Overcome drops in holiday rental bookings.

Practical advice on
overcoming declines in bookings.

Watch the replay to learn more. 

Listen in as Jenn Boyles cuts through the noise to provide practical advice on overcoming any declines in bookings.

Agenda

1. How direct bookings can help overcome a drop in bookings.
2. The two things you need for guests to book direct.
3. Three tasks you can do right now to increase your bookings.

About Jenn Boyles

You may have come across Jenn in her annual event Direct Booking Success Summit, and running her consultancy and Podcast, Direct Booking Success. 

We've been talking about what's concerning property owners right now, and reflecting on the discussion in the forums that bookings have dropped in 2024, compared to 2023. 

If this is affecting you, what are your options?

Jenn will dig into your options, and create some practical solutions that really work. 

Links referred to during the event

• AirDNA Market Review
• AirDNA Market Data
• Direct Booking Success Masterclass
• 10 ways to drive guests to your website instead of Airbnb

Script

Kelly: A warm welcome to you all. Thank you so much for coming along. I hope you found this session, or I hope you find this session interesting and useful. 

And that's the goal. My name's Kelly Odor, and I'm the marketing director for Bookster property management software company. 

So if you haven't been here to a Bookster event before, or you don't know Bookster, let me just take one minute to introduce us. 

So Bookster is a PMS channel manager, website developer, and we're based here in, well, pretty drizzly Scotland, but we've got clients all over the globe and we look after very specifically, holiday rental owners and holiday rental managers. 

We don't work with hotels. 

We specialize and we provide tools and techniques and partnerships that are really designed specifically to help you manage the kind of time consuming tasks that you have when you're running your holiday rental or you are running your agency. 

So we focus on three core areas, firstly, to help you manage your guest needs, and we do that through the two ooh, tools like guest communication tools or your own personal guest area. We also help you manage your bookings. 

So we have lots of things like payment collection and booking calendars. 

And then the one that's of most interest for today is we help you to attract guest bookings, which is why we have invited Jen with us today. 

So, Jenn and I have been talking about what's been happening in the industry recently, the changes that we're seeing in the forums. 

And there is a lot of talk about a drop in bookings and that, you know, there's always some chatter about bookings dropping, growing, dropping, growing. 

But right now we seem to be seeing quite intense amounts of those discussions. And I have spoken to quite a lot of people on the forums. 

And as always, social media brings together a variety of contrasting opinions and quite strong personalities. So I also took the time to, uh, talk to our partner, which is AirDNA, and they've got some really interesting stats. 

But the essence is that it, it shows that really nothing is clear.

We can see that there is still very good demand for holiday rentals. That demand is up. 

We can see in general bookings are up, but that's not consistent in all locations. 

Some they're very definitely down and it's further complicated by a rise in the prices. 

So that's the price that you, uh, advertise your holiday rental at And also the rise in the number of holiday homes that are advertising specifically on channels. 

And that's creating this higher competition. So if you are experiencing a drop in your bookings, it's unlikely that it's just for one specific fixed reason that's caused it. 

However, there are some very specific fixed actions that you can take, and that's what Jenn's here to share with us today. 

And for some of you, you may have been here, um, a couple of weeks ago when I was talking, uh, to Revyoos. 

And the interesting thing when we were talking with Revyoos is the fact that Christophe is also a holiday rental manager himself. 

And I think that makes it really interesting, really useful because you're not just listening to the theory from somebody like me. 

You are actually speaking with somebody who's there, who understands who's actually in the industry, attracting guests, attracting bookings. 

And so, Jenn, I know you are here with your direct booking success hat on, but I also thought it'd be interesting if you could introduce how you got started in the industry as well. And yeah, give us a bit of an intro.

 

Jenn: Brilliant. Hello. Hello everybody. 

It's wonderful to be here. I am, uh, zooming in here from sunny Vancouver, Canada. 

I can't say that very often, so it's nice to be able to say that once in a while. Um, I used to live in the uk. 

I was away from Canada for  years and I've just recently moved back here. 

So it's, um, a bit odd being a Canadian, but being back in my home country, but being new, um, and getting used to everything again. 

So let me tell you about how I got started. in holiday rentals, uh, we had an apartment. 

My ex-husband and I had an apartment in the French Alps. 

And, um, we were toying with the idea of selling it. 

