Crafting Conversions: Mastering Direct Bookings

podcast Gil Chan
By The Hospitable Team

In this episode of our Hospitable Hosts podcast, our special guest is Gil Chan, the CEO and Founder of CraftedStays. This hospitality platform enables STR hosts to build direct booking websites using templates made explicitly for short-term rentals. Hospitable users can take advantage of our integration with CraftedStays to create integrated direct booking sites in as little as 15 minutes.

Chatting with Miles, Gil shares his expertise in creating a high-converting direct booking website. From the advantages of going direct to understanding the target market to optimizing direct booking websites for conversions, the conversation covers a wide range of topics.

Press play to discover how to build trust with your potential guests using website design, what metrics to track to understand how your site is performing, and what mistakes to avoid.

If you prefer to read the highlights, we've got a summary of the key takeaways below.


How Gil Started with CraftedStays

Gil begins by sharing his personal hosting experience. He and his wife started hosting on Airbnb and Vrbo in 2021 when they bought their first cabin in the Smoky Mountains. However, as they began to scale their portfolio, they decided to get into direct bookings to gain more control over their business.

Gil was disappointed that it took him four weeks to build their direct booking website on WordPress because he thought it would be much faster. His day job was in tech—he was a product director in e-commerce, so he knew how easy it was to build an e-commerce store using platforms like Shopify.

But there was nothing like that in the hospitality industry. "We had the websites our payments providers allowed us to build, but there's only so much you can do on some of those. And if you wanted anything more than that, you would have to hire an agency that often costs thousands of dollars," Gil explains. So he left his tech job, started a company, and created CraftedStays.

Advantages of Going Direct

Gil thinks one of the apparent advantages of direct bookings for hosts is that they can become less dependent on OTAs and have more control over their businesses. "As you scale up your properties, going direct becomes much more economical. When you have a wider portfolio, you can cross-pollinate folks that have stayed with you on one property and have them stay with you at another one of your properties, too," he adds.

Using multiple channels to market your property allows you to diversify your income streams and maximize your revenue. Managing bookings on different platforms, including your direct booking website, won't be a problem if you automate your daily tasks using vacation rental software like Hospitable.

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Know Your Target Audience

Gil thinks that one of the most effective ways to understand our target market is to examine our communication with guests to get a better idea of who they are because they generally tell us who they're traveling with.

"But probably the easiest way to do it is if you do a data dump on all your reviews—you can bring that into a word bubble. You'll find out that certain phrases end up popping on the screen," Gil points out.

These phrases can help you identify your guests' needs, preferences, and pain points. This info will help you to meet your guests' expectations when designing your place, creating your Airbnb listing, and building your direct booking website.

"You want to ensure that you're resonating with whoever's staying on the other side of that screen," Gil emphasizes. Since website design is crucial in building trust with potential guests, Gil recommends that hosts be consistent with their branding elements and "keep a certain brand aesthetic."

Avoid These Common Mistakes

Gil points out that one of the most common mistakes is overusing animation, which can distract potential guests from your main message. "What you want to do is try to funnel someone towards, in our case, booking," he emphasizes. Another mistake many hosts make in their direct booking websites is making their home pages and landing pages too long and distracting.

 "Many folks will highlight all the great things to do and amenities on their homepage. The best practice is to understand if they are ready to book, give them a call to action at the top of the page, and then route them to where they can find out more," Gil explains.

Metrics Hosts Should Be Looking At

Gil encourages all hosts to install Google Analytics because it will give you a good sense of traffic to your website. This way, you can understand "whether or not the certain marketing activities you're doing" drive traffic into it. He also recommends tracking conversions as this metric helps determine which of your marketing activities work well.

Tune in to the full episode of the Hospitable Hosts podcast to discover how to create a direct booking website that converts.

Your clear path to full control and autonomy in your vacation rental business.

Explore how you can reclaim control and enhance profitability by strategically replicating and even surpassing the the advantages offered by online travel agencies (OTAs). Gain valuable insights and practical tools to excel in marketing, drive visibility, and elevate your short-term rental business to new levels of efficiency. Reduce dependence on OTAs, increase direct bookings, and offer a secure, user-friendly experience for guests, paving the way for greater autonomy and profitability in the short-term rental industry.
Direct Bookings 101