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We have our own website and use social media to promote it - Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, Google+. We are also on Google Maps and Apple Maps.
It takes a while to drive traffic and a lot of work but after a year we are starting to see results and are getting bookings direct.
I use the Weebly website builder software which is very easy and you don’t have to have any coding experience.
It should be trivial to make this clickable - see the hyperlink link in the bar above (fourth from the left).
Sorry, but there is no hyperlink link on the bar. Fourth from the left is quotation marks, so I don’t know how to do it.
It’s the two little squares positioned diagonally next to each other, joined by a small line. You can also do Ctrl-K.
Managed to edit the link in my original post. It’s now clickable. The hyperlink link does not show on the bar above on my phone. Now on computer, where it does show. Thank you.
I have a background in web design, but I didn’t feel confident building a responsive site from scratch - my skills are pretty rudimentary - so a bought a bootstrap inspired template and modified it to my own needs. It does not use a CMS underneath - it is just straight HTML/CSS/JS but if I had the time and skills I would go back and probably turn that into a Drupal site.
Does your website allow guests to book directly? That seems like a desirable feature, but it’s probably also not easy to get it to work reliably. Unless you use someone elses software, of course.
No, I don’t have plans to allow users to “book” online on my website. They just contact me. I send them an invoice via PayPal and I can send a contract via RightSignature.com, if need be, but with repeat folks I don’t really bother.
Hi @CatskillsGrrl,
Ah, ok. Just asking for my own information. I’m not sure how to handle that myself.
Hi TognBee
I see you used WIX. Was the book and pay with paypal feature built in or did you have to add it?
Thanks!
Hi FtWorthGal,
Wix seem to charge for everything outside their basic package. We used their Hotel booking add-on, which then needs a payment system adding as well! If you want an email address to go with your web site then that’s extra. Not hugely impressed. I don’t feel the Hotel add-on is right for what we are doing and I may well change to sending a PayPal invoice for any bookings.
We’ve only had one booking through the web site so we need to look at what we are doing there.
Good luck with your ventures.
Thank you very much for the information!
Also look into Home Escape. Free for both guests and hosts. They are new, trying to build their platform. You can accept payment through them as well. Even get paid at the time of booking!
We have to keep trying to find options. The big platforms want to control so much of our listings and increasingly all the new changes are not in our favor.
Hostaway released their own booking websites a few weeks ago. They automatically synchronize rates and availability with Airbnb and other platforms and take just a minute to set up, assuming you already have the listings set up on Airbnb. Here’s an example:
It costs a few dollars to buy a domain and redirect it to the website, and credit cards and paypal are accepted as payments.
I started to use the Smoobu channel manager and they offer free website creation. I had a quick look and it is very easy though obviously limited functionality as would expect for free. I’m not sure if it would be useful or not, I suppose it wouldnt do any harm.
Hi everyone!
If anyone is looking for a website feel free to send a message my way. I’m looking at building up a portfolio so i’m after creating a few simple websites for people. I’m not looking for any payment as I am experimenting with a new software. The software that i’m using builds websites with Bootstrap 3, one of the most reliable and proven web design frameworks.
Please feel free to message me!
We have two properties at the moment so we made our own website for SEO sake:
Since we are usually 90% occupied via Airbnb we simply like to link directly to our ABB listings and return the favor. Plus we’d rather go through ABB Resolution. We provide a discount on our website which directs to our email if one happens to do their due diligence. Other bookings we receive have always been through word of mouth, so then we just deal with it direct through email.
To narrow down this question, has anyone created a website for renting out shared accommodation, such as a room in your flat?
I’m wondering if most of the above useful discussion is pertinent only to full houses rented out.
I don’t see what difference it makes whether it’s for a room or an entire house.
I do! I use Go Daddy to host and used Shopify templates and applications. I accept PayPal payments and so far, so good.
I was definitely new to the HTML coding, but i had a lot of fun designing and programming the site.