We didn't quite know what to do, um, 'cause we weren't spending as much time there as we used to. 

And, um, uh, Airbnb had come out. And so we put it on Airbnb and we thought, let's just give this a chance. 

Let's just see what happens. And so one morning we took pictures, we put up the listing, and then in the afternoon I was on the ski slopes, and then my phone was pinging with bookings. 

So that made me go, uh, yes, let's do this. Um, so we did that for a while and we did it with a second property and we wanted to make something bigger and really do something exciting. 

And we bought a five bed chalet in Austria. 

And, um, at the time we thought, oh, this is gonna be so easy. We're gonna stick it on Airbnb. 

This is, the bookings are just gonna come in. 

We're gonna have this passive income dream, and we're just gonna sit back and count our money. Well, you can guess that that's not exactly what happened. 

You know, of course that first property, brand new on Airbnb went like gangbusters.

This one we had bought with our hearts and not our heads. So the area that we were in is still oversaturated. 

So it seemed like every building in the village was a boutique hotel, a guest house, you know, uh, Airbnb vacation rental, holiday, let that kind of thing. 

So everybody was renting out. 

And they had some really great seasons. They had a really high season in the winter. 

And then they also had a pretty good season in the summer with, um, hikers.

Anyway, we couldn't stand out. We didn't get the bookings we needed. 

We thought this was gonna be easy. We had full-time jobs. 

We were living a thousand kilometers away and the bookings just didn't come. And we needed to pay that mortgage. 

And it was getting kind of, uh, uncomfortable to say the least with the amount of money we were having to put into it. 

And we're just like, this is not what we signed up for. 

This was not our dream. 

And what happened then was I had a call, the people that owned it before us had been renting it out very occasionally, um, but they had been renting it out to like friends and family. 

And I got a phone call from somebody who wanted to come and stay with us and book direct. 

And I just almost dropped the phone. I'm like, book direct. You know, you have to stay on that platform. 

You have to stay on the Airbnb platform, right? Because I was team Airbnb. 

And so it took me a while, of course, I said yes, come because I was, I was looking for bookings. And it took me a while for, to get, get my head around the whole situation. 

And I realized that this is where I can stand out. 

This is how I can make a difference.

 I can create a brand for us and whatnot and get people to book direct. 

I don't have to rely on somebody else to bring my bookings. 

You know? Yes, I'll keep a presence on there because why not? 

But I want to make this brand for myself. I wanted people to come to our little part of Austria and really enjoy that sound of music experience, which we had out our back door.

 It was gorgeous. 

So this worked. It worked. And you know, it took some time and effort, marketing and whatnot. 

But by the time we were ready to sell it, we sold it. We went back to the UK and we created a new brand there, a new holiday. 

Let without any audience, without any, um, I didn't know the area, I didn't know anything about it. 

Um, but we created something there and we launched with % direct bookings just using what I had learned with the chalet. 

So that's why I'm here today. 

That's why I'm talking about this. 

And it was actually during the pandemic that I realized that not everyone had gone on the same journey as I had gone on. 

And I started helping others that were in a similar situation that wanted more bookings, wanted more control and, and whatnot, and went down that direct booking route. 

 

Kelly: That is amazing actually, Jenn.

And there's stories there that I didn't know about you. So, uh oh, really, that's really, it's insightful. 

And actually it's really reassuring because it just shows how possible it is to make a real big change to your booking strategy. 

But yeah, as you say, it does take work. 

Like, I think going into this with your eyes open, this is not something that you just click your fingers and suddenly it'll happen. 

It, it does take, uh, effort. Um, but yes, thank you. 

That is, that is, uh, very interesting. I don't know if you've had a look to see the poll on the right hand side, if that will give you, um, some ideas about the people who are here. 

If I go over to it now, it looks like, oh, it's changed. 

I'm gonna ignore the fact that it is changing as I'm talking. I know it's changing as we talk, isn't it? 

But you know, that's a good solid amount of people who are here because they've seen a drop.

I have a few questions that, um, I know we have talked about and hopefully, uh, you've had time to mull over. Um, so I'll get cracking with the first one.

I should mention actually to everybody that's here, we are doing something slightly different today. 

The idea is that we will go through the conversation and then have a look at the questions at the end. 

So if you do put your questions into the chat or on the questions section on the right hand side, don't think that we've forgotten about you. 'cause we haven't, we will come back to you. 

