Rental Tonic

29/09/2022

Day three of the Direct Booking Success Summit and Damian Sheridan and I are up at 2pm talking inbound content for your Book Direct website.

Check out the full lineup for today's summit. It's a goodie!

I am especially looking forward to listening in to Bob Garner talking sustainability for book direct success at 12pm.

11am - How automation will free up time and help you grow with Di Hammill
12pm - Sustainability is good for your direct booking business with Bob Garner
1pm - Hot Seat Live Session on Zoom
2pm - How to write inbound content that converts to bookings with Louise Brace and Damian Sheridan
3pm - You don’t have to do it all to still have direct booking success
with Jenn Boyles

Pick up your free or VIP ticket here 👇https://directbookingsuccesssummit.com/registration-page/

27/09/2022

And we're off!

Day One of the Direct Booking Success Summit is here. Damian Sheridan and I will be discussing inbound content for your website on Thursday 29th at 2pm.

Today's incredible line up of presentations and speakers includes:

11am - Simple techniques to attract the people you want with Kelly Odor
12pm - Be a Social Media Superhero in Less than 15 Minutes a Day! with Sarah Orchard
1pm - Live networking session on Zoom
2pm - What is PR and how to use it to drive direct bookings with Kate Stinchcombe-Gillies
3pm - How to fill your rooms in the low seasons with Yvonne Halling

Get your free of VIP access here 👇https://directbookingsuccesssummit.com/

19/11/2021

This has been the year of pushing my confidence boundaries to the max. All who know me know that I express myself through the written word and I occasionally build up the confidence to speak up in my little social circle.

However, this year I've spoken at the Book Direct Show in London, at online webinars, on a guest panel at VITUR Summit and next week I'll be presenting at the Short Stay Week digital conference.

And to push those confidence boundaries further. Not only am I paying homage to written content for your short-term rental marketing strategy, but I'll also be introducing five types of video you need to introduce to complement your articles.

Video is new for me. I am experimenting in producing destination videos for accommodation providers. But I am no stranger on how to use it to enhance your book direct strategy.

Come and join me next week and find out how to deliver emotion, passion, adventure and experience into your short-term rentals content strategy.

You can also have a giggle at one of my homemade Top 5 Reasons videos that I made for Clayton Morley. I am getting better, honest! Plus the incredible Cristhian Daniel Cueva now has my back when it comes to video production!

Hasta la Short Stay Week!

Tickets prices and over 100 guest speaker presentations make it a no-brainer! https://lnkd.in/dRCVSDxT

29/10/2021

Today was all about the VITUR Summit. Great content from global professionals who are absolutely passionate about our short stay industry and taking it forward into the future.

And the bonus? I got to catch up with old friends and make some new. Hasta la próxima!

27/10/2021

Eeek my first guest panel appearance will be at VITUR Summit this Friday 29th Octubre at 12.30h at the Palacio de Congresos Málaga.

Topic: How Property Managers Can Compete With OTAs to Drive Direct Bookings.

Guest panelists: Damian Sheridan from the Book Direct Show, Kelly Odor from and Kathryn Ryan from Superhog.

Full schedule and to book tickets ➡️ https://vitursummit.com/

28/09/2021

Notes from the Book Direct Show

Following on from my session at The Book Direct Show on the Art of Creating a Book Direct Website to Seduce Guests and Increase Bookings, I have been sharing excerpts from my presentation.

Last week I shared tips on why we need to keep an ideal guest and niche market in mind to kick start the inbound content writing process.

Day three and Tip three: Convert your values into customer-centric claims

How do we ensure that when our ideal guests visit our website they can straight away see that what we are is exactly what they have been looking for?

It all boils down to the fact that one-size does NOT fit all and neither do we want it to.

A successful hospitality brand focuses on both company and customer values.

In other words, we need to be both ‘us-centric’ and ‘customer-centric.

When we nail our brand values and align those into customer-centric values, all of a sudden we have created a business in tune with what our ideal guests want.

Our customer-centric values or claims are our why’s. Our brand values translated into what is important for the guest - why they should book with us over our competition.

If you want to find out how to turn your brand values into customer-centric claims, sign up to the Book Direct Network where you can watch my session in full along with the eight other live presenters, 17 online presentations and even more content from the 2020 show!

