The Easiest Direct Booking Win You’re Probably Missing – Meet Directo

Welcome to the Boostly podcast. This is the podcast for hosts who want the tools, the tactics, the training, most of all, the confidence. Go out there and get yourselves direct bookings. We do a mini series on this podcast where we talk to services and softwares and things that you just need to know about, which is going to help you get more direct bookings. And that's exactly what we're going to do today. We've got Pierre and he's from directo. This is an amazing application, I guess you'd call it, that can help you actually get more direct bookings. We did have Pierre on about six months ago, but. But there's so much has happened and also we want to return your attention to genuinely what works, which is why we're doing this today. So welcome along. Pierre, thank you for being here today.

Liam, thanks for having me again.

So for those who haven't come across directo before, what is it and who is it built for?

So directo is essentially like a copilot for consumers looking to book better and get better terms on their bookings, on their accommodation bookings. So it's. It's essentially like a plugin that you can install on your phone or on your desktop. And every time you browse anywhere on the web, there's basically a copilot that's going to help you find the same inventory that you see but on direct websites so you can save on commissions and why not get better perks? As you know, as I do that sometimes when you book direct, it's not only about commissions, but it can also be about having certain perks like late checkout or a bottle of champagne. Upon check in are better cancellation policies, parking spots, all of these good perks. So we built a copilot that helps consumers be aware of those deals, be aware of the natural arbitrage and take advantage of it.

That's very cool. And I should say here I actually use directo. I use it as a host and I've used it as a guest as well. So this isn't something where. And I'm not affiliated in any way, it's just a case of ultimately it's something which I find useful as a host, which is why we wanted to get you back on and to do this. So it basically saves people money or gets people direct bookings, depending on whether you're the go the guest side or the host side. But walk us through in practice, how does it actually work for both kind of the guest side and from the host?

Yeah, sure, sure. The best the best is I invite everybody to trade out. It's. It's that you type directo direct with the O at the end on Google and you'll find it. But essentially it's very straightforward. If you've installed plugins on your browser, you'll immediately understand what it does. It's like those ad blockers. You know, there's a very famous plugin when you put it on your, on your browser and you go on YouTube, eventually it removes the ads and goes straight to your video. It's a great experience for consumers. So essentially we do the same thing, but we try to do it with, you know, commissions on accommodation. And wherever you're browsing your next hotel stay, whether it's on an OTA or somewhere else on top of the listing that you'll see, we'll let you know that there's a direct offering and take you there. Ideally, our copilot is smart enough that it'll take you to the right unit with the right checking dates, with the right parameters for the search, or the right number of adults, children, etc. So the experience is super smooth and help the consumers compare very easily. And why not book direct when, when the deal is better? So that's essentially how it works. And for the, for the supplier side of things, there's kind of two models. The first one is it's a freemium because, you know, our agents are, if, you know, our copilot is going to browse the web, so if it's public, is going to find it and going to take you, these consumers to you when we can. And then we have a premium version that helps you control the experience of the consumer to improve conversion. So typically you get up to 10 times better conversions when we work together because we'll help with parameterization, choosing the right links, putting a number of special coupons and basically flagging that this property is really worth going, booking direct and helping the consumer get there. So that's basically how the equation works. We're trying to put basically more, you know, consumer through the front door of your business, which is your E Commerce. Right.

What I like about it is that we've other applications which save people money and you know, if anyone here, and I'm sure many people will have been on Instagram reels and on TikTok reels and sometimes on these other applications, you have to remember at some stage to go, oh, now I've kind of found what I want. I'll go and take this image and I'll put it in here. Or this link and put it in here and that'll try and send me the direct book. And whereas with directo, the great thing is that while I'm searching and I forget I've got it, genuinely I forget that I've got it. But while I'm searching, say we went state in York recently, while I'm searching, it was coming up, we've recommend going, oh, you can get this, you can get this to the direct website. And it was just handy as a reminder. I didn't need to go to a third party to go and do it. So there's absolutely no reason why anybody who ever goes and stays in different properties or goes traveling why you wouldn't have at least the free, free version on your desktop. I can't think of one reason why people wouldn't want to have this wallet.