 Okay. So having a look, first of all, you know, we've discussed that people are seeing a drop in bookings. 

And I know one of the conversations I had on a forum, this lady came back to me and said, well, why do you think that direct booking is the solution when there is a drop in bookings on the channels? 

So Jenn, why didn't I let you answer that? 

 

Jenn: Well, yeah, I, you know, going back to your, I wish, you know, I wish I had a magic wand. I wish I could just, you know, bibby boby boop and, uh, the bookings would be, would be back up. Um, unfortunately, yeah, it does take some work, but it can, it can, um, happen. So direct bookings, I see them as part of the solution.

 Okay. I really do. 

I know that a lot of people will go right into the, um, pricing mode and say, oh, we've gotta drop our prices. We gotta drop our prices. 

But I love what Anna has said here in the comments, and she says that she put up her prices last year.

So perhaps that's part of her reason, the reason why bookings have dropped a bit, but she's not budging, 'cause they're still coming. 

It's just slower. So I love that because you have to know your worth. 

And, you know, if you keep discounting and going down and down, it's just a race to the bottom. And that's what happens on the OTA, the online travel agent platforms. 

It is a race to the bottom because you're trying to stand out in that sort of sea of options. 

You know, if you've ever been on Airbnb or booking.com looking for accommodation, it's just like all of these places that you could stay. 

And it's really exciting. 

Um, and prices, of course is something that you're, you're looking at. So direct bookings can help with this because you're not at the whim of somebody else's algorithm.

 If you're shown or not shown to a guest looking for a stay in your area, you don't have to compete with everyone in your area on those kind of platforms. 

You have the control of who you bring in as your ideal guest of who you collaborate with in your local area. 

And you're not reliant on someone else to bring in those bookings. 

You're not sitting back, your fingers crossed, just going, we'll just wait for those bookings to come in there. 

You're being proactive.

And I know that's a bit of a shift in your mindset as well. 

Um, because I think Airbnb has been touted as the solution, right? 

Get on Airbnb and it's gonna bring you in this money hardly any work, which we know isn't true. 

Running a holiday let is extremely busy and hard work. Um, you know, think about the cleaning and the ironing, the sheets and everything. 

Like, I don't wanna go back to those days. 

Definitely do not. But at the beginning, that's what we're having to do to start out, aren't we? 

We're having to do all of these things 'cause of course, money is, is part of the equation. 

So I really do think that direct bookings can help overcome the drop in bookings. 

It will take some effort and it will take some time.

Um, won't really cost any money. 

Um, but it's how you can stand out and people can find you to book direct without having to rely on the OTAs. 

Kelly: Okay, that's a great answer. 

And I'll take that as a snippet and I'll put it into the channels 'cause you definitely responded in a much clearer way than I'm, than I think I did. 

Um, but no, that's lovely. 

So I have a question that's really on behalf of property owners who are just getting started. 

They don't have a direct booking strategy yet. 

They don't have a plan or they're really unsure about what to start with. 

So what, what would you say? 

What do they need to do? 

Jenn:

Okay, well there are three things that you need for guests to book direct. 

Okay? Three things. 

And the first one of course is a PMS. We need that property management software. 

And Kelly's the girl to talk to here, um, about getting that, that PMS up and running, because you need to be able to manage your property. 

I'm not an expert in the PMS, Kelly is, but it's, you know, the place where you can manage your property or properties. 

You're managing your business. 

You can take payments through that. 

You can manage the channels that you are marketing on. 

That is, you know, you can manage your team. 

You know, if you've got cleaners, you can manage the correspondence that you have, the communication you have with your guests. 

That is a must have.

And I know that whenever I'm talking to people who are interested in working with me, I ask them, first off, do you have a PMS? 'cause that is non-negotiable. 

The second thing that you really need is the place that captures the bookings. Okay? 

Any guesses on what that is? 

It's a website. 

You need a place online for people to book. 

So Kelly, can we do another poll? Mm-Hmm.

Can we do a poll and ask the people here if they have a website? 

Okay. Um, that would be great. 

Do you have your own website already? 

Now, the good thing about having a website is it's a place you own. 

You don't own your little piece of Airbnb or booking.com. You don't have any control over who sees your listing or that kind of thing. 

But your website, you own it. It's your digital storefront, okay? It's your digital storefront. So let me have a look at that poll. 

