Bookings are great, no matter where they’re made. That said, professional property managers know that reservations made directly on their booking sites are in a league of their own. Direct bookings attest to customer loyalty and effective marketing strategies as well as enable the property management company to collect all the profit rather than passing a percentage on to the third party booking platform.
In fact, from January to today, we have seen a 150% increase in the use of our Direct Booking Website Builder as hosts have looked to diversify their marketing channels even more so to navigate the pandemic.
If you’re serious about growing your short-term rental business, you’ve no doubt put strategies in place to encourage direct bookings, including appealing to former guests and boosting visibility for your website. Here’s how Guesty can bolster those efforts.
Hard-to-Resist Deals
Guesty’s branded booking site allows users to generate customizable coupons in order to attract guests. You can choose to offer these to returning visitors, first-time clients, groups, families, honeymooners, those who cancel and you hope to see in the future or whomever else you may be trying to target. Another option would be to grant discounts for friend referrals, extended stays or stays booked during low-season.
An attractive deal that potential guests can’t get anywhere apart from your site is an effective way to get travelers to book directly.
Analytics and Remarketing
Another strategic feature of the Guesty booking site is its ability to integrate with Google analytics to track your marketing efforts and see where they’re successful and where they aren’t. You can also set up a pixel to recapture lost leads.
Frictionless Booking
Independent websites tend to be a lot glitchier and harder to navigate than major platforms like Airbnb. Guesty can help you step up your pre-stay game and make it easy for guests to complete the booking process with tools that efficiently collect relevant guest data, share reservation terms and conditions and ensure legal compliance with local authorities.
It’s simple; the easier it is to book on your site, the more inclined guests will be to do so.
Smooth End-to-End Experiences
With tools that automate and promote seamless communication before, during and after each reservation, and with a task management feature that ensures everything is done on time and done well, Guesty can help you make a top-notch first impression and show your guests that you run an efficient and professional business, something they’re sure to remember when booking their next vacation – perhaps directly, and hopefully, with you.
The Wow Factor
Speaking of making an impression, Guesty’s Marketplace is brimming with guest experience platforms that go a long way in wowing travelers, from home automation systems to smart concierge services. Another way to win your guests over is providing 24/7 communication, so they can get instant answers to questions or solutions to any problems that may arise. And if you want to utilize this service only in the off-hours or holidays when your team isn’t working, we’ve got you covered.
Going the extra mile during your guests’ stays is sure to earn their loyalty and keep them coming back to your properties for more.
Seal The Deal
While providing a great experience is necessary to get repeat – and direct – bookings, you can’t rely on that solely. You have to maintain communication and a relationship with previous guests long after they leave your properties, an undertaking that can be made infinitely simpler with an auto-messaging tool.
Putting your communication on autopilot will ensure you never forget to reach out to former guests when relevant in order to remind them of your properties and the positive experiences they had had there.
The Gift That Keeps on Giving
Direct bookings are the gift that keeps on giving. The more bookings made on your site, the more visibility your site will get and the more potential guests it will draw. This in turn will help you grow from property management company to hospitality brand. Focussing your efforts on upping your customer loyalty and expanding your marketing efforts to engage potential guests will be a valuable and rewarding use of your time and resources, especially with Guesty there to do the heavy lifting.
Zahava has been writing for Guesty since March of 2017. She's enjoying learning all there is to know about short-term property management and relaying solutions to Guesty's readers, helping to make the demanding jobs of property managers just a little bit simpler.
