Mike Bayer

You're listening to the Vacation Rental Success podcast, and we are proud to welcome back returning sponsor, OwnerRez. Providing a powerful and flexible system for managing vacation rental properties, OwnerRez provides booking and maintenance management, payment scheduling and collection, as well as insightful reporting. OwnerRez will provide you with a long-term booking foundation that is scalable for your vacation rental business while fully managing your channel listings, but still focusing on your brand, your website, and your way of doing things. If you sign up now using the promotional code VRF30, that's VRF 3 0 you can get 30% off your first three months.  Make sure you listen-in to the mid-episode break, where you'll hear some great testimonials about OwnerRez and more about this incredible company. For more information about OwnerRez, click on the link in the description of this episode on your smart device.

Mike Bayer

Let's get started.  Here's your host, Heather Bayer.

Heather Bayer

The topic of direct booking comes up again and again in podcasts, in blog posts, and on forums. There's even conferences dedicated to gaining independence from the OTAs, but is it really worth the effort? After all, the major listing sites have it all covered, don't they? And why would you need to go to the lengths of creating a website and doing all that marketing.

Heather Bayer

In today's episode, we're going to explore this a little more deeply and tackle some of these questions. I'm joined by Jenn Boyles, marketing expert and founder of the Direct Booking Success Summit.

Heather Bayer

This is the Vacation Rental Success Podcast, keeping you up-to-date with news, views, information, and resources on this rapidly changing short-term rental business. I'm your host, Heather Bayer, and with 25 years of experience in this industry, I'm making sure you know what's hot, what's not, what's new, and what will help make your business a success.

Heather Bayer

Well, hello and welcome to another episode of the Vacation Rental Success Podcast. My name's Heather Bayer and I am super delighted to be back with you once again. When I started out in this business, there was only one way to get guests to come to your place, and that was via direct booking.  We didn't have anything else. We advertised on listing sites that directed people back to a rudimentary website at best, or simply gave them a number to call. I remember the old Tyler's Rental catalog that used to come out in Ontario every January, and it was free. And people would flock into the grocery stores to pick up their copy of Tyler's. And it was just a classified directory of cottages. And that's where people found their dream vacation, from tiny little grainy photos and a couple of lines of abbreviated explanations of what the property was like, an abbreviated description. Believe me, it was way less complicated then than it is now. Having said that, there were only a fraction of the listings we see today. And I have to say, ditching the spreadsheets and the fax machines for automations has been a blessing. And I doubt very much if there's any property managers or even hosts out there who are using that method of organizing and managing their reservations anymore. And if you are, let me know, I've got some solutions for you.

Heather Bayer

But what it brought with us, all this automation and all this new software, it brought us a reliance on third party booking sites. And in the process, we've lost so much control over our businesses. We're now at the whim of the OTAs as to whether a listing is prominent or it disappears to the bottom of the barrel. They can de-list us or suspend listings, often without any explanation, refund guests for an entire stay for some perceived affront. There's a hair in the shower and I want all my money back, and they get it. And they go to great lengths to ensure that owners and managers don't get too close to the guests in terms of having an email or a telephone number. But of course, there are ways to convert guests to a new way of booking direct with the owner. But is it all worthwhile? How will guests find a website amongst all the OTA advertising? And when you do get guests to spit out the Airbnb Kool-Aid and begin to trust a new system, how do you retain them? And that new system is, in fact, the old system coming back into force.

Heather Bayer

And I'm joined today by the founder of the Direct Booking Success Summit and marketing expert Jenn Boyles, and we're going to talk about these questions, dispel some myths, and offer some really actionable ways of making direct booking work.

Heather Bayer

So I am delighted to have with me today Jenn Boyles from directbookingsuccess.com. She's the founder of the Direct Booking Success Summit, and we'll be talking about that a bit later. But I'd just like to say a huge welcome to Jenn, fellow Canadian. We have so much in common, Jenn, the British and the Canadian. But welcome back.

Jenn Boyles

Thanks so much. It's just wonderful to be here.

Heather Bayer

Well, you've just now moved back to Canada after how many years in England?

Jenn Boyles

Well, I was away 21 years, not all in England. I started in England and I ended in England. So probably about 15 of them England.  Six in Europe.

Heather Bayer

So what's the difference coming back to Canada, coming back to the homeland? How does it feel?

Jenn Boyles

Well, I'm not special anymore, my accent doesn't mean anything. I went somewhere, I was getting a SIM card for my phone and I said, normally I say, Oh, you'll remember me because I'm the Canadian. Well, I can't say that now. He's just like, You're just one of us. I'm like, Yep, no longer special.

Heather Bayer

I know that. I love it here. Wherever I go, it's like, I love your accent.

Jenn Boyles

That's right...

Heather Bayer

i'm not going back to England anytime soon, except for the very briefest of visits. I've still got too much of Canada to explore, actually.

Jenn Boyles

Yes. Well, just finding out you haven't been out this way. Yeah, out to Vancouver.