Let's see what's coming through.

It's weird. It wants me to vote, so I'm gonna vote. Not applicable. Oh, brilliant. 

Okay, now, yes, now it's starting to change. 

Okay, so for the people that don't have a website yet, don't fret. 

But that is something that you need to get on with because it doesn't have to be fancy, okay? 

You don't have to invest a lot of money in the beginning. 

There are definitely things that you'll wanna do in the future, but starting out with, you know, the website that a PMS can offer. 

I know Bookster has a few different options that can help you there. 

Um, getting up a website where somebody can book with you is what we need to start with. Um, so that is number two. 

That was number yes, number two, I'm trying to remember my counting here. 

Number three is that you need a way to get your ideal guest's attention, and that is your marketing. 

(Poll 3)

Do you remember that movie with Kevin Costner Field of Dreams? 

I love it because it's the perfect analogy because it does not happen. If you build it, they will not come. Okay? 

People aren't gonna just stumble across your website and book.

They need to be led there. 

They need to have those sort of breadcrumbs sprinkled around so that they can follow that path to your direct booking website. 

Yes, yes, yes. Okay, so let's talk about the marketing, the marketing piece. Okay? 

And I'm not talking about Facebook groups, you know, like accommodation groups where you can, you know, a guest posts, Hey, I'm looking for a place in Dundee and then everyone in Dundee jumps on it and goes, come with me. 

Come stay with me. Come and stay with me. 

That's not what I'm talking about. 

Okay? It can work. 

And I know that there are people that sit on those Facebook groups and it does bring in guests, which is totally fine, but I don't wanna spend that kind of time, okay? 

I want things to just move a bit easier for me. 

So we're talking about social media, we're talking about email marketing, we're talking about SEO search engine optimization for your website. 

You know, these things are all very, very important. 

Blogging on your website, the number one thing that you need to think of when you are looking at your marketing is to tell people, tell people to come and stay with you. 

Tell them to go and book direct something that is very often forgotten.

 I was looking on Instagram this morning, there was a great post from someone, um, and they were talking about a great review that they had received and that was it. 

I was like, okay, I'll just go to the next post then. 

Because there was nothing that they were telling me to do. They weren't saying, Hey, do you want this experience too? 

Come and book a stay with us and here's our website. 

So that is, if you don't take anything away from today, you only take one thing and hopefully you take more than one thing. But if you take just one thing away, it's, you've got to tell people. 

And in marketing, we call it a call to action, a CTA. And that is what you want to be doing. 

You've got to tell people in your marketing to head to your website. 

Don't you agree, Kelly? 

 

Kelly: Uh, I've actually just written it down because it's occurred to me all those times with that I've put our feedback on, so off social media page. 

And I never say, I never have the call to action that, you know, you could be the next person that's experiencing this kind of service. 

I never do it. Yeah, very embarrassed. 

 

Jenn: Don't be because it's easy. 

It's an easy thing to miss. 'cause you're thinking, okay, I'm sharing it, but I don't wanna feel like I've got a big head. 

You know, I'm so amazing. 

But you are, you're great at what you're doing. 

You're great at the holiday that you are, um, providing the place that people are making these amazing memories with their families. 

Um, so tell people about it and tell them to come and book direct. Okay? 

 

Kelly: I have taken my notes. Okay? 

Then the third question is actually really the chunky question. 

And it's actually, it is my favorite because although you've actually started giving us some actionable tips, this, there's, this next section is all about actionable tips. 

So I want everybody who's listening to have their notepads or however it is that you're taking notes. Um, because what I'm looking for here are your three tips that are gonna help help our attendees, help them get started or to continue. 

For those people who are already spending more than an hour (promoting their businesses for direct bookings), what is it that they could be, that they could be looking at? 

So a bit of a mixture for people who are new and for those people who are already doing something.

 

Jenn: Yeah, I can't, I can't help it, but give practical tips. 'cause I'm like, you, you know, you want actionable advice. 

And I, you know, you do the same thing in your business is helping people. 

And that's what I do. 

Um, so I'm not just gonna talk about airy fairy stuff and then go see ya. 

You can figure it out on your own. 

So it's totally fine. Give those actual tips. 

Um, now, you know, we put that you're spending an hour or more in your marketing. 

Don't feel like you have to spend a lot of time in your marketing. 

