People Are Travelling Less, Here's How To Still Get Bookings

If you have stumbled across this episode of the Boostly podcast and if you have got fewer bookings than the previous year or years and you're trying to wonder why, well, I may have discovered something that may be able to add a bit of context to it, plus give you a little bit of help how you can get more heads on beds and fill up those calendar spots for the rest of 2022 and beyond. So it comes as no surprise to a lot of people that the rising costs in day to day living, gas prices, et cetera, means that it costs a lot more than this time last year to go away on a, on a vacation or a staycation. I'm going to share my screen super quick. So there was a, a recent survey that was done in America and as you can see, you know you can read the screen. The table shows below how families in each state are prepared to drive on a road trip in 2022 and how much less than this is per usual. Now, every single one of these states that you see on here in America, every single one of them is over 40% less. Now there's a ton of context as that is to why, but it is kind of interesting to sort of dig into the numbers. So for example, one of the main reasons being is that international travel is now more open, there's less restrictions so people are taking advantage of it. It's been maybe two or three years that somebody's been able to travel abroad. I know it's particularly in the case in the UK at the moment, they're definitely taking advantage of this and they are going Spain, etc etc. But obviously as well with the rising gas prices, it costs a lot more now for a family to jump in the car and maybe drive four or five or six hours than what it would have done a year ago. So the result has mean that hosts from who may be going for maybe a year, 2021, management companies may be working with landlords, etc, they're seeing a more open spaces and, and this has got a lot of people to maybe panic a little bit. And I can see it in Facebook groups, I can see it in LinkedIn groups, I can see it all around people saying what are your bookings looking like? So yes, there may be less people that are out there, but there's definitely things that you can be doing to get in front of the right guests. So for example, one of the things that I see a lot of people doing, which is great and I think more people should definitely do this, is electric cars do not have the Same restrictions as if you've got petrol or diesel, obviously, as well, it's a lot more cost effective for the owner. Electric cars, you pay more up front and then it balances out over time. There are more and more and more and more people now have got electric cars. There are more and more and more places that offer charging and all that you have to do. If you have the facilities for electric charging, if you've got it in your property or somewhere nearby, you need to talk about it. You need to showcase this. One of the best places to do so would be on your listing sites. Again, the way that I talk about the online travel agents, you've got to make them work for you and not the other way around. And if you have got a lot of availability coming up over the course of the next week, two weeks, four weeks, six weeks, go into your Airbnb listing, go into your verbo listing, your booking.com listing, rearrange the pictures and put it in the first six, that first six, those, those crucial first six pictures, something that documents and showcases quite clearly to the user that you've got EV charging, sockets, et cetera. Again, it may not result in a ton of bookings, but at least it spreads the word a little bit differently. If you've got a website, if you've got social media, if you've got an email list, spread the word. If you're going to do the do you know anyone? The tactic that we talk about so many times here on the Boothly podcast, send a message out saying, hey, do you know anyone who needs a place to stay? We've got electric charging sockets. So I'm simple, spread the word, start talking about it. So many of you have these facilities, okay, and I'll see you talking about lack of bookings, etc in the Facebook groups, but yet you're not talking about it. I don't see it anywhere on your social media, so make sure you mention it. Put it on your website, put it on the homepage of your website, even put it into the description on your Airbnb listing. Test it out. Again, we're not setting that in stone forever. The beauty of these online advertising is that you can change it with a finger click. So do that. Number two, there will still be people in your area that needs accommodation for family or friends or for people coming into town. I would say 80% of people who are watching this podcast do not take advantage of the fact. So again, utilize your local Facebook groups, utilize your local community. There are still people wanting to travel. It's not like because of the rise in prices and they're just not traveling at all. There are still people that needs a staycation or a workation talking about workations. People still need to travel on work. So if you haven't been doing so already, try and make connections, relationship partnerships with the companies in and around your area, 5, 10 mile radius. There are tons of them. Call up the front desk, send an email in, ask to be added to their extranet. Introduce yourself, introduce your services again. They will not know about you unless you tell them. They're not going to discover you, just hoping so that they're searching on google. They need to know about you so you need to introduce yourself again. A tactic that I love here is the lumpy mail where you send something in the post, could be donuts, could be a present, whatever it could be but that grabs their attention so that they'll want to engage with you and just find out a little bit more about, about your business. There's been some fantastic examples recently where, where people are saying that they got in contact with the local sports club. The local sports team doesn't have to be a massive unit, it can be a lower leagues or whatever. Introduce what they do because they still need coach accommodation, team accommodation, you name it, they need those accommodation link ups. So again, pop the word in if, if you want to be a little bit more proactive on a nighttime drive around your local town, your local city, your local area, go to the big chains and, or the boat, you know, the motels, the hotels, whatever, and just see who's parked up in the car park. If there are big work trucks and they've got the branding on them, make a note of who they are. Drop a call in the next day and say hey, I noticed you're staying at there. How many guys you got on site? Fantastic. So just very quickly, did you know about our services? We offer private, private parking, they all have an apartment, so they've got a kitchen ready, stock kitchen, we've got plenty of beds. So that means you'll actually save money by not having to spend all of that and then give them money for, for the bar and whatnot. You can have them all in a safe place. Drop that conversation and start being proactive in that soft front. There's so many things that you can be doing that will need to be people that need to be traveling in your area. Whether it's work, business, leisure, pleasure, you name it. If you do offer that electric charging, make sure you're talking about it. So don't let these numbers and these stats scare you. Yes, there may be more, less, less people traveling what there has been last year. Maybe there'll be people traveling abroad. But when people can travel abroad, it goes the other way. So not only will people be going overseas, overseas will be coming into your country, your area, your town, maybe for the first time in a while. So try and make sure that you're applicable and visible by as many people as possible. Again, the good news is, is that you've only got a certain amount of supply if there's only so many heads you can fit on your beds. The trick is, is to make sure that you are visible. As always, if you need more, there's a book called the Book Direct playbook. It's got 101 tips plus more on how you can increase your direct bookings. Go and check it out on Amazon. Go check it out on Audible. It's available everywhere. And as always, stick around to the podcast. Make sure you like it, subscribe it, download it, but most importantly, share it. Share it with a partner, a friend, a co worker, someone on your network or your community. Together we will cut down on your over reliance on the OTAs. My hope and my goal and my mission is to help 1 million people do so. As always, we will give you the tools, the tactics, the training and the confidence to do so. All I need you to do is take action. As always, I pass this over to you. So if you've got a win, if you've got something you want to celebrate, leave it in the comments. If you've got a question, leave it in the comments. If there's something that you're doing around this, for example, if you've got a link to a website or a social or a listing site, we are talking about EV charging stations. Leave them below. We always love to see them. Use the comment section wherever you're tuning this in from. I'll be back with another podcast very shortly. Until then, wherever you are in the world, stay awesome. Stay proactive. Let's go and get some direct booking.