And to clarify, it's always free for consumers. Right. We charge on the supplier side because we think that the consumer should have that great experience and there should be no barrier to them having it. And I think you touched an important point here is that you forgot that you had it. And, and that's what happened with most of our users is they forgot that they have it. And that's the power of being always on and being sort of a copilot to every single search they do. Because unlike other travel websites, I don't have to remarket myself every single time. So that's where our model makes sense. Right. And we don't have to charge OTA fees to anybody because we're always on. Right. I think the main challenge in consumer travel is it's very competitive and you have a few big players that have a lot of power and of course, you know, they sort of have a good grip on the distribution and it's very hard to make yourself a space in there. And with the model of director being there always on being your co pilot for every single search that you do from January to December, every single time you search travel, I'll be there. Right. I think that's super powerful. And I love that you forgot that you had it because indeed, like we're. It doesn't matter. We're still, we're still there.

Yeah. And even from a host point of view, advising guests, you know, Mark and me always have been saying that it's our job to educate our guests to try and always book direct. They'll get a better deal. And ultimately we usually make more money as hosts. Right. And we've definitely got more control. So it's one of those Things where often in the past I've said, oh, you know, look for the name and go and do that. Well, actually now my number one thing is just download Directo and that'll. That'll tell you probably if there's a direct website. And that's something which people, people want the path of the least resistance. Right. People aren't going to remember when they search. And so this is what makes this so cool. So it looks really, I say it looks really simple. I mean, just it comes up with information, but without selling the secret sauce. What is the tech doing in the background? How does it know to show my properties direct when somebody's on the Airbnb? What's going on there?

So what happens in the background is eventually we've built agents that are able to replicate your search and try to automate things that, you know, you could do. But before wasn't so straightforward for a computer to do, but now, you know, with, you know, AI and new technologies are made a lot simpler. So we've built a number of agents that do a number of different things. The, the main one is the search agents that able to find the same units somewhere else and then start parameterizing the search. Right. So finding the unit and being able to go through the calendar, putting in the dates and getting this ready for the consumer to go to. Right. So that's the first agent. The second one that we built is the compare agent that's able to see if a deal is actually better or not. And that's not so straightforward because, you know, it could be in the fine print. There could be taxes on one side, not on the other. It could be a different room type. There could be, you know, cancellation policies that are different. So being able to summarize this in a straightforward way for the consumer is not so easy. And that actually helps sometimes when the price is at parity or slightly lower, showcase other features that might still, you know, convince the guests to book direct. Right. So that's the agent. And then going forward, we'll have a few more that we're developing and maybe we could talk about it just more in general as a intellectual exercise, trying to understand where is, you know, consumer travel heading towards now in the era of AI and agents. But yeah, I think we're well positioned to build very important pieces in that sort of new race. And that's getting us super exciting. So some of what's going on behind.

The scenes, I'm definitely excited to talk about what can be happening in the future. So. But without going to that now we'll definitely cover that. Would you agree that it's much better for people then to have a direct book and website? And this is where it ties in obviously with, with what we do at Boostly is that ultimately if somebody hasn't got a direct book and website, would it be difficult for directo to find that deal, I presume. I mean they've, they've kind of got.

Yeah. Oh, it's ridiculous. Like we, unfortunately there is a few times where we need to send traffic to an Instagram page. Right. And that's not great because, you know, it, it, it opens the door to more risk on the consumer side. There could be more scam on a platform that's not so verified without, you know, proper payment pages and things like that. So it's, it is a million times better. I can't express how, how important it is, I think, to have a direct website. Just if, if it's just for your repeat customers, right, at least have a page for them to go back to so they could just book back directly with you and not, not through a third party. So I think, I think it's very important. And, and nowadays there's almost no excuse, you know, you guys do great job, of course. And, and I think nowadays there's no excuse to have a. Buying a domain and getting great website plug into it that, you know, sync with your calendars as you guys make it quite straightforward. So I think the barrier to do that is almost non existent. Right. So I think I would invite those that haven't done it yet to definitely do it.

Definitely. And like you say one thing that we always advise because just having the website is one thing. But you mentioned pricing and that. And I've had so many people come to me and they say, hey, I'm not getting direct bookings. And you go, have you just done a little price check? What price are you on Airbnb or on booking.com versus direct? They go, oh, I'm, I'm higher. Right, okay, well why, you know, it costs you more for these other platforms. Just make sure you're pricing.

Exactly. So it's, it's, I think it goes, you know, I, I think there's at least three main consumer categories in our space. You've got the super loyal ones to the OTAs, the ones that have maybe the genius points and, and they think they've got like this exclusive treatment from booking is they got genius point and it's great. They love their experience and they're just loyal to their ota Right.

They've been boost a little bit by, you know, all the things, all the perks.

