Increase Direct Bookings at Your Holiday Let

You’re paying commission on most of your bookings, and you’d like to keep more of that money. The good news is that you can increase direct bookings for your holiday let without leaving Airbnb, Booking.com, CoolStays or Canopy & Stars. Make your own website the easiest place to check dates and book. Then give guests a reason to use it. That comes down to four things. You need a site that works on a phone and a page Google can find. You also need a clear perk for booking direct, and a way to bring past guests back.

Why direct bookings are worth the effort

Direct bookings are worth it because you keep more of every booking, you know who your guests are, and you set the rules. For a small site with a few units, that adds up quickly over a season.

Margin. Listing sites charge commission, and it comes out of every stay. Take a shepherd’s hut with a hot tub that books out most summer weekends. A direct booking on those weekends is worth noticeably more to you than the same booking through a platform.

Guest data. When someone books through a platform, you often can’t easily contact them again outside it. A direct booking gives you a name and an email address, which means you can send a thank-you, a Christmas offer or a “your favourite dates are open” note.

Control. Your own site lets you decide what to show, how to describe the stay, which minimum nights apply and what extras to offer. You aren’t squeezed between ten other listings with the same filters.

There’s a point owners often miss. Even when a guest finds you on a directory or marketplace, they often search for your own site afterwards. They hope for a better deal, or they know the owner keeps more of the money. If that search finds nothing, or a dated site that looks hard to use, the booking usually goes back to the platform. A listing and a good site work together.

The direct booking path

A direct booking happens in four steps, and each one is a place to lose the guest. The table shows what guests need at each step and what to check on your own site.

Walk through it as a guest would, on your phone, and note where you get stuck. That one exercise usually shows what to fix first.

Increase direct bookings with a site that is easy to book on

The most useful thing you can do is make booking on your own site as easy as booking on a platform. Guests are used to seeing availability and a price in a couple of taps, and they will go elsewhere if yours asks for more.

A few things make the biggest difference.

• It loads quickly on mobile. Guests often browse on their phones, so a slow page loses people before they’ve seen a photo.
• Availability and rates are on the page. Don’t make people email to find out whether a weekend is free or what it costs. A calendar plus a seasonal rate card answers the two questions every guest has.
• Booking is short. Either an online booking system with payment or a short enquiry form. Both can work. Online payment suits a busy site, and an enquiry form suits an owner who likes to reply personally.
• Your photos and words are your own. Copy from your listing is a helpful start, but your site is the place to say more about the stay, the setting and the host.

If you’re building or rebuilding, our holiday let and cottage website design page covers what we put on a site like this, and how we work explains the steps.

Millie the Hut, a shepherd’s hut in a meadow near Presteigne, has a booking page with an availability calendar, a short enquiry form and a seasonal rate card on one page. The site brought 42 direct bookings in its first year, saving the owners over £3,000 in commission.

Get found on Google

You get more direct bookings by being easy to find when a guest searches for a stay in your area, and by making sure your own name finds your own site. Search takes time to build, but it keeps working.

Start with the basics.

1. Claim your Google Business Profile. It helps you show up for searches that include your name or area, and gives guests a quick look at your photos and location.
2. Give each place its own page. A page for each hut, pod or cottage, with its own description, photos and rates, gives Google something specific to show.
3. Write for real searches. Think about what a guest types, such as “dog friendly glamping near Hay-on-Wye” or “cottage with hot tub in Cornwall”. Cover those places and features honestly, in plain words.
4. Link your listings to your site. Where a platform allows it, make sure your own website is easy to find from your profile.

Give guests a reason to book direct

A guest needs a reason to book with you instead of the platform, and a small perk is often more convincing than a discount. A cheaper price alone also trains guests to wait for deals, and it eats into the margin you’re trying to protect.

Ideas that cost little and feel generous.

• A welcome treat, such as local milk, eggs or a bottle of something.
• Flexible check-in or a late check-out when the next stay allows it.
• A free extra night added to a longer stay in a quiet week.
• First pick of dates for guests on your email list.

Whatever you offer, say it clearly on your website, near the booking button. A perk nobody can see won’t change anyone’s mind.

Bring guests back

Past guests are the cheapest bookings you’ll ever get, because they already know and like the place. Most owners have a long list of happy guests and never write to them.

A simple routine is enough.

• Ask every guest if they’d like to hear about open dates, and keep a list of those who say yes.
• Send two or three emails a year. Mention the season, new dates and any change to the site, such as a new hot tub.
• Leave a card in the hut with your website address and a line about booking direct next time.
• Link your email sign-up from your website, not only your listing.

Quiet midweeks are a good use for this. A short note to past guests about open midweek dates can fill gaps without paying commission to anyone.

Keep your calendars in sync

If you keep a listing alongside your own site, your calendars need to stay up to date. A double booking costs you a guest, a review and often a refund, and it makes the idea of booking direct feel risky.

Availability calendars can sync with Airbnb, Booking.com, Canopy & Stars, CoolStays and others, so that a booking on one place shows up as unavailable on your site. Check how often each calendar refreshes, and test it yourself by blocking a date and seeing how long it takes to appear elsewhere. If you only take a few bookings a week, a quick manual check each morning is a sensible back-up.

Where to start

You don’t need to do everything at once. Pick the first two or three items below, and work through the rest over the off-season, when things are quieter.

FAQs

How do I get more direct bookings for my holiday let?

Start with a website that works well on a phone, shows live availability and rates, and takes payment or an enquiry in a few taps. Then get found on Google for your area, add a reason to book direct such as flexible check-in, and collect emails from past guests so they come back without a platform.

Can I stop guests booking through Airbnb or Booking.com?

You don’t need to stop them, and a listing is still a useful shop window. The aim is to make your own site the better option for guests who look you up afterwards. Keep your calendars in sync so there are no double bookings, and check each platform’s terms before you promote direct offers on a listing.

Do I need a booking system on my own website?

Not on day one. A calendar with a short enquiry form works well for small sites with a few units, and lets you reply personally. An online booking system with payments saves time as enquiries grow. Millie the Hut’s booking page, for example, puts a calendar, an enquiry form and a seasonal rate card on one page.

How long does it take to see more direct bookings?

It depends on how many people already know your name. Past guests and people who find you on a listing can book direct as soon as your site is ready. Google traffic builds more slowly, so treat search as a steady, long-term source rather than something that fills the calendar in a few weeks.

Find out what’s stopping your site getting bookings

Send us your website and we’ll tell you, for free, what’s stopping it getting bookings. Start with a free website audit and we’ll reply with clear, plain-English next steps.