Latest / Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights / What Every Host Needs For More Direct Bookings

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What Every Host Needs For More Direct Bookings · Host Planet: Airbnb, Holiday Let, and Vacation Rental Insights

• 0:00
  Hello and welcome to House Planet Bite Size, the podcast
• 0:03
  brought to you by House Planet and Housefully.
• 0:05
  My name is James Farley, the founder of House Planet, and our
• 0:09
  goal is to share everything you need to know about buying and
• 0:11
  managing short term rentals. Today's guest is Becky Ward from
• 0:15
  Simply Owners and she's got 5 reasons why hosts should be
• 0:19
  using listing sites. OK, real talk now for all you
• 0:22
  hosts out there, you know that moment when your guest messages
• 0:25
  you again with hey, what's the Wi-Fi code?
• 0:29
  Or you're staring at 5 different calendars wondering if you've
• 0:32
  accidentally double booked the cottage.
• 0:35
  Yes, we've all been there. That's why here at Houseplanner
• 0:38
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• 0:42
  control centre. It handles bookings across all
• 0:45
  the big platforms, syncs your calendars to ensure there are no
• 0:48
  double bookings, automates guest messages and even creates these
• 0:52
  really slick digital guidebooks that stop all the repeat
• 0:55
  questions. Honestly, it just makes your
• 0:58
  life easier and keeps your guests happier, helping you
• 1:02
  achieve those all important five star reviews.
• 1:05
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• 1:08
  listener, you can get $500 off onboarding for Housefulies
• 1:12
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• 1:16
  life. Just hit the link in the show
• 1:19
  notes and use the codes Planet 500 for the PMS and House Planet
• 1:24
  GB for the guidebooks. And if you'd like a proper walk
• 1:28
  through, there's also a link to book a demo with Frank Bosey
• 1:31
  from Housefuly. He will show you how it all
• 1:34
  works. Less stress, more bookings
• 1:37
  sorted with postfully. Becky, welcome to House Planet
• 1:46
  Bite Size. Thank you so much for joining
• 1:48
  us. You've got 5 reasons why hosts
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  and property managers should be signing up for listing
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  platforms, so take it away with reason #1.
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  Hi James, thanks for having me. Yes, I do indeed.
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  So reason #1 is that there is no Commission and no booking fees
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  when you use a listing platform. So similar to an OTA in terms of
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  exposure, but it's different because it's a one off yearly
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  fee, but then there's no Commission on that for you.
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  And then the holiday maker likes it because there's no booking
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  fees for them. There's nothing worse than
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  getting to the end of your booking.
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  You've put every single thing you want in your basket and then
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  you get right to the end and they back a 20% booking fee on
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  it that you didn't know you were going to be paying.
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  And it's, it's downheartening for the holiday makers with us,
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  it's a one off yearly fee. Multiple properties get
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  discounts because obviously you don't want to pay the same fee
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  if you're listing 10 properties as if you're listing one.
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  And yeah, it's you pay a yearly fee and then there's no
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  Commission from that point onwards.
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  So you get more money in your pocket.
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  Yeah, it's a win, win for the host.
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  And you guess like you say, I mean, I think often the guests,
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  they don't understand I guess the amount of Commission that
• 3:03
  goes to the OTAs. They don't realize that you as a
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  host don't necessarily get all that fee.
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  And with a listing site like Simply Owners, which obviously
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  is is your business, you're sending those direct bookings
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  straight to the guests, right? Exactly.
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  Yeah, point #2 is that we do direct bookings.
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  So everybody wants the direct bookings because obviously
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  direct bookings, essentially you get more cash in your pocket at
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  the end of the day. You get to build your brand the
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  way you want to build it and you get returned guests from that.
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  You get referrals from that. Every person who comes to your
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  property and then books directly with you, you're building your
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  business that way. And that's what we want for our
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  customers. You know, we want people to have
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  the flexibility of a direct booking.
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  So if for example, somebody rings you 3 weeks before and
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  says oh, I've got to go in for an operation, what can I do?
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  You've got that flexibility to decide for yourself, your
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  cancellation policy, what is your refund policy?
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  You know the direct booking, you can talk to that guest so they
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  know what they're getting before they come.
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  So for example, if they're bringing granny in a wheelchair,
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  which bedroom can she use? Is it going to be suitable for
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  her? Is there a bathroom that's
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  suitable? If they're bringing their dogs
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  and they want to know if your garden's enclosed, they can
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  simply just ask you. So if they know before they
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  come, they're going to have a better experience and you're
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  going to get better reviews from that because you feel like
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  you've met the guests needs because you've been able to
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  answer the questions before they come.
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  So they know what they're expecting when they get there.
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  And obviously direct booking, you know, no Commission on that.
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  It's extra money in your pocket. It's got to be a good thing.
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  And I guess the the hosts and property managers as well,
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  because it is a direct booking, they can potentially charge a
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  little bit lower than the rate that might appear on an OTA like
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  Airbnb and booking.com is that's you see something you see that
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  your, your hosts doing. Exactly.