Heather Bayer

That's on the bucket list.

Heather Bayer

So we are here today to talk about direct booking. And sometimes I think that this is a really overdone topic, particularly around the February, March time when you get the Direct Booking Day and everybody really climbs into it. But we now have, we've got summits and conferences that are totally dedicated to direct booking. There's podcasts, there are blogs, there are Facebook groups and forums all dedicated to direct booking. However, it doesn't stop some of the questions, which I'm seeing on some of the Facebook groups and other forums, where people are really questioning whether it's all worthwhile. And there's been times when I've done that... I've been into direct booking for over 25 years because that's how we started. We started with direct booking with our business. And I'm still sort of second guessing that now, thinking, there's so much work involved. So I thought this would be a great time, considering that your next Direct Booking Success Summit is coming up in a few months, that we talk about this and figure out some of these questions and maybe help some people with some actions that they can actually do to make it feel as though it's not such a hassle.  How does that sound?

Jenn Boyles

That sounds great, because I'm seeing the same thing and I'm seeing a lot of mis-education, that's probably not the right word, but I'm seeing people out there with the wrong information about direct booking and how hard it is or how expensive it is. I get that question is that it's more expensive for me and I'm like, What are you paying for? Because a lot of people go right into the 'ads space' and that's not necessarily the starting point.

Heather Bayer

Yes. So we're going to touch on a few things, but I'd like to kick-off with the fact that if you're going to do direct booking, you have to have a website. Right?

Jenn Boyles

Yes, you have to have a way for people to book with you.  If they can't book, what's the point? If you're just sending them to a Vrbo or an Airbnb listing, you're wasting your time, really, because you're paying for that. You're paying for them to do the marketing for you. So if you want to get into direct bookings, you need to have a website. It doesn't have to be a fancy one to start off with. It can be something from your PMS, your property management system. It could be a one pager, that's fine. But get a way so that people can book with you online, quick and easy.

Heather Bayer

That is the key. I think you've just said it. It does not have to be expensive. You can create a website on Wix. Is Squarespace still a thing?

Jenn Boyles

Yes, it is. Yeah.

Heather Bayer

So there are platforms that you can create something, on GoDaddy, on Wix, or on Squarespace, and get yourself out there.  Get people coming to you. And then at some point in the future, you can, when you've got enough funds, then you can perhaps go to somebody to create something really nice for you. But you know, even so, if you're that way inclined, you want to start with something good, then maybe go and get somebody to do it for you.

Jenn Boyles

Yeah. There's experts out there and go to somebody who knows the industry, knows hospitality, knows our sector, about it. Not somebody who is your best friend's cousin's husband's dog who created a website for a shoe guy, whatever.  Get somebody who knows what they're doing and has done other websites that people can book direct on.

Heather Bayer

So if I was out there at the moment thinking, Okay, I really am going to do this. I'm going to take that leap and create a website. What key elements should be included on a website that's going to encourage direct bookings?

Jenn Boyles

Okay, the biggest thing right now, and I'm sure you'll agree to this is trust. Trust is huge. When guests go onto Airbnb, they trust Airbnb. They trust the platform. They don't realize all the issues behind the scenes, but they trust the name because they've done so much marketing and they've done so well with getting guests to trust them. When you have guests come across your website, you've got to build that trust, so that they feel like you are reputable, you are who you say you are, and that they can give you their money and they're going to have a great time. There's a few ways to do this, but the main one is showing your face, showing who you are, especially if you've got 150 properties. If you're a big property manager, still talk about your story, the company, the employees, the people that are on the ground looking after the property. If you're somebody who has one or two properties, same thing. Talk about your story, who you are and get that trust across of who you are.

Heather Bayer

I've had a number of people in the past when I've said you've got to have a good About Us page. The About Us page, which is all third party that doesn't mention any names or any people. It's just we're the best business on the planet offering you this great accommodation. Well, that's not an About Us page. About means about you.

Jenn Boyles

Well, that's it.  I've got a podcast episode coming out in the next couple of weeks, and I was talking about trust, and I said something about, I don't want to see a website that has we [wee] all over it. And then I realized that has a different connotation to different parts of the world. We do this, we do that, we, we, we. I want an I. I am Jenn and I am the person who owns this property. I am the person that manages this property and I will be taking care of you. I want a picture of them. I want to know who they are.

Heather Bayer

And at risk of repeating myself over and over again, and if you're out there listening, Sherene, you know I'm going to mention you, because you have the best About Us page ever. So I will put a link to Sherene's website, which is  Western Star Bungalow. I can't remember the name of it. I think it's My Star Vacations or My Star Rentals, but I'll put the link in the Show Notes [mystarvr.com]. And Sherene has just the best About Us page. It's got a really good photo of her and her husband, and it's got her grandchildren in there. And anybody reading that About Us page is going to trust this lady and trust that she actually has a property that exists. And I know that scammers are very sophisticated these days, but there's something about the text which she has written. It hasn't been written by AI because you can tell that in an instant. It's just a great example of how to do an About Us page. And quite honestly, if you don't like talking about yourself, you've just got to put that on one side.