Yeah, it's fair. It's fair game. So I guess that's one category then you have the other category that they just don't know and they think that Airbnb is the official channel for your apartment or for your house. Right. Or verbo or booking. They just think that this is the official page and it's the only way to do so. For those one, there's a bit of education and we hope to be one of the consumer business actually doing that efforts. Right. Trying to educate those customers that hey, no, there's actually a better way to book this that's straight with the provider of the service, the one that actually is going to clean your bed and, you know, give you a great experience and if it's a hotel, you know, cook your breakfast and, and clean the pool and do all the hard work. So we're putting you straight in communication with this, with the service provider and I think that they see the value to that. And then the last category, of course, are the ones that already are aware that there is a better way to book and they're savvy, they search, you know, they do image search, they copy paste the title, they'll search your name, your host name and try to find it. And we're trying to incentivize this behavior and making it easier for the consumer and make it more generic. And this is the last one where you know, you, that, that you might be missing if you are indeed, I've got a higher rate on your side. You, you're missing out on that, on that, on that client for sure. So being your, making sure that you're at least at parity and if you can, a little lower actually helps you drive those bookings 100 straight to you.

And already, I mean even just in this podcast, if, if somebody's listening to this, you know, like download down Directo, make sure your price is slightly more competitive direct than the OTAs. It doesn't have to be a lot, it just has to be slightly or a perk, you know, like early check in or something they get if they, if they come direct. And ultimately even just thinking about how we're marketing here is going to be helpful for everybody listening. So my next question is how many hosts or users are currently signed up and have you noticed a growth in any particular sort of country or types of host and how they're discovering you?

Sure. So I'll share some on the, on, on our user side of things. So we've got about a quarter million users. So we got more than 250,000 monthly active users. That means that every month there's you know, 250,000 people that show up and use this thing and that keeps growing quite fast. Right. So we've been adding about 20,000 new users net new users every month. So that's, we're very happy with that. And it also shows something very interesting is that our retention is very high. Like we got higher than 99% retention. So there's very few people who decide to not use it anymore. Right. I think that's super interesting and basically has helped us deliver constant demand to our partners. Right. Then on the partner side we actually work with the entire hospitality industry. So we don't only work with hosts, we also work with hotels. So if you look at the number of rooms that we work with, it's already impressive. We're in the hundreds of thousands of rooms because we've got some of the bigger brands already working with us. Right. And of course, you know, when you look, count your hotels in the southerns, it's, it's, it adds up quite, quite fast. And on the host side we've actually also partners with some of the leading vacation rental or short term rental companies of the world. So we also have quite a number of units and maybe last time I mentioned as well, we've got know great partnership with you guys and with a number of other, other companies that have helped us promote our service and our membership to a lot of the, of the operators here and help help us grow, you know, very nicely again in the thousands of properties out there. So we're very happy with the growth on that side and, and of course on the consumer side too.

That's very cool. And ultimately it's one of those things where when you've got a platform like this, you need hosts but you also need people using it. But when there's a clear value for people, that retention rate clearly shows there's, there's a clear value for people. Why wouldn't you have it? It's what I'd call a no brainer, you know, like, and with the partnership side of things, you know, like we, we obviously are doing this because it's something that we believe in. I actually signed up via that, that link and you know, it's something which we'll show in the notes and, and how people can, can go and sign up by the end of this podcast as well. So there are people out there who will be thinking, do you know what, as a host, if it cost me anything at all, I've got subscriptions for dynamic software for my pms, I've got subscriptions for something else and AI and all these different things. And I think not another subscription. Obviously it's free for guests, but what would you say to the hosts who are thinking, do you know what, I just don't want to pay for anything else at all.

Yeah, I think that's fair. I think the idea, how we built the membership model is taking into account the fact that there's so many vendors out there and so many subscriptions to be had already, and a lot of them are actually on the variable basis. So I actually take you a few points of the booking value that you generate. So we didn't want to go there. That's why we made it a flat fee. So you know what to expect. And we made it super, super small. Like, I think it's in a few cents. If you have like 10 units, it's a few cents per units per month. So the idea is it's more like a membership and we, we kind of wanted to showcase that. This is, you know, as much of you supporting us on that mission of developing direct business out there as, you know, us delivering value back to you as well. So we think like, you know, this is more supporting a movement for more direct and some independence in distribution versus anything else. Right. And I think a lot of people see that and been very supportive to us. So I think, I think once, for instance, once you subscribe, you become member, we send you a monthly update, you know, you get a video of me sort of sharing you our latest update. So we're trying to build this very transparently because again, the idea here is there's really not many, very few companies out there trying to help direct exist and very few on the consumer side. Like, a lot of them are on the tech side. There's very few doing that on the consumer side. And we're probably the one of the only one really doing it and who've managed to get it done at scale. So I think the important here is, you know, we're all on that boat together here to develop more booking, more direct bookings together. And I think people see that and are supportive.