It’s chock full of inspiration on how to increase your direct bookings. Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity!

Get access: https://bookdirect.show/access-presentations/
It all boils down to the fact that one size does NOT fit all and neither do we want it to.

Coming soon in tip four... How to balance your experiences with functional solutions!

23/09/2021

*Notes from The Book Direct Show*

Last week I did session at The Book Direct Show on the Art of Creating a Book Direct Website to Seduce Guests and Increase Bookings.

Each day for nine days I am sharing excerpts from my presentation here on LinkedIn.

Yesterday, I shared Tip One on why it's essential to develop an ideal guest persona to kick start the writing process.

Day two and my second top tip is to: Nail your Niche

Trying to target a mass audience to your vacation rental is never a good idea.

Why? Because you will end up competing on price. Always.

Whether you have a chateau in the Loire Valley, a beach house on Anglesey or a luxury villa in Tuscany, every short-term stay experience is unique and if positioned correctly within a niche means you can step away from trying to please the crowd and welcome guests who want exactly what you’ve got.

So, what is a niche market?

A niche market is a specialised group of consumers who are looking for a particular product or service.

When they search for it, they tend to use focused search phrases - long-tail phrases - rather than high volume keywords, which are dominated by the OTAs who have ‘unthinkably huge marketing budgets.

For us independents, it’s impossible to compete on these high-level search terms.

However, when you focus on a niche and create a USP, you can create stories and content around longer search enquiries, which resonate with guests on a much deeper level.

Most importantly, the OTAs don’t focus on niches. And they create little to no content around experiences, so that’s where you need to focus your inbound content strategy for your book direct website.

Let’s take three niche travel market examples and articles with high ranking search enquiries within them.

Niche: Surf vacations:
Destination: Maui
High ranking article title: Best places to surf in Maui

Niche: Family-friendly:
Location: Anglesey
High ranking article title: Top 10 things to do in Anglesey with kids

Niche: Pet-friendly
Location: Andalucia
High ranking article title: Top dog-friendly hiking trails in Andalucia

Do you see the word accommodation in any of these article titles? No!

These articles match the search enquiries made by ideal guests.

I have seen first-hand how short-term rental hosts who cater to a niche market, enjoy increased bookings, charge higher rates - there is no competing on price - and welcome back repeat guests, year in and year out.

They seek you. You seek them. And this is how they find you.

Step three: Convert your brand values into customer-centric claims coming up next…

22/09/2021

*Notes from the Book Direct Show*

Last week I did session at The Book Direct Show on the Art of Creating a Book Direct Website to Seduce Guests and Increase Bookings.

Whilst I prepare a condensed version article - the presentation was immense! I wanted to share snippets from my Top 10 tips of the day.

Tip One: Create an Ideal Guest Profile / Persona / Avatar…

Whatever you want to call it, understanding your ideal guest and creating content specifically for them definitely helps kick start the writing process for your book direct website, social media posts, OTA listings and more.

In fact, two of the main reasons we don’t attract the right visitors to our website and convert them to bookings are:

- We don’t write with an ideal guest in mind

- We write what we think our visitors want to know

Rather than finding out what they actually want to know. And what they care about.

When we zoom in on a single guest profile, we start to attract individuals who want exactly what we have and the benefits of knowing your ideal guest are many.

Most importantly, you get to work with exactly the kind of guests you want to welcome to your home.

And when your ideal guest reaches your website, they will instantly know if this holiday is for them.

It’s easier to win repeat bookings - welcoming happy, repeat guests

An ideal guest profile can make more sense of your social media efforts, as you can easily hang out online where your guests are likely to be.

You can put your local knowledge into destination and experience articles to boost interest amongst prospective guests.

And what’s more, you can personalise your content and messaging making it up to 9x more effective!

Ultimately, your ideal guest persona will be used to inject tone and personality into your content and messaging. Because, when you have a specific guest in mind, it’s easier to write content that speaks to them.

If you want to find out how to develop your ideal guest profile, avatar, persona - whatever you want to call it! Message below or DM me and I will send you my video tutorial that takes you through step-by-step how to make that happen.