Jenn Boyles

Yeah, you have to get over it. And we're not saying talk about your deepest, darkest secrets, anything like that. We just want to know who you are, why do you have this property? Why are you having people come and stay? What do you love about it? What do you love about your area? But you just want to show your face. The flip side of this is that, yes, you're building that trust, but also the guests that come to you have a connection with you, and they are going to treat your property with more respect than anyone just doing a quick booking on an OTA.

Heather Bayer

I couldn't have said that better. Yes, they will treat your place better if they have that connection. And this is what the OTAs cannot do. They're not creating the connection between the host and the guest. And that's just a massive advantage of direct booking.

Heather Bayer

My sister has just been around to visit me and she has a local property. Now, she actually rents it through my old property management company, but she does it on a 'light' basis and she deals directly... They do the booking, she deals directly with all the guests, and she does all the great stuff of connecting with them from the booking right the way through to the end, calls them on the day they arrive. And she dropped down there today to take down a broom because the broom handle had broken. So they'd asked for another one and she dropped it down. And these guests, this is their third visit, third year they've come. And she was met in the driveway by one of the guests who immediately enveloped her in a big bear hug. This is so wonderful to see you. It's so lovely that you let us use your property.  And this is it. You don't all want to be hugged by a strange person. But it was just that... But she said she just felt so good that...

Jenn Boyles

... We had that connection because we'd already been talking. Yeah.

Heather Bayer

Okay, trust. What else? What other elements should be included on a website?

Jenn Boyles

Another thing is that you want to answer all the questions that you can think that a guest is going to come up with. Okay, you can have it as a Frequently Asked Questions section, FAQs kind of thing, or just spaced out in your copy, images, that kind of thing. But think about the questions that are answered or that are asked to you on a regular basis and answer them, because that will also cut down on the amount of questions you get. But it just gives people more information by answering those questions. It makes them be ready to book faster.

Heather Bayer

I love that. That's something we came to quite late in our tenure at CottageLink Rental Management, was having that Frequently Asked Questions page. But it was so great when somebody had a question, we could go back with a really nice reply, and then we would copy and paste the answer to the question, copy and paste out of the FAQs, and then put the link so they could go back if they got any more questions.

Heather Bayer

So on my newsletter this month, we've been talking about a book that I love called They Ask You Answer. And it's about using every single question that you've ever had about your business to create blog posts, to create social media posts, and to put on a Frequently Asked Questions page on a website.

Jenn Boyles

Yeah. And another thing is to make it really easy and quick for people to book. Don't ask them 10 million questions before you get their credit card details. You want their dog's name and their kid's ages and who wants to sleep where.... who cares at this moment, get the booking in. There are so many things that can go wrong. People get distracted while they're trying to book and then maybe they never come back, or doubts creep into their mind and they think, Oh, maybe I should be looking some more. Get their name, their email, their credit card, get them booked-in and then ask them all these other questions that you'd like to know that will help make their stay better.

Heather Bayer

For about 12 years in our property management business, we had this long booking form that did ask all those questions, what cars do you have? And I think at one point we were asking for car registration numbers. And it wasn't until we talked to some digital marketing experts, in fact Jason Beaton, who is our technical director at Vacation Rental Formula Business School, and we talked to Jason and said, What are we doing wrong? Why are we having this bounce rate out of our booking form? And he said, It's because you have a booking form. That's why. He said, you can have a booking form, but get their credit card first. Exactly as you said, get their name, their email, their credit card number, get them to press that Buy Now button. And then after that, you can send out a confirmation with this nice little note saying, Can you send us all this information?

Jenn Boyles

Yeah.

Heather Bayer

That's exactly it. It made a massive difference in our business the moment we started doing that. But you're absolutely right. Make the booking process easy because it's easy on the OTAs.

Jenn Boyles

Yes, that's exactly it. Have a look at what they're doing. Why is it working so well for Vrbo/Airbnb? Have a look at how they're laying out their page. Have  a look at the booking process that they have and then figure out how you can replicate it, or even make it better on your side.

Heather Bayer

Exactly. Once you've got a website, how do you get people to actually go to it? Because it's not as though it's going to appear at number one on Google the moment you put your website online.

Jenn Boyles

No. And you remember that movie with Kevin Costner, you build it, they will come. He built that baseball diamond and all the old dead... Sounds really morbid, but there were ghosts, weren't they, that came out?  But it doesn't work in marketing, or probably a lot of things other than that movie. So you've got to tell people about it. People have to know about the website, and that's what the basis of all marketing is, is you telling people about your website and getting them on it.

