The Key to Turning Your Location into Direct Bookings (and Happy Canada Day!)

00:00:00 - Jenn Boyles

Have you ever wondered why more people aren't coming to your area for their vacation? Maybe you wonder why they aren't coming at all. This is what I'm going to be diving into in this episode. I'm going to help you find out what you can do to help increase your direct bookings.

You are listening to the Direct Booking Success Podcast, bringing you all the information you need for your short term rental to stand out from the crowd. I'm your host, Jenn Boyles. As an owner and manager myself, I know how hard it can be to navigate the hospitality industry. I'm here to help so you too can have direct booking success.

Happy Canada Day and welcome to the Direct Booking Success Podcast. I'm your host, Canadian, Jenn Boyles. It is so nice to be here with you today. Now, today is a very special day for me and all Canadians across the world. And if you aren't Canadian, don't tune out just yet. There's going to be plenty of actionable advice in this episode for you. But first, I want to start with why July 1 is such a special day. In general, July 1 is Canada Day and this is the day that Canadians have been celebrating since 1868, which is when the provinces joined together to form Canada as a country. It is a national holiday and a time when Canadians across the country and around the world show their pride in their history, culture and achievements. Now don't worry, I'm not going to give you an in depth history of Canada, but rather use Canada as an example of what you can do with your own area in your marketing for direct bookings. And trust me, it will all make sense. Secondly, this day is now the anniversary of my return to Canada. On July 1, 2023, my daughter and I got off a plane from England to start a new chapter in our lives. For me, it was returning home after being away in the UK and Europe for the previous 21 years. And I tell you, as much as I miss being in the UK and having all of Europe on my doorstep, I am so happy to be home in Canada. So let's now get down to business. I'm going to be speaking about how to use just how awesome the place your properties are located in your marketing for direct booking with a couple of special guests. To do this, I'm going to start by sharing part of a presentation that I gave at the CanStays Rental Alliance Conference back in April. The presentation I gave was called your canadian advantage and how to use it to attract guests from all around the world. And we started by looking at why being from Canada is just so awesome. And I came up with five reasons, and you can do the same for your country. Let me walk you through what I came up with. Number one, Canadians are funny. So think of the names. Katherine O'Hara. Jim Carrey. Martin Short. Seth Rogen. Eugene Levy. Mike Myers. That's just a few of them. All canadian. Number two, Canadians are musical. Let's see if you've ever heard of some of these names. Paul anka. Joni Mitchell. Neil Young. Justin Bieber. Celine dion. Shania Twain. David Foster. Brian Adam. Michael Buble. There's so many. And number three, Canadians are inventive. Did you know that basketball was invented by a Canadian? His name was James Naismith in 1891. Or that insulin was discovered as a treatment for diabetes in 1921 by a doctor and his student at the University of Toronto. What about the cardiac pacemaker? It was invented in 1950. And the best one, I think, is the garbage bag. It was invented in 1950 by a guy named Henry in Winnipeg. Number four, Canada is big and beautiful. Clocking in at 9.98 million km², Canada is the second largest country in the whole world. We have access to three oceans and one of the few places in the world where you can ski and surf in the same day. Hint, that's Vancouver, where I'm from. Number five, Canadians are patriotic and polite. If you've ever seen a Canadian, a backpacking trip around Europe. They have Canadian flags all over their bags. Or you see that one person saying, excuse me as they go through a busy train station in Europe, you have it. You guessed it. They are Canadian. So all these things and more are to your Canadian advantage. People want to travel here. Canada is a bucket list country for so many. So let's lean into our Canadianness. It is so important because there's no place on earth like Canada. Now, taking what I have said in this presentation so far, you can do the same with your country, your local area, because there is no place on earth like where you are from. So think to yourself, what is unique to your part of Canada or where you live? And then the next question is, what is your USP? Your unique selling proposition? It isn't about hot tubs or fire pits or a house that lives. 14. This is about the unique experience your guests will have when they stay with you. Once you have answers to those questions, it is time to use them in your marketing to call in your ideal guests. To help me give you some more examples, I've asked a couple of people from other parts of Canada to help. So first, let's find out who they are, where they're located and why guests come to their area.

00:06:20 - Annette Arsenault

Hi everyone. My name is Annette and I own a vacation rental property in St. John, Newfoundland, Labrador. We are Canada's most easterly province and actually Canada's newest province, having joined 75 years ago. So we're celebrating that special milestone this year. My home is called Quayside Quidi Vidi. It is located right in the city of St. John's, but you wouldn't know it because when you step foot in our village, it really feels like its own separate community with its own culture, geography and way of life, really. So the best thing I would say about our neck of the woods is our people. We love welcoming tourists from near and far. We love to share our culture, our sense of humor, our sense of adventure with anyone that comes to visit us on the island. It really is a special feeling that you get when you walk off the plane and you see the welcoming smile and you feel right at home.

