How to Drive Direct Bookings & Maximize Revenue: A Host’s Success Story

While listing on major OTAs like Airbnb and Vrbo can give your vacation rental valuable exposure, creating a direct booking website is one of the best ways to maximize your property's potential and ensure your business' success.
A vacation rental website with a booking engine provides a centralized platform for potential guests to explore your property and its amenities. It gives you more control over bookings and lets you do your business on your own terms. By accepting bookings directly, you can save on OTAs' commissions and boost your bottom line.
Although taking direct bookings involves certain risks, Hospitable can help you get started by taking care of the major challenges. This allows you to focus on things that matter most for creating a memorable stay for your guests and can help you earn glowing reviews and win more bookings.
In 2024, direct bookings for Hospitable hosts grew by 440%, with about $29 million processed through the platform. We also have top-performing hosts who prove that going direct brings a wealth of benefits. Your direct booking website can become a profitable revenue channel with the right strategies. One of them is Steve Barsh, the founder of Parker Chase Properties and a successful STR host who hit $500,000 in direct bookings. Follow on Instagram
Keep reading to discover effective strategies Steve uses to encourage direct bookings for his luxury vacation rentals and maximize revenue. But first, let's briefly overview different Direct plans that Hospitable hosts can choose to take advantage of direct bookings and become less dependent on OTAs.
Taking Direct Bookings with Hospitable: What Are Your Options?
You can easily create your direct booking website using our website builder or embed a Hospitable booking widget into your vacation rental site. Your properties will get listed on Google Vacation Rentals, so you'll have an opportunity to get free direct booking leads from Google Travel.
Get a direct booking website within minutes!
Hosts who build Direct business with Hospitable have two main options: Direct Premium and Direct Basic.
The Direct Premium plan gives you the freedom you can get with direct bookings and the protection that you have with OTAs. It includes guest vetting, chargeback protection, and $5M damage protection. Hospitable serves as a Merchant of Records, which allows us to collect and remit taxes in certain jurisdictions. For Direct Premium, you'll pay a 3% service fee to cover your payment processing, and your guest will pay a 4% service fee.
The Direct Basic plan is for experienced hosts who are comfortable with the risks and might already have the tech stack that helps them support direct bookings. The plan doesn't include guest vetting and damage protection. You are the liable Merchant of Record and can use Stripe to process payments. You are also liable for your cancellations, refunds, and chargebacks. For Direct Basic, you'll pay Hospitable a 1% host fee, and Stripe will deduct about 3% in payment-processing fees from your payout.
The Direct Lite plan is also available for hosts with properties in areas where Stripe isn't supported. You can have a direct booking website without payment processing and must take payments off-platform.
Meet Steve Barsh, Who Made $500,000 in Direct Bookings
Steve manages five luxury properties in ski-in/ski-out destinations in Park City and Deer Valley, Utah, United States. All properties boast high-end amenities designed to meet the expectations of discerning guests seeking an unparalleled experience.
Steve has a vacation rental website, stayparkerchase.com, with a booking widget from Hospitable, and he has just hit $500,000 in direct bookings. So, we asked Steve to share his expertise on significantly boosting direct bookings in the luxury vacation rental market.
You can watch the full video on our YouTube channel and find key highlights from the conversation below.
Steve's Direct Booking Journey
Steve says they bought their first property about 25.5 years ago, and since Airbnb didn't exist then, they started on Craiglist. They started managing their properties about 10 or 15 years ago. "I got rid of all property managers, the rental managers, because I said this isn't that difficult, and we can do a better job," Steve explains.
Now, they list their luxury rentals on Airbnb and Vrbo and accept direct bookings on their website. Steve says they've been using Hospitable Direct for about 18 months, although they've had their own website for a lot longer than that.
Strategies for Encouraging Direct Bookings
Steve points out that they have high-end properties that are very expensive, and their target customers are people who would stay at the Four Seasons and Ritz-Carlton. So it's not uncommon for a winter booking for them to be from $20,000 to $25,000 for a seven-night stay, and their average booking is from $10,000 to $15,000.
Steve underlines that they don't use any paid advertising, and their primary channels for lead generation are Airbnb and Vrbo—that's how people discover their rentals. About 30% of their guests book their properties again, and probably 80% of them book directly.
His approach to encouraging repeat bookings is providing exceptional service. "Our typical guest is driving to Salt Lake City International Airport, which is 35 minutes from most of our condos, and on the drive down, they book next year, a year in advance, because they had such a great stay. They said this is unlike anything I've ever stayed in, and they book it."
Steve also reveals that about 10% of their bookings are direct. Travelers find their rentals on Airbnb and Vrbo and see many excellent reviews, which provide credibility and trust. Then, some people may Google Parker Chase Properties, go to their vacation rental website, compare prices, and choose to book directly because it's cheaper.
Steve focuses on direct repeat bookings because by encouraging them, he has an opportunity to build strong relationships with guests without any intermediaries.
"We have a one-to-one relationship because otherwise, they're through Airbnb, and they're an Airbnb customer. I want them to be our customer."
Utilizing Technology and Tools
Steve uses technology to let his guests know that they can book a stay directly with him if they decide to come back next time. He informs travelers about it in a digital guide he created using Touch Stay.
"Like here's your departure, here's your departure reminder about your departure instructions. By the way, if you want to come back, you can book directly. And we say to people, look, book any channel. If you feel more comfortable booking on Airbnb because of the brand or Vrbo, knock yourself out. By the way, based on our booking size, our typical guest typically saves about $1000 by booking directly with us."
Steve also highlights the benefits of integrating with Hospitable, which helps him streamline operations and drive more bookings. He thinks that the Hospitable team is "doing great things in direct" and that it would be helpful if we could handle ACH and wire transfers just for some of their biggest bookings.
Steve recommends every host who wants to be successful in direct bookings "have a great website that's gonna highly convert," use OTAs like Airbnb and Vrbo for lead generation and focus on driving repeat direct bookings.
"Just think about where your customers are and where your guests are coming from. And again, I expect that 80% of them will come off Airbnb and Vrbo. So how will you make that guest feel comfortable booking with you directly over time? This means they've had a great stay or can see that credibility on your site where they feel comfortable."
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