We have been hosting for approx 3 years and had 10-20% returning guests. 75% come direct. As we say our farewells and if they mention they’d like to come back, we mention the option of dealing direct.
We don’t take a deposit. Our cancellation policy is moderate, so even if they were on the platform they’d be able to get their money back if they cancel a week or more before. Also we have hosted them, so would only accept a return booking from those guests we are happy to host (that said we’ve never said no! Maybe because we don’t have direct booking and qualify any enquiry to weed out any potential undesirables).
Our ethos has been and still is “trust until proven otherwise”. We don’t ask for the money and wait until it is offered. We do cash and bank transfer. To date we’ve never had a single problem with returning guests.