I'd agree and great answer. And just to back that up, as a fan, which I think people will detect from this, when you think of like a few cents a month per unit, it's the opportunity cost. What if a single booking brings me in 1000 pound or $1000, depending on where you are in the world. Booking well, that literally pays for my very small subscription, you know, like. So it's the opportunity cost of not being on some of these, not showing up so easily, especially as your user base of guests increases, because the more people who use it and get a good deal direct, the more people time they're going to recommend it to a friend, a family member, and you're going to get more users, right?

And the other advantage that you have is if you've got that model where you manage properties for others, right? Assuming you went beyond your own properties and managing for others, it's also a great tool to demonstrate that you're more savvy than anyone else in your area or in your region, because you get to educate your owners too on what director is what, what we do to bring more direct demand, bringing down costs for eventually you as a manager, but also as the, as the owner, right? So I think it's also a great tool to acquire users, right? And we've seen folks use it in that way, being able to demonstrate to their owners they know more about this industry than anyone else, being part of this sort of membership and this direct to club, right. So I think that really helps, oh, 100%.

And literally I loom out a video to my owners in the same way you loom out to, you know, your members. And that was one of the first things I did that month, was like, hey, if you haven't already download Directo, this is how we're getting you more direct bookings. Because of course owners, especially if you mentioned they love direct bookings because ultimately that is money back in their pocket compared to Airbnb and the other OTAs. So talking about Directo itself, the hosts get to see, you know, click throughs or any data. Is this something that is either available or coming soon?

Yeah. So we just actually released in beta our dashboard. So we build a dashboard for our partners, our members, to be able to see what's going on at two level. First, at the company level, like I said, we're building this with as much transparency as we can. So we're sharing our user growth on a monthly basis. Some of our metrics, some of the things that we track internally every month that are very important to us. So we share that back to the members. So you see that and you also see your own data, right? So, so how many people click through, how many unique users went through your, through your links and eventually how much that brought back to you as A business. To be fair, you could already see it if you've got Google Analytics or any other analytics platform because we always put a little tag. So even if you're not a member already, you could already potentially see direct to visitors. If you don't make sure you talk to us and we're happy to sync that up, but basically you can to be able to see that also on your site so you can match this data and make sure that you know they're in line. I think that's also the beauty of this agent model where we are going to be able to always send you traffic on top and you'll be able to see that anyway.

Very cool, very cool. And just generally what's coming in the future, what do you see happening either in the direct booking space or for directo particularly?

Yeah, I think it's super interesting. So I think for me maybe even a step back would be how AI is going to change consumer behavior and just opportunities for a ton of business and a risk for others. Right. And I think there's been an interesting release by Google a couple of weeks ago showcasing what the future of E commerce could look like, where the funnel just shrunk a lot, right. Where you suddenly went from someone having to browse, compare, search and you know, fill forms and eventually check out to me talking to a LLM and getting the product I want and just saying, yes, I want to ship it for at my place, please. And just one click and you get it. So I think that you don't even have to visit the E commerce anymore. And I think that sort of breaks the whole model for a ton of people. And we have to think how that's going to evolve and what does that mean for the industry. And I think we're in a good place to think that together with the industry because, you know, we're already at intent level, right. Like we are on the consumer side at intent level. So now we need to think about how it's going to translate into, you know, driving more or less demand for, for direct bookings. I think it's an opportunity for more. I also think that, you know, the OTAs are super well positioned to take advantage of it because they have availability rates, ability to book, you know, they've got a lot of things done right to be there. So I think it's important that there's solutions like ours that position direct as a viable alternative for LLMs to plug into as well. And I think it'll be very interesting to see how that other level so you may have heard it from this part of the answer. I think a lot of what's coming for us is more AI investment, more agents investment and making sure that we, you know, solve real life problem for consumers or actually help them with little concrete steps that they have to do in order to book and book better. So that's kind of our, what we're investing in at the moment.

