How to get started in getting more direct bookings

Welcome back, everybody to the Boostie podcast. We've got something special today. So I was recently interviewed on Instagram, an IG Live by the amazing Tatiana. It was called Spilling the Tea. It was a as a chance to talk about direct booking tactics. She was so kind to share the recording with me and I said that we would put it on the podcast. So what you're going to get is a little segment of the chat. I had a lot of fun. Please do go check out Tatiana. I'll make sure that we've got links on the blog post, we've got links on the podcast, we'll make sure all the links is there. Amazing person to follow on Instagram and it's just another person who's bringing tons of knowledge into this industry on how to get started, how to scale, and she brings such a really cool interior design background to it. So the chat that you're about to listen to, the chat that you're about to see is my Spilling the Tea Instagram Live with Diana, all about the amazing direct bookings.

So with that in mind, what would you say is a good strategy for someone new? So let's say they're just getting started, they and their property is ready to go. What do you think is like the step by step strategy of them, like, starting to do, like ending up in direct booking?

Well, Yeah, I mean, 100%. You got to get professional pitches done. And I know when you're just starting out and you've maybe spent two to four grand decking out your property, the last thing that you want to do is spend a little bit extra on.

A professional photo shoot.

But I think, Tatiana, you'll agree one of the most important things is that people don't read. People don't read any.

No, they don't.

They see the pictures. They see the pictures first. And those five or six pictures are key. And if you've got your iPhone taking pictures as good as your iPhone or your Samsung or whatever camera you've got is, it's going to get lost in all the other hosts that are taking professional pictures. And it is key, number one. Number two, I've already mentioned it. Property management software. And again, you may think, oh, I mean, I disagree with a lot of people, good people that I know that I've got to know this year on this because there's people saying you don't need to do anything until you've got seven properties. You know, I politely disagree. I think you need to be doing it as soon as possible because again, when you get Listed on Airbnb for example. You can also get listed on vrbo, also get listed on booking.com, you can.

Also then take direct bookings and it's.

Just for a pms so it's so simple to do. And the, the final one, just backing on from what I've just said, get listed everywhere. Get listed everywhere and then just, you know, start the slog of building a business, building a brand. Like talking about yourself.

Okay everyone, I hope you're enjoying this episode. I want to take a super quick break to talk to you about Hostfully. So I've been telling you all about their award winning platform. But one of the great things about this company is that they are very eco conscious in the world of short term rental management. Go check out their blog right now@hostfully.com they have a few interesting articles about how you too can make your business more marketable to the younger generation that is really talking about this topic and taking it very seriously. Go to hostfully.com and as you are there and whilst you are there, go and check out their digital guidebook. It's free to get started with. And also booking a demo call about their award winning PMP property management platform. They have the exclusive sponsors of the Boostly podcast. They have been for many years and hopefully for many years to come. So for me, to all the team, thank you and let's get back on with this show.

One of the things that I love to encourage people to do, and I've spoken about this a lot, is that when you first open up your business in your property, you literally there's two types of people. There's proactive and there's reactive. Reactive, they just literally sit and wait for the phone to ping with a booking, which is bananas. Or you've got the proactive ones who will go out and try and get bookings. One of the simplest things you can do, and it works so many times, is you have got thousands of potential revenue sat in your phone, in, in your contact list, 100%. All you got to do is pick up the phone and just send WhatsApp messages, Voxer messages, or pick up the phone and just say, hey, I've started a hospitality business. Do you know anyone who is coming to the area and needs accommodation? You do that five. You know, you do that for maybe an hour every day for the first week and send a message to everybody that you know. Any Facebook friend that you've got, I guarantee you you will get responses back. Now the responses back will go one of three ways. One, they'll ignore you, which is fine. Number two, will reply back saying, amazing. Unfortunately, I don't. Or you'll get a reply back saying, yeah, I do. Actually, John's coming to town for a work thing. He needs. He needs accommodation. What have you got now? That one's amazing. So then you can go, yeah, sure, send me John's details or start up a group chat and, you know, I'll be more than happy to have a chat with him because that is a friend recommended a friend. It's such a warm lead, as they say. And again, so many people at this point come back to me go, oh, I don't think I can do that. If you can't pick up the phone and speak to the people who know, like, trust and love you and how are you going to market your business? It's just. It's madness. So, you know, it may be a little bit icky and maybe a little bit different, but my whole job, my whole thing that I try and do is I try and make people feel comfortable about doing uncomfortable things like that. And again, it's free. It costs nothing but your time. And when you first start a business, the one thing you have to pour into it is time, if you haven't got the funds or the money as investors, to do it. But if you do that, I guarantee you, you will get some form of booking inquiry or just contact relationships built. So that's a great way to start.