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  We're finding that our hosts are charging less because they don't
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  have to pay that Commission. Guests aren't daft, they're
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  finding the properties that are charging less because obviously
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  every penny counts these days. They, they want to pay the hosts
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  directly. They don't like the fact that
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  these multi £1,000,000 corporations are taking a cut of
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  their money when they know that it's the host that's doing the
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  cleaning and making sure the house looks nice for them and
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  making sure they've got everything they need during this
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  day. So yeah, the, it's important,
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  you know, the I'm moving on to .3 the control over your
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  property and then control over your advert.
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  So you have full control over your property.
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  If it's with a listing site, you can decide on your cancellation
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  fees, you can decide on your charges.
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  You don't get dictated to about any of those things.
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  You know that is your choice, what you advertise your property
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  as. Do you want it to be dog
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  friendly? Do you not, you know, do you
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  want a special offer that week on dog fees?
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  Some of the larger OTAs just decide that they'll do that for
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  you. And that's not, you know, you
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  don't get full control necessarily over what you put on
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  your listing. And sometimes you even have to
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  send an e-mail to simply change the wording on your listing.
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  You're not just allowed to log in and change your description
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  if you've added something new. You have to physically write
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  them a letter or an e-mail to tell them that that has changed.
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  Whereas you want that control. You want to be able to tell
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  people, oh, look at this new feature in my property.
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  Isn't it great? Being able to edit your own
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  description and edit your own photographs is just, you know,
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  it's ideal. You can update things as and
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  when you get them. Yes, that that's maybe something
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  with a, with a property management company there that
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  that you're suggesting that if you're listed with one of the
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  big property management companies, you might have to
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  liaise with them to get them to change any details.
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  Whereas I guess on airbnbbooking.com you can just
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  go and change it straight away. So, OK, so we've got no
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  Commission fees to pay. We've got the direct bookings,
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  the house and property management managers have full
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  control. So what's reason #4 Becky?
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  Reason #4 Why would you put your property with a listing site
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  rather than just list it directly yourself on Google?
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  The reason for that is the exposure that the listing sites
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  get. So for example, our reach SEO,
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  we get 10 million appearances on Google a month and 250,000 of
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  those people click through to our site.
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  You want those people see in your property, no matter how
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  much SEO you put into your singular advert, if it's just
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  your one property, it's it's not going to garner the reach that
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  you can gain from listing with a listing site.
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  Because essentially Google look for the larger sites to drag to
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  the top of the listings and the the ones that come to the top of
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  the listings are bigger sites. We've got the time and the
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  energy to put into that targeted marketing.
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  We've got the resource there to to focus on all those keywords
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  for the SEO and just we've got 3 full time members of staff that
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  just work on our SEO. So you can't possibly match that
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  doing it completely through your own website.
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  And do you find that some owners and property managers get most
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  of their bookings from your site from simply owners?
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  I mean, what kind of what's the the make up I guess of if you're
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  listed, because I imagine they're going to be listed on
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  OTAs, they might have their own direct booking site as well.
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  Like what? What percentage could they
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  expect from from a site like Simply Owners?
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  So it really varies depending on what type of property you've got
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  and whereabouts in the world it is.
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  So probably about half of our market is UK and probably about
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  half is abroad. So we've got Spain, Portugal,
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  France, Greece. Obviously we've got areas that
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  are more successful than others, so I couldn't give you like an
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  exact percentage. However, we're getting a 95%
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  renewal rate. And if people weren't getting
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  the direct bookings from us, then they wouldn't be renewing.
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  They, they simply wouldn't put their money into it.
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  Again, if it's not working working for them the first time
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  they you know, our customers are telling us it's working for
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  them, they're they're preferring the, the the direct contact with
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  that additional exposure. OK, then yeah, I mean, that's
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  great. I mean, 95% renewal rate is, is
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  is fantastic and really impressive.
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  And yeah, must you know, shows that it's shows that it's
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  working. So then, Becky, moving on reason
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  #5. Reason #5 is essentially trust,
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  so you can spend as much time on your own website as you wish.
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  You can spend lots of time talking to these guests before
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  they come, but if their bank flags up that who are you paying
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  here, we don't recognise this transaction.
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  Is this a scam? Instantly they're going to panic
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  and think that you're scamming them out of their money.
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  OK, we offer something called payment protection and this is
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  unique to Simply owners. I'm not sure if any of the other
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  listing sites do something similar, but when owners join,
• 10:53
  we do our due diligence on them. So we do some ID checks and
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  checking their passports and driver's license, checking their
• 11:00
  utility bill to know that they actually own the property that
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  the guests are going to be going to.
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  And therefore we can offer the guests the payment protection
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  certificate so they know that their money is safe.