Jenn Boyles

A couple of ways of doing that is.... one of my favorite ones is using a call to action, or a CTA if you want the lingo. But a call to action is just telling people what you want them to do is the next step. In all of your marketing, your email, your social post, whatever, you can even do it face-to-face as you give somebody your business card and you say, Go to the website, just go to the website. It can be as simple as that. If you're talking about a blog post, you can say, Go and read this blog post. But a call to action can be as simple as go to the website. Just tell whoever is looking at your content, whether it's a video or they're reading it, just tell them what the next step is, which is a call to action.

Heather Bayer

Yeah, that's a great.... People want to know what they have to do next. And yes, you tell them that. I was looking... It must have been a social media post. I can't even remember what it was about. But there was a call to action and it was a download. You have a download on your website. Somebody comes across your website and you've got a free download of strategies to bring people to a website or strategies to make direct booking work for you. And to me, maybe I don't think I'm a one-off. I always download these things. I want to see.... If it's free, I'm going to have it. And okay, so I get on somebody's mailing list because I'm savvy enough and you don't need to be that savvy to know that that's the purpose, to get that name on a mailing list, on an email list. But you can unsubscribe at any time.

Jenn Boyles

Definitely.

Heather Bayer

So I'd come across a post by somebody, and I think it may be an Instagram post, somebody talking about.... It was in a dogs account, because I tend to.... I'm in a lot of German Shepherd Instagram accounts.  And somebody had posted a call to action to download something, the top 10 things that will keep your dog happy, or whatever. And so I downloaded that. And then, of course, I find myself on the list of this person who has a website about German Shepherds. That's the way it works; it's not rocket science, but you can do that. If you're out there on social media - we'll talk about social media in a second - but if you're out there, whatever platform you're on, then create something for somebody to download. And that's your call to action. Am I right? Is that what you termed a call to action?

Jenn Boyles

Yeah, that's a great... Well, a call to action can be in anything. It doesn't have to be just a download, it can be. It could be, just go to our website and book. Book now, here's our website. You're calling them into action. That's what it means. You're giving them the next step. But using something like a digital download, a lead magnet, is a great way of growing your email list and getting more people interested in staying. But your call to action can go across the board with previous guests, new guests, on all your social media, all your marketing, really.

Heather Bayer

You talk, in that digital material that I downloaded, about email marketing.  It is still a popular method for engaging with previous guests. And of course, the beauty of... If there is a beauty to OTAs, it is that they do bring you guests and there is no harm in starting off with your Airbnb and Vrbo accounts, which will bring you the guests, which you can then market to afterwards for direct bookings. And you market that through email, use email marketing. Give us some examples of an email marketing campaign for hosts and managers to help them increase their direct bookings.

Jenn Boyles

Well, when you're looking at previous guests... When I look at email marketing, I have two pots or two lists, if you will, one for previous guests and one for potential guests. So when we were talking about lead magnets and growing your list, those are people who haven't stayed yet. So they need different types of emails to get them interested in coming to stay. With previous guests, it's great because they've stayed. They've had a wonderful time and it won't take them as long to book another stay if you handle that correctly. Whereas the people who haven't stayed, they might sit around for a bit longer on your list and wait for that perfect time. But for previous guests, if you've already created that connection with them, that's going to really help. If you haven't, use your email list to create that connection. Talk about their previous stay. You probably have some information on their previous stay. Perhaps they were there for a birthday or an anniversary or something like that. Get that into the conversation and connect with them. Remind them at how amazing their stay was and what the great time they had. One little tip is to, if they've come at a certain time of year, ask them if they want to come back next year at the same time.

Jenn Boyles

Say, especially if it was an anniversary or something, say, Hey, I've got these dates available. I know you stayed last year. Do you want to come back? I'm not a big fan of discounting, but holding over your prices, you could say, I'll keep them at this year's price if you want to book now for next year, that kind of thing. But it's connection. It goes back to what we were saying at the beginning. You're creating that connection and just getting them to remember how amazing their stay was and getting them to book back.

Heather Bayer

That is such a great point about reminding them about their stay. I remember talking to somebody who said, get a photograph from every guest. Get them to send you a photograph of them having the most amazing time, either run a photo contest or something like that that gets those guests who've been with you to send you their best picture. And then you can use that to remind them in a year's time, use that photo. Do you remember this?

Jenn Boyles

Well, it's just the way that Facebook does it, doesn't it? The memories. I love that idea. It's like, yeah, last year at this time, this is where you were. Wouldn't you want to be there again?  I love that. Yeah.

Heather Bayer

So, yeah, that was such a great idea. I believe we ran a photo contest and people love this. Get the kids to take a picture and send it to us. A picture of some wildlife, or whatever, or somebody fishing off a dock, or catching a fish. And that really inspires people to build that relationship and it inspires them to connect back with you. And then you have got it. And then providing, of course, you're using a good CRM, whether it's a CRM that you've bought into, so CRM (customer relationship management) system, or it's something that you've just developed yourself; spreadsheets. I said in the introduction, I'm glad I ditched spreadsheets, but that was spreadsheets for reservations. We still kept spreadsheets to keep great guest data.