It makes sense and I'm excited about it. I mean all of these changes like you say, is it's upsetting the world of search engine optimization in Google. And one thing that I've changed in the last sort of six months is I've updated my homepage used to be open on Google and you do a search on there. Now it is on my chosen, you know, sort of AI model and I just open it straight onto there and I just search in there. The first, you know, the first thing that pops up and you'll, you'll search and actually it gives a really good answer. Many of these can search the web anyway and instead of coming up with 100 pages and where you're only going to look at the first two pages and you're having to compare, it'll give you like three good answers or two good answers and that's all you need to look at as a host or as a guest.

This is such a good tip. This is great tip. Sorry, I got you.

No, no, it's just what's interesting. This is why things like Directo, when somebody has the, is so little hassle for them, people are naturally going to move to the least path of resistance to get the result thereafter. And that's going to be AI, it's going to be using these plugins and, and things like that. And ultimately for a host, the number one thing I would do if I was listening to this podcast is I'd start to go, well, how findable am I by, you know, online? Do I have my prices displayed online? Do I actually have a website for a start? You know, do I actually have the tools that these AIs will need to be able to find me? And how good is my branding, my social media presence? You know, all, all these things are going to come into it and it's, it's going to get super interesting. And this is where in 25, you've got to have this tech. You can't be resting on your laurels.

And I think, I think there's a few fun tests that you could do if you use chat, GPT or cloud or what, what not as A property manager as a very few fantastic to do is let's say in your market, you want to know if you rank well on LLMs. You can with a very simple prompt, ask ChatGPT what, you know, host or property management company you'd recommend in, in your market. Right. And if you don't show up in the first results, then I think it'd be interesting as a second step. Go back, ask ChatGPT, okay, this is my company. Suggest me ways that I could rank on the precedent questions. Right. And he will actually, the whole model will tell you what to do and how to improve and start ranking and probably will be about, yeah, build some content, maybe do this piece and actually ask them to do it for you. So you can actually use the tool itself to tell you and then to actually execute the plan for you to be able to rank there. And it's not going to change traffic, it's not going to, you know, triple your visitors or anything like that yet. But I think it's a good, a good first step to starting to see some volume coming from that.

I couldn't agree more.

So it's a fun way to do it.

It's a great tip and ultimately, like you say, it's free to do in most cases, you know, like you don't even need a version of these things, which is amazing. And I've just had some really good success in doing exactly what you've just described. We've now, at least for the, you know, sort of the AI that I use, we are now top in my area just from doing exactly what you've just said. So there's loads of value from this, this episode, you know, from, from downloading Directo to making sure that you're following the steps to be found, make sure your price is right, using these tips and tricks on the AI models that you may use. And it's just been so fun doing this. So for people who want to go and check out Directo, what's the best way to do.

So Google Directo straight up in the, in the browser and you show up directo or director extension and it'll show up there. There's a section in our website for hotels and hosts. You can go in there and there's a subscription link there. I believe you guys have a special voucher for our gen clients so they can also benefit from two months free. So maybe you can share that after somewhere with the link. But basically that's available out there for our shared clients.

Awesome. Thank you so much. And that link that Pierre just mentioned is going to be down in the comments below if you're watching on YouTube or in the show notes, if you're listening to this on the audio and it's safe to stop and click on that link. So thank you so much. Yeah, this has been great. Hopefully we'll have you on again in another six months and see, see what has changed with directo and for sure.

Happy to do that.

Thanks for your time today. And just to take us out, is there any mantra or saying or anything that's helped you in your, your business or in your life that we can leave our guests with to inspire them?

I don't know if it's a mentor, say maybe I say stay obsessed. You know, I'm, you know, very motivated in making this work and, you know, the energy is communicative and basically contagious. So, you know, being obsessed and, and positive, with positive energy and I think spread out to your team and they feel it and, and I think we're now all equally motivated and I think that really helps make sure that we get that crazy vision of helping, you know, an industry change that is very old and, and with very powerful players in it, being able to make a difference there. It's not easy and we definitely need all the energy we can get. So being obsessed has been something that helps us do it.

Love it, Love it. And if we were obsessed with direct bookings, and if you're listening to this and you're obsessed with direct bookings too, make sure you subscribe and like this episode and you can come and carry on the conversation in a free Facebook community called the Hospitality Community. Just search on Facebook and there's a free group you can join where we talk about direct bookings and all, all sorts of things will come and come and see us there. And we'll see you on the next episode of the Boostly podcast. Thanks for listening. Having a blast. Gonna get it on the Bruce Lee podcast. Bruce Lee like Bruce Lee. Cause it's so hard and the tea is loose leaf Making up those rhymes don't write it, just do it loosely.