All about the Book Direct Show 🚀

Welcome to the Boost Lee podcast. We're in season 8, episode 15 and today we are talking about book direct. The whole Boosted podcast is about direct bookings but now more than ever on the back of coronavirus crisis and how it's hit the hospitality industry, how so called partners have treated their host. If you could just do me a massive favor, introduce yourself a little bit if you can do your background in hospitality where you are in the world and a little bit more about your views on direct book.

Good evening everyone. I'm Damien. I am joining you from Spain, Southern Spain, near Malaga. I am a fierce advocate of the book to write movement. I am an SEO by trade. I work in search engine optimization with vacation rental, holiday rental, whatever you want to call it, short term rental property managers throughout Europe and the US.

First ever series that I did on the Boosted podcast. It's five ways to start to increase your direct bookings. And you know, this is why the event that you hosted in February, one I attended, we had people like Alan Egan, Yvonne Hallin, we had people from Zivu, we had people from IPRAC talking. But there's people that are skilled in so many different ways, branding etc, but it's so important to do now. I gave my takeaways from the More Bookings Direct conference in London. That was Season Season 7, Episode 22. But I'd be interested now that the dust has settled. You've had a chance to relax and decompress after throwing on a very popular big event. What was your personal takeaways from that show?

I would never organize event on my own again. But secondly, just how this has truly resonated with people. You know, I think an important theme here that I had kind of not realized was that a lot of people feel very, you know, it's important in this day and age people feel isolated. They feel like, you know, they're under the control of some major OTAs and they don't necessarily have not even just the control over their bookings. But there's not other people out there necessarily like them who need that help, need that education and that there is, you know, the availability to collaborate with other people. You know, we're not all competitors, we're all peers. You know, we all have valuable information to share, vital insights to share, which I think is a part of this. And one of the big takeaways that I got was people speaking during the breaks, people speaking afterwards, how they just found value in talking to each other and you know, sharing vital, vital golden nuggets that we didn't even necessarily address on the day when we didn't have time to. We all have some level of expertise and it's about sharing that. And, you know, I'm just moving forward, forward together. I think there's a vital kind of communal aspect to this, and I think.

We need to hone on anything comes on the back of this coronavirus. Just how this crisis has just taken over the world. I think there's a lot of industries that are going to be looking at how things run in the future, like how the business runs, how events run, et cetera. And I do think the event sector is definitely going to be one that you will find some of the more bigger shows now will start to go virtual. I've seen a lot of events which are adding in a virtual element. And the thing that I have noticed from SPE to a lot of people from the hospitality community and the booster academy, is that the few events that I speak at, everybody has said I would go but. And the but is always getting. And the beauty of a virtual event, one where you can literally tune in from anywhere in the world. So it doesn't matter whether you're in New Zealand, Australia, South America, North America, anywhere. You can tune in from your house, kitchen, you know, your living room, put on the tv and you'll be able to take part, you know, with the technology that is out there now, you know, the money that is being invested into companies like Zoom, you know, Zoom stocks, which we're talking on Zoom now. Zoom stocks have gone up, you know, 300% since the start of all of this. So there's going to be a lot more money put into this sort of thing. And the technology is going to get better and better and better. And to be able to be part of that, I'm really excited. I'm excited to see who can tune in, where they can tune in from. And what we'll be able to do will be really, really exciting and to have something all around. The book Direct theme is even better because again, there's one thing that I know that will come out of the back of this is that a lot of hosts and property managers will be sort of reevaluating how they do their marketing. They'll be reevaluating how much they rely on third parties to bring their bookings in. They'll be reevaluating their websites, their property management software, their channel managers. You know, they want to be more omnichannel. They want to be everywhere. But most importantly, they will be looking to increase their Direct bookings.

And the.

And the problem is, is that so many people will be sat there going, I want to improve my direct booking, but they don't know how. So something like this, you know, and you can go right now. BookDirect show, it's a hell of a domain. Very well done for getting this one sorted. But bookdirect show, you go there, you can scroll down and you can register your interest with what you would like to learn about. And obviously then Damian and his and his army of people will be in touch with you closer to the date of, give you, you know, exact details on how to tune in and how. And what you need to tune in as well, which, which is awesome. Obviously, we've got people that are lined up to speak and I can pretty much guarantee there'll be more and more people confirming the more they hear about this. And, you know, we invite everybody tuning in. Go and register. BookDirect show. Put your name down. And obviously Damien will be in touch. Do you have anything else to add about the show? Is there anything, you know, any, any sort of. Anything you want the boostie people to come at you with any suggestions or what? Is there anything that we can do to help spread the word?

You know, I know your community, they're very proactive and they're very engaged and, you know, I see it, I see it on your Facebook groups and I love that this is exactly what this event is for those people who have that level of productivity, who want to do something with their industry. You know, not everyone's like that and I totally get that. You know, not everyone has the time to, you know, to undertake all of these things that you need to be looking at for a book. Direct strategy. You know, I know with SEO, you know, very few people have got time for it. They roll their eyes when they hear about, you know, the phrase. So I get that. But yeah, in terms of your community, I think it's perfect. You know, people are already registering their interest from all around the world. You know, people today from Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, find, find us and, and, and sign up. So, yeah, I think that that's exactly it. Wherever you are in the world, you can sit in front of your computer, watch it live, or watch the videos thereafter, and gain huge amount of educational value in so many different ways and ways that I need help with as well. I'm not an expert on most of these things. That's why I bring you guys on board. So everyone has that level of, has access to that level of. Sam.