We want to, you know, I think, I don't know if you're like me, but I wanna work smarter and not harder.

 I don't wanna spend more time at my desk, um, than I really have to. 

So let's start with, um, working smarter and not harder, okay? Finding the tools, the tactics, the strategies that will help you do this. Okay? 

So let me give you an example, um, of a way that you can repurpose your content. Okay? So you create a blog post on your website. 

So say you've got a beautiful, uh, country property, um, some great walks, some great country pubs near you. 

Oh, I miss pubs in England. I miss the pubs in the uk. I'm coming back. I'm coming back just for the pubs. Um, but say you do a blog post on your five favorite pubs. 

They're like a walking distance from your cottage, okay? That'd be a great blog post for your ideal guest, which we'll talk about in a minute. 

So you take that blog post and you could repurpose it in very, uh, very many ways. 

So one way is to take one of those, um, pubs and put it in a social media post and say, Hey, this is one of our five favorite pubs. Use pictures from their, um, tag in that pub. 

Tell them about it, because guess what? They're gonna love the attention and they're gonna share it. So you talk about that. 

But your call to action is, do you want to know the other four come to our blog or our website to read? So we're always bringing people back to your website 'cause that's what we want to do, okay? And then an email. 

I know the, the, um, some people will want to just share the entire thing in an email. 

No, we want people to come back to our website. 

So again, take one of those properties, one of those pubs, put it in your email and say again, do you wanna know more? 

Or talk about an experience that you've had, one of those in those pubs and why you love to have these pubs that are close to you to walk. 

Think of a, a teaser, a teaser in your social media, but also in your email to get people onto your website and you're thinking, okay, well what does this have to do with getting people to book with me and to stay? 

Well, if they're interested in this kind of content, um, they will get onto your website and they'll be like, this is so great. 

I wanna go to that pub. 

I wanna go to that pub. I wanna do this. I wanna walk there. 

And then they'll realize what website they're on and go, Hey, look at this place that I could stay in and how I could, you know, come to this area and I could book a stay. Now, it's not a magic bullet. 

I'm not gonna, I'm not gonna tell you that every time you put a blog up there that people are gonna book. 'cause it takes a while. Okay? It does. It's SEO it's search, search engine optimization. 

But if you are tapping into what your ideal guest wants, then this is exactly a good path. 

So you're, you're working smarter and not harder, okay? You're taking some kind of content that you've created a blog, something bigger, um, that you can break up and use some teasers. 

So I've gone off definitely on a tangent on that. 

But I think that working smarter, not harder is definitely the way forward. Okay? And with, um, with the, um, with AI being so, um, accessible now, oh, there's so many good things that you can do. 

Um, so many good things. 

Okay? So, um, if you are just starting out, and I know I'm gonna go more than three, okay? Because I wanna catch you guys that maybe don't have a website, aren't doing the marketing, or maybe you're further down the line. 

But I think actually this applies to everybody. Don't wait until it's perfect. 

Perfect is actually the opposite of good. Okay?

 

You want to just be good, just get it done. 'cause if you wait until you know, to do a video, if you wait till your hair is done, your makeup's on, you're wearing clean clothes, whatever it is, it's gonna take a while to get it, to get it done. 

If you're waiting for your website to have the perfect photographs and to have your blog set up, don't worry about it. Just get it launched. 

Get it set up, you know, get it done and then you can spend time getting it, getting it along the line to perfect. 'cause it's never gonna be perfect. 

That's the whole thing.

 

That is the whole thing. Just get it done. Don't wait for everything to be perfect. Okay? 

Now, another tip here is I was talking about your ideal guest. And I don't know if you've heard this term before, um, I don't use words like avatar or demographics or anything like that. 

I talk about your ideal guest because this is a person that you need to take the time to learn, um, to get to know your ideal guest. 

Now, further down the line, you'll have multiple ideal guests, okay? 

And that's when you really get into your, into your, um, segregating and not segregating. That's, um, segmenting, segmenting your guests, easing your ideal guests, but to start off, you know, getting to know who is that perfect fit for your property or properties, who is the perfect fit? 

So spend time getting to know them. 

Now, I was, um, doing a masterclass the other day and I had the question was, how do I find my ideal guests? How do I find out who they are? This is not rocking science, okay? 

The thing to do, and if you're thinking the same thought, is to ask them, ask your guests. You've got guests. Ask them who are they? 

