Help critiquing our direct-booking site. What updates should we make?

Question

Hi, everyone. We've been reliant on Airbnb and VRBO for renting out our STR in Vermont ski country.

We've had success to date, but after listening to BP's Real Estate Rookie Podcast episode 680, the guest Mark Simpson discussed how owners are beholden to the whims of these platforms. As they change their pricing and algorithms, we simply need to "take what comes". In addition, negative reviews on these platforms from unruly guests can really screw things up for future bookings.

TLDR, he suggested creating a direct booking site, which we did. We have it linked to our OwnerRez property management software which also plugs into Airbnb and VRBO. Would love some feedback on what we've built and learn what some of you who have been successful in doing this already have on your sites that may be lacking in ours.

If you have a moment, please take a look and provide any critiques you have. Thanks in advance!

Brian Kantor · Answer

Thanks, @John Underwood! I've built my own Wordpress sites in the past, but I've found the cost vs time commitment better to contract it out. This was actually my first site that I did NOT build myself. I design the pages in Google Slides and then work with a Wordpress developer to build them into the actual pages themselves. I've now worked with this developer on two projects and have been very happy with their work. If you DM me, I can share my developer info.

As for the ability to accept the bookings themselves, I had already been using OwnerRez to sync my pricing and availability between VRBO and Airbnb, and they offer Wordpress widgets to connect their software to your site. The process was relatively simple and their customer services is excellent, but OwnerRez does take some time to get used to.

Yael Lederman · Answer

Perhaps adding photos of you / your team would be nice to include in the about us section. I find that adds a personal touch that people like.

Sarah Kensinger · Answer

Love love the home! I would try to get more professional photos though to showcase the beautiful decor and design of the home.

As for the site you nailed it!! Definitely one of the best direct booking sites I've seen!

Brian Kantor · Answer

@Matt Owens, really good feedback and thank you for the kind words. The "About Us" content imports from OwnerRez, so when I make changes on the back-end, they push out automatically to the site, Airbnb and VRBO. There are two options to push this info out, one long and one short. I found the short info section to be too short, so went with the long option. I thought about manually entering this info myself and editing down a bit more, but opted for the option that enables autosync so I wouldnt have to update in multiple places at the same time. Perhaps I pare this down a bit, though, so thank you for the tip.

As for the Book Now button, I opted for "Check Availability" instead as I thought the commitment was less and would entice people to engage with it more if they didn't feel like they'd get "stuck" committing up front. I definitely waffled on this a lot, though.

Brian Kantor · Answer

Hey, @Michael Baum. I absolutely LOVE the OwnerRez backend software, but do not love their site builder and found their templates to be limiting. I had the site built in Wordpress using the Elementor framework and then used the OwnerRez Wordpress plugin, widgets and short codes to enable bookings and calendar display. The photo carousel is also importing from OwnerRez in realtime so as I change photos on OwnerRez, they automatically push out to the site as well as VRBO and Airbnb.

Brooklyn McCarty · Answer

On your home page the black font could be difficult to read on that cover photo

Kathleen James · Answer

I can help with this! I'll message you over some contact info for real estate photographers in the area to connect with. If you opt to do the photos yourself, I'll also include some examples of great listings that truly highlight the property's best features. I love that you included lifestyle photos as well.

in the Stowe area, photographers range from $200-$500 depending on the level of expertise and size of home. I never list without professional photos!

Michael Baum · Answer

Looks nice! So you built it on OwnerRez?

Matt Owens · Answer

The branding looks great. I have two suggestions:

1. Include a call to action button on the homepage. “Book Now” or “View Listing”.

2. Shorten content on about us page. A lot to read through.

Nice work!

Help critiquing our direct-booking site. What updates should we make?

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