00:07:30 - Kendra Badoe

Hi everyone, my name is Kendra Beidou. I run Suite Harmony. We're a vacation rental management company that takes care of properties that I own and manage in Eastern Ontario with a particular focus on the Calabogie area. And when we say, why Calabogie? And what's the best thing about Calabogie? Well, Calabogie is absolutely stunning. It has tall pines and pristine lakes and it just feels like you're in a postcard all year round. There's something for everyone to do in the warmer months there, swimming and boating and fishing on the lake and all kinds of community activities. And then when it gets cold in the winter, we have the highest downhill ski hill in all of Ontario, which is said something because it draws people in for skiing. And then there's snowmobiling and even just cozying up by the fire. In the wintertime it's a draw all year round, and in the fall, all of the trees just turn into this gorgeous, gorgeous, colorful landscape escape that just attracts people at that time, too. So that's one of the best things about Calabogie. When you look at why people come to visit, they come because of those things. They come because they're wanting to enjoy all of those activities and all of the amenities that we have at our properties. We have some large capacity spaces that really encourage family reunions and wellness retreats and workshops and group getaways and so on. But then we also have some smaller spaces that attract solo travelers or couples looking for a romantic getaway and small families looking to enjoy.

00:09:21 - Jenn Boyles

So quality time, thanks Annette and Kendra for helping out. Now, can you tell me how you use your location and why guests are coming there in your marketing?

00:09:31 - Annette Arsenault

We use the location in a number of ways for marketing, the first being on our website, we highlight where we are and what this region has to offer. I also have a blog on our website. It's got a variety of blogs about things to do in the winter, things to do with kids, family friendly activities, things you didn't know about Quayside Quidi Vidi and now you do. We use that a lot in terms of encouraging folks to learn more about the region and also on social media. We know a lot of reels and posts about the area and all there is to do here.

00:10:17 - Kendra Badoe

When we look at how we're going to market, how we're going to tell people about what we offer, we often think about how close we are to all of these amenities, the ski hill, the lake, and so on. How close are the properties to all of these things that people can do and enjoy in and around the Calabogie area? And how can people enjoy the space? And often people who've never heard about Calabogie before discover it because they're looking for a place that offers the activities or amenities that we provide. And then by highlighting those features, we attract guests who work seeking those experiences and learn about Calabogie. Visit Calabogie maybe for the first time.

00:10:56 - Jenn Boyles

Thank you. Some great ideas there about how you too can use your location in your marketing. So, Annette and Kendra, can you please tell me what direct booking success means to you?

00:11:06 - Annette Arsenault

In terms of what direct booking success means to me? Well, it means having better control over my business. It means interacting with customers in a way that is flexible and direct, not having all conversations, being mindful, monitored by a third party platform, not having the guest be charged outrageous fees, and developing that relationship between the host and the guest. It really means a lot to me to be able to cultivate that relationship and to hear that the guests have had fantastic experiences. Best place they've ever stayed. Definitely recommend it to their friends. I just can't tell you how that warms my heart and makes me want to keep on hosting. So we're currently at 50% direct booking, which is a great increase over last year. We were only at around 20% direct when we were being managed through a property manager. So when I took over this year, my real focus was making sure that I build an online presence, that I have a website that provides all the information that guests might need and that really highlights the beauty of our province, the uniqueness of the experience that guests will have when they come and makes it easy for people to make that reservation.

00:12:36 - Kendra Badoe

Direct booking is really, really important because we've got the Airbnbs, the VRBOs of the world, and those are good and important, too. But we want to be able to have access to our guests, to be able to give them a more personalized experience, a customized experience, and be able to interact with them freely. And that's something that we can do best when we're dealing with people through a direct booking. And then there's also the opportunity to kind of give people a better price and so on. I love being able to build and to reward our repeat guests. We have a lot of people who come back year on year, and we want to make sure that we're able to foster that sense of loyalty. And that's much easier to do when it's a direct bubble. Then when we're dealing with the restraint that some of the platforms might have love to keep independent from relying solely on any one platform. It gives us more control over our business.

00:13:38 - Jenn Boyles

Annette and Kendra, thank you so much for sharing what you're doing. I will add links to your websites in the show notes, and if you have a story that you'd like to share on the direct booking success podcast, head to Instagram. Follow me @directbookingsuccess and send me a DM. And if you're listening or watching this episode and you think somebody else would be interested, send them a link in the next episode. We're going to help you with what to ask when you're looking at adding a new piece of software into your short term rental business. Too often I see people asking in Airbnb Facebook groups what software others are using, only to get bombarded with very opinionated responses, which really doesn't help them make a decision. So my guest John Stokinger and I will be sharing what you should be asking instead. Until then, please go out and take action for your own direct booking success.

Hey, thanks for listening to the Direct Booking Success Podcast. For more information about this episode and others, head to the website directbookingsuccess.com podcast. See you next time.