Jenn Boyles

Well, there are people out there that still do that, don't use a PMS, a property management system. I tell them they probably would save some time and have less headaches if they do swap over. But people have figured out their own process.

Heather Bayer

I think if you've only got one property, then it probably is fine. Currently, OwnerRez is sponsoring the podcast. We love OwnerRez because it's been that platform that has enabled single property owners to get into direct booking, because people have been able to book directly on their website with very little challenge.

Jenn Boyles

I have people that come to me, they have one property they're starting up and they've said to me, We don't want to use any OTAs. I say to them, Are you sure? You have no audience, you have no email list, you have no following, nothing. They said, Well, we're renovating right now. We want to launch in three months' time. We want to be 100% book direct. I say, Okay, we can do it, but there is going to be some work involved. The OTAs usually will help you pick up some slack. It does happen, but using that PMS can make things a bit easier for you. But yes, it's good because you have one property or 10 properties, you need processes in place to help you get through all of it.

Heather Bayer

We're going to take a short break just now to hear about our sponsor, OwnerRez, directly from one of their clients. We'll be back to our interview in just a few moments.

Bruce Ikelheimer

Hello, my name is Bruce Ikelheimer. I'm the owner of Banjoe Vacations. We're a small vacation rental management company in Ashville, North Carolina, currently with eight properties. When I first started getting into this business, we just managed our own property and I knew I needed some help. I looked to OwnerRez and their automated messaging and channel management made running my own one property super simple. So simple that I realized that I could easily start adding more properties. And over the years, as I've grown, I've taken advantage of more and more of their services, like using the text messaging. Now that I have owners, I've gotten into property management side, and I absolutely love their owner statements. I'm actively trying to grow my business, and I see OwnerRez as an important partner along the way. When the questions is asked on forums, I always recommend OwnerRez.

Heather Bayer

Well, that was a great testimonial. Now back to our interview.

Heather Bayer

Let's talk about social media for a moment.  I get overwhelmed, completely overwhelmed with social media. Threads has just kicked off a couple of weeks ago. I piled in there on day one, haven't been back in, just don't have the time. But it is still an important thing, whether you're out there on Instagram or Facebook or using TikTok or YouTube. It's powerful, a really powerful tool for marketing. Can you give me some actionable social media strategies that our listeners can use to attract potential guests?

Jenn Boyles

Sure. We talked about using a call to action before, and I would strongly say that's still my number one tip. Just tell people what you want them to do. Another favorite one of mine is my 'So what?' question. If you're going to go post something... My favorite thing is seeing somebody post 'Happy Cupcake Day' on social media, these awareness days that have no relevance to our daily lives. Ask yourself before you post, "So what?". Happy Cupcake Day, so what? Why am I posting this? It's just noise. Post what will attract your ideal guest. Maybe they are cupcake lovers. Maybe that's your answer. You decided, I'm going to post it anyways. But if you come up with something that will attract your ideal guest, something about your local area, and use that So what? Stop talking about your amenities. We've got a great hot tub. We have a barbecue. So what? What does it do for your ideal guest? Think about your hot tub. You can come back after a day of sightseeing or hiking or wherever your place is, and you can relax in the hot tub. If you've got the barbecue, you can have a meal with your family outside, reconnecting, enjoying the surroundings.

Jenn Boyles

Talk about the emotional part of it. So what? I really challenge people to use that question because I use it in so many situations, probably too many. I'll be saying, so what? What's in it for me? What are you trying to tell me? I think it's a great question to ask before you hit post on social media.

Heather Bayer

It was a number of years ago now when I started getting interested in going to Costa Rica, and I came across a YouTube channel and it was built by an owner of a Costa Rican property. So I came across it because I was searching for properties in Costa Rica, not on Vrbo or Airbnb, but just doing a general search, because I wanted to find out, I had questions.  Is it safe? Can you drink the water? And this YouTube channel answered all those questions. It was the question, can you drink the water? And we've talked before about frequently asked questions, but this was actually using YouTube to answer the questions. And I found that brilliant. And I didn't end up staying in that property, but I've talked about it a lot because having looked at all those questions and the answers to the questions on YouTube, I then, of course, went to their website. So I was moved. I was driven to that website by the really great content on YouTube. And all it was was, was answering the most frequently asked questions, but not just in an FAQ page on the website, but in YouTube videos.

Jenn Boyles

Love it. And you could do that on Instagram, too. Or you could do it in short clips, but you could also do it as text and images, make a post in Canva, that kind of thing. We all know that video converts better because we're seeing your face and we're getting that connection, which is brilliant. But if you're starting out and text-based things is what you need to do, then use it. But those frequently asked questions are brilliant because you're telling people more about what they can do at your place and they're not the rules.

Jenn Boyles

I think I saw something on social media yesterday, and it was a video, and it was all these... He had taken screenshots, I guess, or photographs of all these different places with different rules. It's like, no jumping on the bed, no using the oven, no doing this, no doing that. Those aren't the right things to be focusing on. We want to be focusing on the experience and how amazing they will find your place and cut back on the rules.

