, search by dates and guests is clumsy on a phone, and the checkout is a separate page from your booking system's provider. Guests who are used to channel apps give up.
Past guest data sits in your property management system, unused. Nobody invites previous guests back at the time they usually book.
What that costs
Commission on bookings that could have been direct reduces owners' income and your margin. Relying heavily on channels also means their rule changes affect your business directly. And guests who book through channels are harder to build a relationship with, as contact details and communication are controlled by the channel.
The direct booking site we build
We build or rebuild your booking website around live data and a simple booking path. We do not promise a particular share of bookings; we build the things that commonly stop guests booking direct.
- Live connection: prices, availability and restrictions come directly from your property management system's API, so the website matches your channels.
- Search: guests search by dates, guests, pets and features such as hot tub or sea view, on a fast site that works well on phones.
- Property pages: pages built from your property data with photos, facts and a clear booking panel, and structured data that search engines can read.
- Checkout: a short checkout on your own site using Stripe or your payment provider, following your booking terms, with bookings written straight back to your system.
- Past guest programme: previous guests are invited back around the time they booked last year, with their favourite property's availability, subject to their marketing consent.
- Measurement: bookings are attributed to their source so you can see where direct bookings come from.
| Common problem | What we build |
|---|---|
| Availability out of date | Live connection to your system |
| Clunky mobile search | Fast, phone-first search and filters |
| Separate checkout page | Checkout on your own site |
| Past guests forgotten | Rebooking invitations with consent |
| Unknown booking sources | Source tracking for every booking |
What you can expect to change
Guests who find your website see accurate prices and availability and can book in a few steps on their phone. Past guests hear from you before they search a channel. You can see which sources bring direct bookings and put your effort where it works.
Channels will stay important for reaching new guests, and we do not suggest leaving them. The aim is that guests who already know you have an easy reason to book with you directly.
Signs your website is holding back direct bookings
- Past guests rebook through channels rather than with you.
- Your website's availability is not live.
- Booking on your website means leaving for a separate page.
- Searching by dates on a phone is awkward.
- You do not know which sources bring direct bookings.