Get the information. 

Have a conversation with them. Why did they book? 

Why are they coming to your area? 

You know, why did it make, why did your place be the place that they booked? Why? So find out the answers to those questions. 

And if you don't know, ask your guests that you've got now so that you can have a bigger picture of who they are and don't hide behind, oh, it's a couple in their fifties that have a dog, you know, get down. It's Linda, she's coming to my area because she wants to go for walks with her dogs. 

She wants to go to those pubs, you know, find out why she's coming and, and figure that out. 

Okay? Can I do a couple more? Kelly? Is that okay? Lemme just see the time. Yeah, you good? Okay. Okay. 

You stop me if I just keep going on. I hope people are taking notes. 

Um, okay, so another one that I see out there, and I know like it goes along with not waiting for everything to be perfect, but it's, it's do not hide behind your brand. Okay? 

We've created this brand or we're creating this brand, and maybe you've got someone to do a logo for you. 

If you've created something in Canva and you're so proud of it and you just wanna put your logo on everything, nobody cares. Sorry. 

You know, really your brand is more than just your logo, but what they want to, what they will care about is seeing your face. 

So don't hide behind it. Don't behind hide behind your brand. 

Um, I think when you're talking about websites, your about us page is the second highest viewed page on a website. 

And I don't know about you, Kelly is that one.

 It's one of the places that I go first to find out who's behind the brand. 

I like seeing people's photographs and more information about the, the holiday rental owner, the holiday rental manager on the About Us page. I think it's really important. 

 

Kelly: Not everybody likes it. I think people are a bit camera shy or, you know, they don't want to be kind of quite so well known. 

I think maybe the idea of being a professional brand means not showing your face. 

But I think it's one of the best bits about being a small business is that you can show that you are real people and that you know, you have a history and you look after your guests and it's personable and you just don't get that if you go to a bank which has a brand. 

Um, but you do get it if you go to a holiday rental, which you know, is a couple that looks after the cottage next door, that I think that's the perfect opportunity to actually yeah. 

Build a relationship as you're about us page. 

Jenn: That's it. 

And connect like social media, talk about your story. You know, why do, why are you doing this? 

Why are you renting out a house, you know, a cottage? Why are you doing this? It gets people to connect with you. 

Okay, I've got one more thing that I want to tell you about. And I know this is information overload, but I can't help myself. Um, but this, 'cause this is one of my favorite things, okay? 

And maybe you can put in the chat, um, if you know what a USP is, your unique selling proposition, okay? Um, A USP. So if you have a hot tub, you know, pool, something like that. 

Um, what I really love to do, and it's, it's a, it's probably something that started because of Airbnb, because we're so amenity focused on Airbnb, we think this is how we're gonna stand out, um, is that in our marketing, we're so amenity focused. 

Okay? So what if I said to you, if you said, Hey, come stay with me. 

I've got a hot tub. And I said, so what? Come stay with me. I've got, you know, a, a fire pit. So what? Come stay with me. I've got eight bedrooms, so what, come stay with me because I have painted every room a beautiful blue shade of, you know, a really beautiful shade of blue. 

So what, instead of focusing on the amenities and the features of your, of your property, focus on the benefits to your ideal guest, the benefit of what your USP does for your ideal guest. 

So instead of saying, Hey, we've got a hot tub. 

Say, you know what, when you book with us, when you come and stay here at the end, the end of a long day of sightseeing, you can come back and relax in the hot tub with your family and unwind. You have a barbecue. 

So what the benefit is that your guests can enjoy a wonderful outdoor meal with their families. They can make memories. Okay? 

If you've got bikes that guests use, you know, what are they, what's the benefit to them? 

They can leave their car behind, you know, they can go and get some exercise in the fresh air and enjoy themselves. 

So instead of focusing on the amenities, getting under the skin of your ideal guest and using that, so what test and I, and trust me it works. 

It really, really works. Okay, quiet now. Oh, you're on mute.

 

Kelly: Just in a message there from Jillian. 

And she's saying we struggle to know what our USP is as we have a chalet on a site with a hundred plus same design chalet. 

 

Jenn: Hmm. I can see why that would be hard. What are your thoughts? Yeah, Your USP could be you. Ooh Hmm. It's you. What are you providing for your guests? The experience, the relationship building. Yeah. 