Heather Bayer

Yeah, exactly. I'm a dog lover. Sara Sokol, if you're watching this, listening to this, you know what's coming here.... That if you're going to be pet-friendly, be pet-friendly. Welcome your pet families because they are families. These animals are part of the family. So all those rules and guidelines, they're not going to go down well. Sara's Facebook group, Dogs Welcome, I'll put a link to that on the Show Notes. Sara's Facebook group actually links together guests who are looking for really pet-friendly properties with owners who are offering really pet-friendly properties. It's a great group.

Jenn Boyles

Yeah, she does great things. But I've come across a place where they say, Okay, we will accept dogs. They can't go on the furniture. They can't go into the kitchen because it's real stone. They can't go upstairs. They can't go on the beds. It's like, Okay, well, why are we bringing our pet? Why are we bringing our dog? They can stay in one room. It's just not worth it. And that's when you will start to get complaints and bad reviews from people. So then just don't do it. There's plenty of places that aren't pet-friendly for whatever reason, and just keep it like that. If you're going to do something, go in wholeheartedly.

Heather Bayer

Yeah. Okay. So I'm stepping off my pet-friendly soapbox. Let's talk about building partnerships and collaborations because I think this is something that people really forget about, that there are a ton of other people out there who'd be more than happy to promote your website.

Jenn Boyles

Yes, definitely. There's a couple of ways you can go about it. We talk about influencers, but then there's also partnerships with local companies. A client of mine was doing a blog post about a local place. I can't remember exactly. It was like a stately home. It was in England. A stately home kind of thing. And she's thinking that it's this big company, are they're going to even be interested in knowing about her blog. I said to her, Look, send it to them. Tell them that you have written this and see if they want to promote it. She did. They came right back to her and they said, This is amazing. Thank you so much for promoting us. We're going to add it to our website. Here's a discount code that you can give to your guests and we're going to promote it in our social media as well. I think she was a bit flabbergasted that they came back and they were so appreciative. But you might think that that company or that local business has got it together. They are using marketing just like you are.

Jenn Boyles

So coming together with some sort of partnership or going to them and saying, look, I'm bringing people to the area, you're wanting to bring people to the area. Say I've teamed up with a Wild Swimming [Club]. I have a boat in Liverpool Docks and you can actually go swimming in the docks. And so I've partnered up with them to bring in some influencers to go swimming with them, stay with me. We're doing it together so that they can promote both of us. There's so many ways that you can be creative in how you promote yourself. And we're not talking about spending any money. Yes, it takes a bit of work to set it up and whatnot, but it works because it's not just you saying how amazing your place is, it's somebody else saying, This place is brilliant, you've got to come and stay.

Heather Bayer

Exactly. I did a webinar recently for Logify and was talking about niche marketing and a place that I stayed at in Cyprus a number of years ago.  This place was very fully accessible for quadriplegics. So it had the hoist to get people into the swimming pool. The owner had partnered with a company called Freedom Divers in Cyprus that offered diving lessons and certification for disabled divers. So they partnered, so that the company would come out to the property, do the initial dive in the swimming pool at the property, and then disabled guests were able to go out and do a dive out in the open water. And it was an amazing partnership. And they were both promoting each other. So other people with disabilities who connected with Freedom Dive are saying, Well, where can I go stay? I'd love to dive, but I need a place that has the facilities and the amenities for me. And they would recommend Andy's Place, Villa Carpe Diem, which unfortunately he's sold now, which is very sad. But anyway, they had this great cross- partnership going on. And you can do it with anything, rental companies, that's great. If you've got somewhere locally that rents bikes or kayaks or even somewhere that rents baby equipment.  People are going there and looking for family friendly properties. So there's so much scope, I think, out there in partnerships.

Mike Bayer

Yeah. And if you're looking to your ideal guest, so if they're bringing babies, then that's a perfect place to go to that local business and see if you can do something together. Look at what people are doing when they come to you. Where are they going? What are they enjoying? Is there a particular restaurant that you talk about all the time that your guests just love? Well, see if you can do something together. Go to them and say, Hey. Or what my client did is write a blog about... They had gone for a day to the stately home and they did a blog, a day in the life thing. And it was so personal and so brilliant that when they sent it to the managers of the stately home, they were just thrilled that somebody had taken the time. They didn't ask for a free stay. They didn't ask to to have free tickets to the stately home. They had done it totally off their own back and it paid off.

Heather Bayer

They'll pay dividends. Yeah, exactly. And I think you made a great point when you said, don't forget that these people, these other businesses are all doing exactly the same as you are. They're all marketing. Everybody's out there looking for clients. And if you can go there with a proposal that says I'll bring you some and you bring me some, and that's going to be great. So yes, that's great. I love and again, completely free.

Jenn Boyles

Yes.

Heather Bayer

Before we wrap up here, I want to talk about the Book Direct Summit.... Booking Direct Success Summit.

