Is a Direct Booking Site Helpful?

Some thoughts on directbooking sites for short-term rental investing

Direct booking sites are very helpful for short-term rental business owners, but if your property is struggling is now the time to pull the trigger on setting up a direct booking site? Well, it depends. Let's talk about why. In this video, I'm covering why direct bookings ARN'T the answer for an under performing property and why I don't suggest investing in one just yet. I also talk about why Direct Bookings are a good long term strategy for your short-term rental business, and how they help our business.

Hint: Select Settings and Set Playback speed to 1.5x

Getting Started with Direct Bookings

In this video, I talked about getting started without much operational overhead. You need a solid rental agreement, damage insurance, and a payment processor. Simply offering returning guests the option to book direct you can potentially start direct bookings; I have fridge magnets with my email address on them, its in my digital guest book and I remind them in their check out message. If you do any organic social media posts, offer a direct booking option. See below for resources.

1. Rental Agreement. These days, Chatgpt can give you a good start on a rental agreement, then add your house rules and now you just have to pay a fraction of the cost to your legal advisor to review that agreement.

2. Damage Insurance. Rather than a security deposit, provide damage insurance via Waivo. I use Waivo for all my damage coverage - on platform and off, because it's far superior to what the platforms use (and they don't contact the guests!). You can learn more HERE - an affiliate link which means by using this link to book a consult, I may receive a nominal bit of compensation at no cost to you but helps me offset the costs of my business. I appreciate your support.

3. Payment processors are pretty easy - I'll admit though I have a couple of clients that still send me old fashioned checks in the mail! I don't mind as I require payment in full 2 weeks prior to commencing their stay so the money is in the bank prior to ever providing an access code to the home - and there are zero fees to cash a check. Stripe is a good option, and if you are already using a channel manager it probably has some options for you as well.

If you were thinking about a direct booking site in hopes of improving your properties performance, consider your effort being better spent on other items in your business - check out my blog series HERE

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Hey Boss! I'm Kate, owner/founder of The CEO Host. If you are interested in taking a leap into short-term rentals - or have some questions about your existing business, my goal - passion, and career, is to help YOU succeed. I've coached hundreds of folks getting started or looking to optimize, analyzed more deals (and duds) than I could count, completed thousands of hours of education and training, attended conferences... So don't be shy. A good CEO knows to bring in expert help - and that's what I'm here for! Lets HOP ON A CALL and chat!

Categories: : directbookings, operations, self management