You're unique. Not everybody in that, um, site is gonna be the same, doing the same thing as you, um, and how you connect with guests. 

I love that. 'cause that can all be about the service. 

You could do something different as part of whether you have a welcome pack or how you decorate, or what, I hate to say the word facilities 'cause you're gonna, you're gonna pull me down for that. 

But, you know, people look for nice coffee makers, for example, and that could be something that would set you apart. 

So the things that are actually in your chalet as well could separate you from, um, all the other chalets around you. Exactly. 

You know, if you've got high-end, um, uh, kitchen, you know, like a chef's kitchen Mm-Hmm. You know, then talk about that. 

But talk about it in a way that a guest is going, okay, that's for me, not, oh, that's nice. 

You have a chef's kitchen. What is it in? What's in it for them? And using that. So what test? 

So yeah, it's important, um, to talk about these things, but it's yeah. 

What's in it for the guest. 

 

Kelly: Yeah. I love that. Jillian, you should let us know what you, uh, what you decide. 

And actually it would be interesting to see what your chalet looks like. 

Like have you designed it, decorated it, do you offer particular services that are different already that you could use?

 Or is it that you're going to need to sit down now and think, what could I do that's different? 

So that would be an interesting exercise and fun, actually. I think it's an exciting exercise to do. And brainstorm. 

Uh, Anna has sent a message, which is actually very interesting that I've been beating up on today. Do you think that accepting pets really makes a difference? 

Or what would you say to that? Jenn? 

 

Jenn: The first thing I'm gonna say is you don't have to accept pets. 

Okay. You depends on who your ideal guest is. Okay? I think overall, you probably would get more bookings if you accept pets, but it depends on who your ideal guest is. 

Maybe they're allergic, maybe you don't want to have to deal with pets, and that's totally fine. 

Embrace it. In fact, go the other way. You know, go hardcore, no pets. 

Um, everything's hypoallergenic. Those kind of, um, messages in your marketing. Um, but on the other hand, if you're welcoming pets, they are part of the family. Don't charge for them, You know? 

Oh, that's controversial. It is controversial, isn't it? You know? 

Um, don't charge for them. You wouldn't charge for a baby. You're not gonna charge for the grandma, don't charge for the pet now. 

Yeah, I can hear people yelling but what if they pee on everything? The chances are the children probably make more problems than the pets. 

But if that is something you're worried about, well then take a deposit of you've gotta spend more time cleaning.

 But I have to say, I'm pet friendly and I've had the most wonderful dogs, and I don't limit myself to one dog either. 

And it's a small space, but it's fine. Um, I had a family recently, um, both children were on the spectrum and the father contacted me and he goes, okay, we're booking, we're coming, but both of my children have dogs.

One's medium, but one's kind of big. Is that gonna be a problem? 

And I just know that they're part of your family. 

This is my ethos. Okay? 

They're part of your family. Bring them. But, and so there are ways that you can protect yourself and your, and your place by taking deposits, talking about the extra cleaning, that kind of thing. But it's up to you. It really is. 

 

It's your decision if it's the right place. I have a client whose, um, property is in a, in a wetlands. Um, and there are no dogs allowed in the wetlands because of all the birds. 

 

So if she was pet friendly, then the people there would have to leave their dog at home or like in their house on their own, which you don't ever wanna do. Um, so it doesn't make any sense, but I know that people are all, you know, you have to be, you have to be, you have to be pet friendly and it's just not the case. 

 

Kelly: No, exactly. I think you make your choices. What I was reading today was very interesting, and this is in the AirDNA stats. 

 

It was talking about amenities that, uh, holiday rental owners or managers have, uh, and how that can impact the number of bookings and the value of the bookings.

 And pets was on it. 

Dogs specifically was on it. 

And yeah, if you offer, uh, accommodation that will accept dogs, you will have in general statistically more bookings, more revenue. 

Now, I don't know if you didn't charge for dogs, whether or not you would still earn that higher revenue, whether that higher revenue is from that extra extra charge for, for the pets, um, or whether it's people who will put up their prices because they know that they're going to attract a very strong market of people who want to come and holiday with their dogs. Mm-Hmm. 

So, but yeah, it's, it's interesting. 

Anyway, I'll, I'll share the documentation about that as well. 

Uh, Claire, you're mentioning there that you have to accept guide dogs even if it's pet free.