Jenn Boyles

Direct Booking Success Summit.

Heather Bayer

Before we talk about the Direct Booking Success Summit, no conversation these days is complete without talking about AI and ChatGPT. Everything's evolving so quickly. There are so many plug-ins and apps and people wanting your money in exchange for their new gizmo that will make everything automated for you. What are your thoughts on how we can integrate AI into our processes and how it can help in the direct booking game?

Jenn Boyles

AI, it's an exciting time, it really is. It's overwhelming, but it's exciting to see where this is going.  I think we'll look back at this time and say it was a big change in the digital space using AI, and it's going to get more and more powerful. It's going to be really amazing and hopefully going to be really helpful for business owners in different aspects. The one caveat that I would put there is that AI, just like we talked about Threads, and what was the audio one, Clubhouse? I don't even know if it's still around. I went on it for a day when it first came out and never went back. But these are all so exciting and shiny and new. It's so easy to get distracted when you're trying to market your business. If you don't have that solid marketing structure that is going out every day or every week, all you're going to do is just go from pillar to post, pillar to post, and not get anything done. It's going to be disjointed. You're not going to have any real success in your marketing. Guests aren't going to go, Oh, okay, well, she was there, and now she's here and then she's there.  I don't understand.

Jenn Boyles

We need to be consistent. So until you have that consistency down, I would say just calm down and wait for some of the shine to come off the new tools and then see how you can add them into your business. But there's no point getting too excited at this point. But having said that, it is an exciting time and I can't wait to see how it evolves, because it is going to evolve. It's going to be amazing, I think.

Heather Bayer

I think so. I use ChatGPT a lot. I've even done a prompt engineering course to learn how to, because it's so much more than just, Write me a blog post on such and such, which is how we all start. But it can be super, super powerful if you use it correctly and the prompts are all-important.

Heather Bayer

I've seen some really great replies to negative feedback. You know what happens when you get that awful negative feedback, somebody found a hair in the shower and Airbnb said, I'm not going to give you any money back. And you've got that. Of course, if it's an Airbnb review, you're probably not going to be able to reply to it in the same way as you would if it was something directed at you.

Jenn Boyles

It takes the emotion out, doesn't it?

Heather Bayer

Yes.  Exactly.

Jenn Boyles

It takes that emotion because when it... Especially when it's your property, so you're the owner-operator and somebody has something, hey, maybe it's not even that bad, but somebody says something and you're just like, Oh, I'm wounded. How could you say that? Or you feel like you need to explain. If you're putting it into something like ChatGPT, it takes the emotion out. And that's really helpful in being able to respond in a level-headed way rather than just saying, Oh, I'll sleep on it. So, yeah, it's great. And it's going to be even better, I think, as time goes on.

Heather Bayer

Yeah, absolutely. And I've seen people just say this was the message I got from the guest, and they've put the exact message into ChatGPT and said, Could you give me a response to this? And there's more that should go into it that should prompt a really good response. But even if you just do that, it's amazing what it will come up with. So yeah, I'm interested to see in how we move on with that. Now, do you have anybody talking about AI at the Direct Booking Success Summit?

Jenn Boyles

I do.

Heather Bayer

I thought you might.

Jenn Boyles

I do. I've got a couple of people coming to talk about it. And I don't have my list in front of me and things could change, but we are talking about AI and we're also talking about writing your descriptions. We're talking about hospitality, we're talking about finding your niche..... What are the other things we are talking about?.... I should have brought that list up.....

Jenn Boyles

The Direct Booking Success Summit is coming back for its third year, so it's going to be even bigger and better and I think right now I've got 21 speakers and it's online. So it's over three days and you can just watch it from wherever you are and everyone's going to have great tips and tell you about, tactics and things that you can put into a place right away. And it's free.

Heather Bayer

That's the best part. Free. We always love free. So when is it?

Jenn Boyles

It's 3-5 October. It's online, it's free. You can watch in your pajamas. The presentations are pre-recorded, so I'll be vetting them, make sure that they are perfect and that they've given you a lot of value. They're educationally focused, so you can watch them in your own time zone, wherever you are in the world, and you have 24 hours to watch them. Then the next day, there'll be some more released, and it's going to be lots of fun. We'll have some live things that are going on in the Facebook group, so we can connect with each other there. But yeah, it's free and it's happening on 3-5 October.

Heather Bayer

That's exceptional. I'm going to be there. I'm presenting and I'll be there on the day as well. I think that a lot of your speakers do come along, don't they, on the day? So even though they're pre-recorded, the speakers are still there to answer questions.

Jenn Boyles

Yeah. And we're going to make it even more exciting this year in the Facebook group so that the speakers can go live and actually have conversations with people. So that is going to be really exciting. And I'm putting together a hot seat live event so people can come with problems and they can get answered, live questions and maybe some networking event live one as well. But it's all online.  It's accessible, it's sustainable.

