In the past, OTAs like Airbnb used anonymous email addresses to communicate between guests and hosts. This made it difficult for hosts to build direct relationships with their guests and encourage repeat bookings. However, Airbnb’s recent policy changes now provide hosts with guest contact information. This presents a great opportunity to personalise the guest experience and increase direct bookings.
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The Importance of Direct Guest Relationships
Building direct relationships with guests is essential for the success of any vacation rental business. By staying in touch with past guests, you can remind them of your property and encourage them to book again in the future and increase your repeated bookings.
Direct relationships provide access to guest data, enabling you to send targeted email campaigns with personalised offers and promotions that align with their interests. In this case, you’ll also be able to improve the guest experience. Direct communication allows you to gather valuable feedback from guests, enabling you to improve your property and services, and ultimately enhance the guest experience.
Strategies for Building Direct Relationships with Guests
Here are key strategies to cultivate direct guest relationships in the new Airbnb era and answer the how question:
- Capture Guest Emails: Always collect email addresses from guests who book directly through your website.
- Reward Direct Bookings: Offer incentives like discounts or special offers to encourage guests to book directly.
- Welcome Email Series: Implement a welcome email series for new guests. Introduce your property, provide essential information, and invite them to connect on social media.
- Post-Stay Communication: Send a follow-up email after each stay. Express gratitude, request feedback, and consider offering a discount for their next visit.
- Build an Email List: Utilise a permission-based email marketing platform to create an email list of your guests. This allows you to send regular newsletters with updates, special offers, and local event information.
A Multi-Channel Strategy
While OTAs offer significant reach, relying heavily on them can impact your ability to control your brand narrative. Although they still hold a significant presence in the hospitality industry, vacation rental owners should:
Continuously collect guest information across all channels to enhance their marketing efforts and build stronger guest relationships.
Focus on a multi-channel marketing strategy to balance their dependence on OTAs.
Actively utilise their own website and other channels to acquire guests directly.
Zeevou’s Role in Building Direct Relationships
Zeevou’s Booking Engine empowers direct bookings on your website with live rates and availability.
- Streamlined Check-In: Zeevou Book features a unique 5-Step Online Check-In Process that streamlines all bookings, regardless of their source. This process guides guests through confirmation and prompts them to provide additional information, including their contact details.
- Data Collection: The first step in the check-in process requires guests to identify themselves (booking for themselves or on behalf of someone else). Then, the system prompts them to complete their own profiles and, if applicable, the profiles of their travel companions.
GDPR Compliance: Zeevou enables you to obtain explicit guest permission for future marketing, ensuring compliance with GDPR regulations. Guests can easily unsubscribe from marketing communications at any time.
The ability to connect directly with guests is a game-changer for vacation rental businesses. By implementing these strategies and leveraging tools like Zeevou, you can build strong, lasting relationships with your guests, increase direct bookings, and drive the long-term success of your vacation rental business.