Yet the legislation is very controlled within, I know certainly the states and the uk I've read a lot of the legislation on that. 

So, um, yeah, that's definitely something to take into consideration. 

 

Jenn: Yeah, and that's the same, like if you're advertising on channels as well, you need to be following, following the rules on accepting guide docs. Yeah. 

But if you are messaging out there and on your website and you're talking about, 'cause Anna's saying she doesn't accept pets 'cause her repeat gas of allergies, well then don't change it. Keep it for keep it for them. 

But then do all your messaging about how you're pet free. Mm-Hmm. You've got a client who has an adult only glamping site and their messaging is, we don't allow children, you know, that is what it is. 

You know, would she get more bookings if she allowed children? Perhaps. 

But she has really gone through this, into this niche. 

So if your messaging out there is like, you know, we're hypo, you know, all these kind of things to bring in people that have allergies, that's great. 

And I would then think that if somebody has a guide dog and they're looking through and they're looking at your property versus another property, your property is all about how, you know, you don't accept pets and for, for allergy reasons and they've got another one, which one are they gonna choose? It isn't just about bringing in those guests, it's also not having the guests book with you that aren't the perfect fit. 

 

Kelly: Yep. That's interesting. 

Okay. I'm just gonna scroll up and let me see, what are the questions that we had or comments that I have missed while we've been talking? 

Uh, Claire, you have put a link to your website with your, with both of you on it. So that's, that's really good. Hold on. Um, there's a couple of people who are asking for some information about adding blogs. 

Laurel is, has got a direct booking site and how, and the website's currently being built, which is great. And then the rest of the comments are about having a drop in bookings. 

 

Kelly: So it's quarter two, which is actually pretty much our cutoff time. If you were to give one overriding tip that you really want everyone to go away and do tomorrow, what would it be? 

 

Jenn: Hmm. There's so many. There's so many, but I think of what we're talking about today and your, your drop in booking, I'd say use that. So what test use that. 

So what test and you know, to think about it, it's not about you, it's about them, the guests. What are they gonna get when they're reading your social media post or your email or whatever, what's in it for them? 

That would be then the number one. I love it. I'm gonna use the so what test, because I do, I drift down the listing of all the features that we have as a software company, and I'm not always thinking, so what, and yeah, so you'll see a change in my social media. 

So, and when we're talking about traffic and trying that marketing piece of getting people to your website, I have a guide, a free guide. I'm gonna put the link in the chat there. 

 

And it's ways to drive guests to your website instead of Airbnb. 

So that is something that is completely free there that you can sign up to get. Mm-Hmm.

 

 And I also wanna mention that I'm doing a free live masterclass on April th, and I'm gonna pull a link to that too in the chat if you'd like to hear more about direct bookings and talking about, um, you know, the secrets to, to getting more direct bookings even maybe when you sleep, those kind of things. Um, that's what I'll be talking about in there. 

 

And also sharing my, a proven four step framework for a profitable business built on direct booking. 

So I'd love to see you there. 

 

Kelly: Great. Could you send me those links as well? And then I, I'll make sure when I share this video afterwards, I'll share the links to this and to the stuff and Great. Put it all together. 

 

Um, and now I do have the final slide, which does show your contact details, but just to confirm, um, if you anyone wants to get in touch with you, what's the best way? Yeah, I head over to Instagram at direct booking success. 

 

Jenn: Um, yeah, come and see me on Instagram and send me a message. 

Um, yeah. Great. It's been really fun. It has been fun. 

 

Kelly: Now, just before you go, I haven't actually shared this with anybody else, but I am dying to share. So people here, you are the first people to hear about it, but Jenn and I are in the process of producing something quite new and something quite special, predominantly for new holiday rental owners or new holiday rental managers. 

So if you follow our social media, then we'll update you there. We're hoping to be ready for the public. 

I've written the summer, but I don't know for certain, but let's say the summer. 

That's, that's a goal. Um, but I am very excited. So, um, do follow us and then you'll find more information there. Okay. 

That leaves me enough time to say thank you. 

So thank you Jenn for being our special guest. Amazing as always. Oh, thanks Kelly. 

Um, and thank you everyone who's come along with us tonight, tonight for me this morning for you.

And, um, yeah, I'm looking forward to seeing you again at the next one.

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Watch as Jenn Boyles shares solutions for holiday rental owners who want more bookings.