How many have websites for their STR's?

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Just curious how many have a website for their rental(s)? I am working on one for our 2 rentals. I’m using Wix because a) they’re free and b) I’ve used them for other websites and like the way you can build a site, they make it easy…

I don’t expect it to be a replacement for Air or VRBO, but rather a supplement. I’ve also thought about sending it to local attractions to give to their clients rather than the AirBnB/VRBO link that they have now.

Are they valuable? Which host did you use? Any thoughts?

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They’re only valuable if you invest in marketing to drive traffic from your target audience to your website. @Woody

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In the process of setting one up. I feel i have enough reviews on TA, Airbnb, VRBO and B.con to ensure that I am “real” to someone who wants to book. I think the travelling public is finally understanding the fees that they can avoid in they contact the host direct. Someone did a booking via an OTA yesterday, rang me once the phone number was available and offered to cancel and book direct. This is one of the reasons my listings all have names/branding…Google them and there I am!

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Yes. And they find me on google. It’s a win for everyone. No service fees and I don’t worry about thei stupid decisions.

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They took down my branding.

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who / how did they take down your branding?

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Yes, I built one myself. Found a wordpress template. Bought it. Downloaded it and designed our own site from that starting point. Got Elementor and learned how to do everything from google searches and YouTube videos. Now I’m redesigning it to be more user-friendly and attractive.

Like @georgygirlofairbnb, we’re starting to get bookings directly through our site. It also serves as a great place to send people for information, and we have a payment portal directly on the site.

VRBO is raising the service fee to match AirBnB, and people are beginning to understand you don’t get a lot from the service fees. 15% on a $5000 booking is a lot of money!

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I recently found a Facebook group for my area for connecting STR hosts with guests. It seems to be busy. It’s different. Guests post dates & number of guests & maybe budget then hosts contact them.

Seems they all have Facebook accounts for their listings.

I’ll probably do something similar.

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I just grabbed a CSS template I liked and added the photos and text, with a link to my Air listings. For right now. Now that I’ve shut down my tour business, I’ll be adding booking and payment to my site, as I have the time.

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I have steered away from this because I like to be somewhat under the radar locally. The state and town are always coming up with some new regulation that is tricky to interpret or meet. I have posted in my private Facebook group and garnered a few repeat customers from that resource. I offer an Airbnb creative journaling experience and I do link that to my workshop website.

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Every time this topic comes up, I look into it. Wix looks like a good bet, but I’m a little foggy on what, exactly, the website name will be, and whether it’s customizable. Hard to put wix.com/98473/nd/298374 on a business card.

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Just buy a domain name, mywhatever.com, from someone like GoDaddy and you can use that together with the Wix site to have a decent URL.

Here’s their help page that explains it, with a few helpful links.

JF

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Pretty sure you can choose what you want to go after wix.com/

i.e.: wix.com/miriamsrentals

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I believe you can choose what goes after the wixdotcom/ and you should also be able to pay a little extra to get rid of the wixdotcom altogether and just have your own domain name.