Well! I think that if I had my own website, I’d keep the option open of doing bookings through it. Assuming it was a workable system. Given the extra booking fees, and how increasingly unstable/ephemeral an Airbnb listing feels.
Was checking out my competition last night, see if I’ve got me prices right. I reckon £140 is ok, same as the other similar listings in a similar area. Then I saw the house next door to me, on its own site, £240! With the option of warm bagels in the morning, for an extra £28.
So it made me think of doing my own website!
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What channel managers do people use? I looked into Lodgify but was unsure if I would make up the $59 per month fee with direct bookings that I could charge more for.
I am using hostaway.
I built my own site, well i dropped and dragged. I used freelogoservices, they designed a logo for me, you pick out of 100’s of templates. I give my website address in my thank you email on all platforms.
I use a channel managee and they write the html code and you just copy and paste. I use stripe for credit card payments.
I think the domaine name was €20 , logo about € 40 and hosting about €100, its cheaper if you are based in the usa. Next week just all direct bookings from the site. It can be done cheaply and am definitely no expert, i actually enjoyed creating it as have utterly no arty talent.
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Great idea, but can you give us more info about the process? I’m just starting out from 0, no listings yet and I’m looking for options, ideas and details on how to start. I also have no experience in website building or logo design so i would prefer a one time purchase if that’s possible
Can someone explain how and why the following post was marked as spam??? I was clearly responding to a post asking about various channel managers that were available, which is a site I wish I knew about when researching them. I am confused as I am not promoting a product or representing or benefitting from any company or business. I am newer to this forum but have been posting on other forums for years. Are we not allowed to post suggestions that help each other save time and money? Is this forum owned by AirBnB and thus prohibits discussion of any other brands or sites or services? I thought it was a forum we could speak freely in. If not I’d like to know now because I thought it was independent and not run by a specific business with their own product to protect. Even sites like HomeAway (or am I going to be flagged for mentioning them) have forums where people can mention other sites and even criticize HomeAway themselves.
Click this link for a list of every single channel manager on the market which you can sort however you like (there are dozens!). It gives details and comparisons about each.
This link compares four popular ones: Lodgify, OwnerRez, Guesty & SmartBnB.
Can someone explain how and why the following post was marked as spam??? I was clearly responding to a discussion on whether it was beneficial to have your own website and some possible solutions or compromises, which as a vacation rental owner I would be happy to learn about. I am confused as I am not promoting a product or representing or benefitting from any company or business. I am newer to this forum but have been posting on other forums for years. Are we not allowed to post suggestions that help each other save time and money? Is this forum owned by AirBnB and thus prohibits discussion of any other brands or sites or services? I thought it was a forum we could speak freely in. If not I’d like to know now because I thought it was independent and not run by a specific business with their own product to protect. Even sites like HomeAway (or am I going to be flagged for mentioning them) have forums where people can mention other sites and even criticize HomeAway themselves.
I agree that putting so much time and effort to building your own site when you won’t get the kind of search engine presence to make it effective is not smart. Good SEO takes a lot of time and dedication (and money).
However, I also believe it is good to have your own “site” even if you use something like Facebook or a site like HomeEscape that charges no processing fees (yes, FREE credit card processing, even for int’l. cards!), service fees or extra taxes to guests or owners and also has a low $199/year subscription. We have our own brand page there which we use as our business page and then link all those who find us via our free Google Business listing (on both Google Search and Google Maps) there, and also for those we refer to directly to book (people we know or returning guests, etc.). They can see all our listings and availability and details for each, and book directly (or send an inquiry) without any fees. Works great with no extra work. It is worth the $199/year to have a site we don’t have to build but that is completely bookable with no fees for guest or owner, even if we don’t get as much traffic as the Big Four do (although we do get some organic inquiries there too due to our free Google Business listing which links people there). Again, all that for $199/year is decent.