Direct bookings, building a website

[Ashley Wolfe]

In an effort to gain a bit more independence from the large platforms, do any of you build your own direct booking websites?  I'm looking at Lodgify right now and I'm wondering if its just paying another platform fee in the effort for more "direct bookings".  Plus, when the platform handles the payments, seems like they handle the problems too.  Thoughts?

[Michael Baum]

Hey @Ashley Wolfe. I don't see Lodgify as independent. It really is just another way to list but you are still beholden to them. Especially for the website. I haven't looked into it much, but I am guessing that the website is owned by them so if you decide to move it, it stays there and you have to start over.

If you want an independent site, build your own. Wordpress is the way to go. I am working on one now hosted over at Bluehost. There are tons of widgets and add-ons that feature calendars that link back to other platforms, take payments, schedule cleanings and such. Most of them are free or low cost.

Then you own the site, build the rep, grow SER (search engine results) and all that. You can have a blog covering your area, forums if you want and custom email addresses linked to your site.

If you don't feel up to building it yourself (it is pretty easy really) you can hire out on Fiverr.com or Freelancer.com. Depending on the complexity, it shouldn't be too expensive.