Creating A Direct Booking Website - What Are Your Best Options?

Vacation Rental Website Builders – What Are Your Best Options?

So, if you are reading this article, you’re probably looking at vacation rental website builders to create a website to take direct bookings, or your existing website needs a makeover. Well, read on, as I’ll cover everything from soup to nuts to help you find the best solution to your needs.

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The importance of direct bookings in the hospitality industry

I won’t dwell on this too much, as so much has been written on this subject, but we are in a fiercely competitive marketplace. The short-term rental space is awash with booking options for potential guests.

There are the big brand sites, local sites, property management sites, a myriad of social media pages and groups, and more, all shouting book me, book me.

As a host or small property manager, it’s essential to be able to take direct bookings, now more than ever.

Advantages of having a dedicated direct booking website

Trust – Put yourself in the position of the traveler. Why would I book my next vacation via a Facebook post instead of via a big brand like Airbnb or VRBO? A professional-looking, easy-to-navigate, and simple-to-book website ups your online presence and instills trust in potential guests.

Control – Having your own website gives you more control of your business and how it’s represented online. You dictate who stays and who doesn’t (no bachelor parties, no spring breakers), and you operate your own cancellation policies (no more cancel any-time policies from third-party companies).

Price – Without the commission (service fees) that the big listing sites add, you can offer the lowest price on the web. That’s the most significant incentive for potential guests to book with you.

Exposure – Site visitors only see your property. They aren’t overwhelmed with 10’s or 100’s of other options.

Reduced risk – If you rely solely on the likes of Airbnb and Booking.com and, for whatever reason, they remove your listing, your business is dead in the water. Having your own website is a great fallback position.

Disadvantages of having a dedicated direct booking website

You won’t find too many people telling you about the drawbacks of creating and operating your own book-direct website, but I’m here for you.

Cost – Websites and website designers don’t come cheap. As a general rule, if you find a cheap solution, it’s probably not worth having. I’ll cover costs later on in some detail.

Time – No matter which solution you plump for, you’ll need to spend time setting up the site (even if someone else is creating the site, you’ll need to collate photos, list amenities, write copy, etc.), and you’ll need to manage bookings.

Work – Taking direct bookings is more work. Direct bookings take time to manage. Potential guests have questions, emails must be answered, deposits must be invoiced, and installments must be chased. It all adds up. Calendars need updating, rates need adjusting, and even incoming spam needs managing.

Longevity – This is the one area that hosts don’t factor in when budgeting for a direct booking website. Web design is forever evolving, both technically and visually. The bottom line is that you will need a new website (or your existing website will need a makeover) every 3 – 5 years.

Considerations before creating a direct booking website

Budget and resources – As I mentioned before, there are no exceptionally cheap options, and those that are cheap aren’t really worth having. If you have a website made from scratch, you probably need to budget somewhere between $1,000 and $3,000 for a single property site (plus monthly hosting fees of around $30). If you are using a vacation rental site builder, you´re probably looking at between $15 to $60 a month. If you create the site yourself, you’ll only need hosting and maybe some paid plugins. We’ll look at these options in more detail later in a follow up article.

Target audience – It’s important to align your website with your target audience (where possible). This isn’t always possible, though. When I was running my last Airbnb, I had all sorts of guests, from 18 to 80, from all over the world, so my target audience was pretty much everyone.

If your property is near Disney and you cater to families, or if your home sits on a golf course and caters to groups of golfers, these are things that you need to consider, and your site should speak to these demographics.

Market research – If you are just building a website showcasing your property, I wouldn’t get too bogged down with market research to begin with. Keyword research will be beneficial if you plan to write a blog highlighting things to see and do in your destination.

Your brand, property, and domain names – I recommend choosing a unique name for your property and domain. There are many condos called Ocean View and hundreds of Rose Cottage cottages. If someone is searching for one of these, they will have difficulty finding it.

It’s not easy coming up with, choosing, and deciding on a name for your business, but there are brand name generators online. Check out https://logo.com/business-name-generator – Most are free to use and also tell you if the domain is available.

Some options here offer sub-domain or provider name domains, like myplace.wordpress.com or yourrental.smoobu.com – Avoid these options as they are very unprofessional.