Jenn Boyles

I had someone the other day say to me, Why aren't you doing it in person? I'm like, Well, this business already is such a lonely business. If you don't know anybody in it, turning up to an in-person conference for the first time is quite intimidating. Going online to your computer and meeting people is not so intimidating. Plus the cost of travel for online, there is none. And the time of booking out four or five days to go to these conferences, which are so important as well. But this is an alternative that you can come online and connect with people as well as learning about different strategies that will help you with your direct bookings.

Heather Bayer

I love that you've continued to do this beyond the pandemic, because, of course, the virtual summit became the thing during the pandemic because it was nothing else. You got to sit at home in your jammies and a lot of them just quit. But I've been in two virtual summits over the past couple of weeks and so glad that they are still around. People haven't ditched them altogether, so I'm really glad to see that this has come back for its third year. So how do people find out about it, Jenn?

Jenn Boyles

If you head to the website, directbookingsuccesssummit.com.... I tried to get the longest title as I could..... directbookingsuccesssummit.com, there is a waitlist there that you can sign up for, because what I'm doing with the people on the waitlist is, yes, the tickets are free, but those on the waitlist are the first people to know about anything that is happening. But they also are getting a video each month as we count down the time to October. From past summits, I'm giving them a bonus video from a past summit to help each month.

Heather Bayer

Excellent, and I will have information on the Show Notes about it, and I'll be keeping you posted over the next few months as more speakers come on board and they confirm and we can talk a little bit more. I've seen a list of some, and once confirmed, we'll know. I'm not talking about them now.

Jenn Boyles

Yeah, sure. Sounds great.

Heather Bayer

Jenn, this has been absolutely terrific talking to you. Again, you have so much information to share and I for one will look forward very much to seeing how the build up to the summit goes and hearing from you again in the future. Thank you so much for joining me.

Jenn Boyles

Thanks, Heather. It's really great to be here.

Heather Bayer

Thank you so much, Jenn Boyles, for joining me. Always great to talk to Jenn. She has such a bright, sunny personality, but also a very pragmatic approach to this business, very professional, full of hospitality. And you really won't go wrong to sign up for the Direct Booking Success Summit and take some time out of your day to watch some of these great speakers, because I know she's being super selective about who she gets to talk to you.

Heather Bayer

There's a lot of people out there in this business that are perhaps not sharing the best information. I'm not saying much more of it than that. But over the last couple of years, and we've talked about it, Avery Carl talked about it last week on the show when she talked about 'Nurus', the new gurus. I love that expression, I've been using it quite a lot. And how do you pick and choose between them? How do you decide who is the right person to give you the education that you really want? So we're working on that with The Vacation Rental Formula Business School to create a place where you can go and you can be absolutely sure that the education you are getting is from experienced people. People who have been in the business for years, not six months or a year or even two years. They've been in the business for 5, 10, 15, even 20 years. That's me.

Heather Bayer

And it's Oh, back on my soapbox again, because having heard somebody say that the old traditional vacation rental people are old and tired and not up-to- date and not modern enough for today's business, well, that's a load of crock, it really is, because we have experience. We've been there, we've done it, and we've learned a lot of things along the way through making mistakes and making errors and being very transparent and open about them. It will be rare to find one of the Nurus talking about mistakes they've made, because they don't make them - she says, tongue in cheek.

Heather Bayer

Anyway, that's enough. That's two soapbox rants I have done so far. They've been very brief and not really 'ranty' enough, but that will do anyway. So I hope you enjoyed that. I hope you enjoyed listening to Jenn's take on the business and on direct booking. And if you've got any questions for Jenn or any questions for me, you can send them to me at heather@vacationrental formula.com and I will answer them.

Heather Bayer

We'd love to get you onto our newsletter list. Our newsletter is really fun now. It's changed. It provides a lot of information, a lot of knowledge, and I think you'd enjoy it. Try it out. I'll put a link on the Show Notes to where you can go and sign up for our newsletter. And if you don't like it, unsubscribe, but give it a whirl. Join us on the Facebook group, The Business of Short- term Rental and Property Management. We've got over 4,000 members in there and they are so helpful, kind, considerate, and you don't very often get into any fights. In fact, there's never been a fight....yet. So come along and join us there and we'd be more than happy to welcome you.

Heather Bayer

So that's it for this week. That's it. That's enough. I'm going to stop now. I will be in your ear next week, I hope. Have a great day.

Mike Bayer

This episode was brought to you by the kind returning sponsorship of OwnerRez. Don't forget, if you sign up, use the promotional code VRF 30, that's VRF 3 0 to get 30% off your first three months of usage of OwnerRez, which is an internationally recognized leader in vacation rental software.  And you can click the link in the description of this episode in your smart device or head over to vacationrentalformula.com/ownerrez to find out more.

Heather Bayer

It's been a pleasure as ever being with you. If there's anything you'd like to comment on, then join the conversation on the Show Notes for the episode at vacationrentalformula.com. We'd love to hear from you and I look forward to being with you again next week.

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