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  If they turn up and that property doesn't exist, that is
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  our fault. So we will pay for the value of
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  their holiday. That because we haven't done our
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  checks properly, we've never had a successful scam on our website
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  in the nine years we've been in business, which not a lot of
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  travel companies can say it's a market rar for scams at the
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  moment. Having that trust is absolutely
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  key to gaining more and more bookings.
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  You can advertise as many places as you like on Facebook and
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  Instagram and wherever you like to advertise your property.
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  But that trust is, is vital. And I know several property
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  managers who go, you know, crazy for a particular brand, WhatsApp
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  or Facebook, and then they've ended up building that trust,
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  but that's taken them years to get that.
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  And this, this payment protection certificate,
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  literally as soon as you'll join, you are protected and the
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  guest is protected. So it's a, you know, it's a
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  benefit to both of you because they know the bookie through
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  somewhere secure. Definitely, yeah, gives you that
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  Peace of Mind. So we've got no Commission or
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  booking fees, direct bookings, of course, owners have full
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  control, more exposure through that amazing SEO work and of
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  course the payment protection. So we've mentioned lots about
• 12:39
  Simply owners so far, but just give us the blurb, Becky, and
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  tell us how much is it to to list on the platform if people
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  are interested in in getting the properties on there?
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  So if you'd like to join Simply Owners, that's quite possible.
• 12:52
  Just drop us an e-mail, it's enquiries at simplyowners.net or
• 12:57
  a phone call. It's 01623343343.
• 13:00
  We're proud ourselves that there's always somebody at the
• 13:02
  end of the phone. If nobody answers, we will
• 13:05
  always ring you back. We're not, you know, a
• 13:08
  multinational corporation. We are at the end of the phone.
• 13:10
  If you need help we will help you, please feel free to reach
• 13:15
  out, give us a call. The flat fee for the year is
• 13:18
  £298.80. Obviously that decreases if you
• 13:23
  listed multiple properties. If you want to quote or just
• 13:27
  want to find out more, please just get in touch.
• 13:30
  It's been nice to hear from you. Superb.
• 13:33
  Yeah. And we'll put all these details
• 13:35
  and links in the show notes. Fantastic.
• 13:39
  And just I wanted to ask as well, Becky, do you help the
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  owners with the direct booking process?
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  Like for example, when you send them a booking, do you give them
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  advice when it comes to maybe, I don't know, screening guests or,
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  you know, making sure that that book, you know, books direct
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  next time? And did you give them tips kind
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  of on the on the property management experience and side
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  of things? Absolutely.
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  So we have a page on the front end of our website that is for
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  the owners and it answers their, there's a home owner advice and
• 14:17
  there's a home owner frequently asked questions.
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  So that will kind of guide them through if they need to use a
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  booking contract. There's some examples if advice
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  about taking damages deposits because obviously if you've been
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  used to working with a larger company and they usually take
• 14:34
  the damages deposits for you, that's something that you might
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  need to negotiate yourself as to whether you are, you know,
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  taking a damaged deposit before people come and how much you're
• 14:44
  going to return. Again, this is a discussion with
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  the guests, which is why the direct contact is perfect.
• 14:53
  The trying to think what else we do to help them.
• 14:57
  We're always at the end of the phone to give them a hand.
• 15:01
  There's a help console, So if they get into our console and
• 15:07
  get really stuck, there's a help button there to help them with
• 15:11
  that. We provide something called a
• 15:14
  window card and also do free business cards.
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  And so for example, if you're in a property that's got a lot of
• 15:22
  passing foot traffic, we can send you through a window card
• 15:27
  that you print out yourself. You pop it in the window of your
• 15:29
  property and essentially it's AQR code for your property so
• 15:32
  that they can book with you. And same with the business card.
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  So if somebody's come to your property via a, a different
• 15:39
  medium and then they would like to return, they can take a
• 15:43
  business card and on the back of it is the QR code to your
• 15:46
  specific property. So they will be able to book
• 15:48
  with you again, but book directly next time.
• 15:52
  Sounds ideal. Great.
• 15:53
  We will put all these links and info about Simply Owners in the
• 15:57
  show notes. Becky, it's been a real
• 15:59
  pleasure. Thank you for sharing those five
• 16:00
  reasons why people should be looking at listing sites.
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  Thank you for having me, James, it's been great.
• 16:07
  Great to chat to Becky Ward there from Simply Owners for
• 16:10
  less than £300 a year. That could represent a
• 16:13
  significant saving in Commission fees.
• 16:16
  Check them out. All right, that's it for today's
• 16:18
  episode. Remember, this series is
• 16:20
  sponsored by House Valley and if you'd like to try their PMS or
• 16:23
  digital guidebook, head to housevalley.com.
• 16:26
  For more free education tips and trends from the STR industry,
• 16:30
  visit houseplanet dot Club where you can sign up for our
• 16:33
  newsletter. Listen to our podcast casts and
• 16:35
  download a suite of ebooks for hosts and property managers.
• 16:39
  That's it for today's episode of Host Planet Bite Size.
• 16:41
  Until next time, happy hosting.