Email – Also avoid using Gmail, Hotmail, etc. email addresses. This also projects an unprofessional air about your business and brand.

Logo – Once you have a brand name, you will also need a logo. Head over to Fivrr.com and choose a logo designer. Prices range from $5 and upward. My advice here is to spend $50 or more. You get what you pay for. Look for a design package that will produce a number of logos to choose from, and make sure that some revisions are included.

Systems

Integration with existing systems (property management system, channel manager, etc.) – If you are already using a PMS or a channel manager, make sure that it can be integrated with the platform that you choose to create your site on.

Booking engine – If you are creating a direct booking website, you will need to integrate a booking engine. These manage your calendar, rates, quotes, bookings, and in many cases, emails. Take some time to research which booking engine you would like to use. Most work on a monthly subscription basis, but some work on commission. Check out Owner Rez and Free To Book. Most of the vacation rental website builders covered below have booking engine options.

SEO and online visibility – SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. This is the one area that hosts don’t understand. The majority of hosts build a 5 – 10 page website that promotes their property and the hope (expect) their website to appear in search (organic Google search) when people search for terms like ‘vacation rental *their destination*’, or ‘holiday rental *their destination*’, or something similar. That’s not going to happen.

I’m not saying this to rain on your parade. I’m just sharing my experience and the reality of the situation. There are millions of short-term rental websites and possibly hundreds serving your location. Most of these will be older (more established), and many will be larger (more informative) than your new site. Google prefers older and informative over and above new.

That said, there is still a lot to be gained by having your own site. Friends, family, and colleagues can book directly with you. Your social posts can point to your site. You can start to build your brand. But, when your site is new, you will need to drive traffic to it as opposed to sitting back and expecting traffic to just arrive.

Best options for creating a direct hospitality booking website

You have a few options when it comes to creating your new website. You can create it yourself, you can get someone else to create it for you, or you can use a specialist vacation rental website builder. This article takes a deep dive into the best specialist vacation rental website builders available at present.

Specialist vacation rental website builders

In today’s digital era, having a captivating and user-friendly website is vital for any vacation rental business to thrive. Fortunately, there’s a range of specialized website builders designed specifically to cater to the unique needs of vacation rental owners and property managers.

Unlike generic website builders (like WordPress or Wix), specialist vacation rental website builders offer a plethora of features and tools tailored to streamline and optimize the rental experience.

From seamless booking systems and customizable templates to integration with popular vacation rental platforms and advanced property management features, these builders are designed to empower property owners and managers to create stunning and functional websites that attract and convert potential guests.

1. Vacation Rental Website Builders

Lodgify

Founded in 2012

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Vacation Rental Website Builders Lodgify

First on our list of specialist vacation rental website builders is Lodgify. They were the first to offer these services in this space.

Features

Easy-to-use website builder
20 templates to choose from (see them here)
Fully set up for search engine optimization (SEO)
Your site will accept online payments
Easily add additional pages, and edit your main site navigation
Mobile friendly
You can use your own custom domain name
They also offer widgets for WordPress, Wix, etc.

Pros

The templates include an integrated calendar and booking option.
Each site is available in over 30 languages, so if you attract guests from different countries, this is a big bonus.
Great for single and multiple property businesses.
Built-in review collection to help with building trust.
Fast & Secure Hosting.
SSL, Unlimited Storage & Bandwidth.
24/7 Monitoring & Daily Backups.

Additional services

Lodify offers a property management system, a channel manager, guest messaging, email support, and free onboarding. You can see a full overview in the video below

What it costs

Lodgify offers 3 packages, Starter, Professional, and Ultimate. Prices start at $13 a month for the starter package, but that package also charges a 1.9% booking fee on bookings taken through your website and channels connected via API.

The Professional and Ultimate packages don’t charge booking fees, and start at $38 and $59 a month, respectively. Bear in mind that these prices are for a single property website, and prices increase on a sliding scale as you add additional properties.

You can see the full pricing breakdown here

Is there a free trial?

Yes, Lodgify offers a 7-day free trial. With no credit card required!

What people think

Lodify has a TrustPilot score of 4.4 from 422 reviews

Vacation Rental Website Builders reviews

Read all of the reviews here

2. Vacation Rental Website Builders