Things to Consider When Building Direct Booking Websites Yourself
Reliable and efficient direct booking websites are essential to the success of many hosts. After all, it’s the best way to allow guests to book without all the fees that popular platforms take. However, many online booking platforms, especially those that provide complex channel management, can come with expensive fees. So, how do hosts chose the right tools without breaking their bank? How do they make their sites beautiful and easy to use? How do they set up their sites quickly? We break it all down for you below.
In this article, we'll explore the key factors to consider when selecting an online booking website for your business. From user interface and customization options to payment processing and customer support, we'll guide you through the process of finding the perfect platform without compromising on quality or cost-effectiveness. So, let's dive into the world of direct bookings and discover how to choose the right website for your business.
Spoiler alert: You may not need a channel manager! If you're looking for a completely free, simple, and user-friendly online booking website for your vacation rental, we have just the solution for you. Creating a landing page, blog, and simple booking engine for a checkout flow may be the right fit for you. You can still enjoy full customization, calendar management, automated reminders, and other features to streamline your business.
Decide if you need a landing page, a website builder, or a custom site
If you have complex needs, you probably need a custom site. But, most hosts opt to use popular website builder platforms on the market. They provide everything from unique logos, contact forms, design templates, and content editing flexibility. Plus, you don’t need to have any technical skills to use them.
There are several platforms to chose from. Before you go hunting the web trying to find the perfect one, the first thing you need to do is decide how much time you want to dedicate to maintaining your site. If you want a quick a dirty solution, you may just need a landing page. For simple landing pages, we recommend:
Carrd - $0 for up to 3 sites. You get the most basic thing…a landing page.
If you’d like to blog, share a guide book, and maintain more of a social presence, you’ll probably want a full website builder. We recommend:
Wix - $16/month. This also includes a light marketing suite.
Note: Wix has many tiers, but you don’t need to pay for the higher versions. We’ll show you how to get the booking engine for free with the basic tier.
Carrd will provide you with a “.ju.mp” URL for free, meaning you could have a website that looks something like this for no cost at all: www.yourvacationrentalname.ju.mp.
To build the best brand, you may want own your own “.com” domain name. Unfortunately, there is no way to do this for free. That’s why WIX may be a good option. Paying up front for a full year on Wix comes with a free .com domain name.
If you opt for Carrd and still want your own .com domain, or if you don’t want to pay up front for Wix, you can easily find a domain name for your direct booking site on GoDaddy or NameCheap for as little as $9.99/year. After that, connecting your Carrd or Wix site with your .com domain name should be easy.
Select a simple booking flow vs a Channel Manager
Now that you have your landing page or full website and domain name, you’ll need a mechanism for guests to check out.
You’ll need to decide if you need a simple booking flow or a robust Channel Manager. The best online booking website for vacation rental hosts that is completely free is the48dots. Of course, we are biased, but we will lay out some other other popular options and why we believe we built the best solution in the market.
A Channel Manager such as Logify. Costs can range from $13-$194/month. You don’t need a channel manager if your properties aren’t overwhelming to manage. A channel manager streamlines multiple properties across multiple channels, automates updates, prevents double bookings, and enhances overall efficiency, ultimately saving time and effort. However, many of the tools included in channel management are also available in the48dots booking engine. So, if you have under 10 properties, consider that the cost of a channel manager may outweigh the benefits.
Note: If you use Logify, you’ve just signed up for Airbnb’s Simple Pricing
To connect your rentals from Airbnb to Logify, you’ll need to agree to Airbnb’s Simple Pricing. There’s no way around this. What this means is that the guest won’t see service fees, but as a host, you’ll have to front 15%. This likely means you’ll need to raise your prices and depending on your pricing strategy, this could be a big risk.
Built in booking engines on Wix. Wix has 2 options for a booking engine, but the upgrade can cost extra. The first option is Wix Hotels ($39/month to accept payments) + HotelRunner ($15/month to sync calendars). The second option, is the Short Term Rental plugin, but it has such horrible reviews that we will glaze right over it. If you use the Wix hotel booking engine, it’s a very clunky experience. For example, you can’t add required cleaning fees to each rental or sync calendars with your Airbnb site.
Note: The pros of Wix: it helps with SEO for vacation rentals
Forming a direct booking site is challenging, but marketing it against OTAs is even harder. Wix provides several tools for marketing your SEO.
Moreover, neither option lets you offer reward points to keep the guests coming back! Meanwhile, the48dots offers a simple and intuitive booking system that can be easily integrated into your website or social media pages.
Setup your booking flow
Ok, convinced that the48dots is the best way to build an online booking website FREE? Cool, so here’s how you do it:
Sign up to create an account
Enter your Airbnb link so we can set up your booking page for you
Configure your options to Allow Bookings
Import your Airbnb iCal and export you direct booking iCal to Airbnb
Add your pay-out information to receive payments for bookings
Link your listing page to your Carrd or Wix site!
Pro-tips
To make the most of your online booking website on the48dots, here are a few tips:
Customization: Take advantage of the customization options available on the48dots to match your branding and create a seamless booking experience for your guests.
Availability: If you list on multiple sites, and your calendar is synced between those sites, you only need to sync one calendar with the48dots. For example, if your VRBO and Airbnb calendars are synced, you only need to sync your Airbnb calendar with the48dots. VRBO will then flow it automatically.
Reminders: Use the automated reminder feature to send guests a notification before their stay, reducing the number of no-shows.
Reviews: Encourage guests to leave reviews after their stay to help build your online reputation and attract new bookings.