Step Two: How to nail your niche is coming up next…

16/09/2021

It’s taken a couple of days to come down from the euphoria of presenting at the Book Direct Show on Monday.

Reminiscing over the photos today I wanted to share some of the images of the inspirational speakers that made the day special.

The Book Direct Show is unique in that it focuses fully on gaining independence for your accommodation business. No OTAs involved!

Mark Simpson, Sarah Orchard, Maeva Cifuentes, Neely Khan, Elaine Watt, and Sarah Riley contributed their incredible insight into creating an independent short stay business through email marketing, SEO, storytelling, social media, destination marketing and PR.

My talk was on creating content for your book direct website to seduce guests and increase direct bookings and a guest panel featuring Carlos Villaro-Lassen, Kelly Odor, Srin Madipalli and Mike Ortegon focused on embracing inclusivity and accessibility for all guests.

If you didn’t attend this week. You missed out. Make sure you catch the next event… coming soon-ish Damian Sheridan and Deborah Labi?

28/08/2021

Once upon a time, I had big dreams of being a writer. I had an amazing English teacher called Mrs Davies who believed I had talent when it came to putting words down on paper.

And back then, we actually did put them down on paper!

When Mrs Davies left, I lost all motivation and after being told by the school careers advisor that I had no chance of becoming a writer I put the dream to one side.

After leaving school, I went through a few jobs before landing an eight-year career at The Sunday Times. I wasn’t in editorial, in my dream role but it didn’t matter; just being in that environment with the smell of the press and the buzz of a newspaper deadline. It was everything for me.

During my career, I have worked in print press, online press, I have flipped over to agency side, moved to Spain and set up my own communication business.

I have been working for over 10 years in the short-term stay and travel sectors as a copywriter and digital marketing strategist. Writing destination articles, book direct website content, industry reports and news.

I can now proudly say that I am that writer that I wanted to be all those years ago at school. A careers advisor might not have believed in me, but maybe just maybe I believed in myself enough.

On September 13th, 35 years after I was told I could never be a writer. I am speaking at the Book Direct Show on just that subject…

The Book Direct Show is the only event dedicated to accommodation providers and direct booking education.

This year’s show is a hybrid event taking place in September 2021.

From September 1st to 10th the online show brings together amazing industry experts from all over the world sharing their knowledge.

And on September 13th we are live in To***co Dock, London for the in-person conference.

Come and join us. Join me. As I proudly (and nervously) take to the stage and talk about a subject that I have had a passion for since childhood.

https://bookdirect.show

16/08/2021

Less than a month to go to The Book Direct Show in London.

The date: September 13
Location. To***co Dock, London

There are so many amazing speakers booked to speak at the online event launching on September 1st and the in-person event on the 13th.

All of us are passionate about the Book Direct Movement and helping owners and hosts achieve more direct bookings.

I will be discussing how to seduce your guests and attract more direct bookings through great content on your book direct website.

Who's joining me? Book your tickets here ➡️ https://bookdirect.show/tickets/

03/07/2021

Got to discuss my favourite subject again this week: Content Marketing and how to make it work for your hospitality business.

Fabulous chatting with Damian Sheridan of The Book Direct Show, Yvonne Halling the super Bed & Breakfast Coach and Vairo of Short Stay Week.

Jump in next Thursday, July 8th at 4pm. Grab some great tips and start using content to enjoy more direct bookings:

Link: https://event.webinarjam.com/register/19/1vxvzf0

27/05/2021

So much knowledge crammed into three days!

Well done Elaine Watt - Holiday Let Success Podcast for producing the Short Stay Virtual Summit. It was an honour to be invited to talk to you about copywriting and destination marketing for Book Direct websites.

There are 30 incredible talks all FREE to watch until 31st May and then a teeny fee to get lifetime access thereafter. Not to be missed for hosts and property managers!

https://shortstayschool.teachable.com/p/short-stay-virtual-summit-may-2021

The Online Event with 25+ Expert Speakers sharing their knowledge, Strategies and Tactics for going beyond Survival and into Thriving in The New Short Term Rent

07/05/2021

If there weren't enough reasons why guests should book with you direct... Some fun for a Friday! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hropCxxehGo

Sign up to Curve for your free £5 - https://curvecard.sjv.io/c/2740272/1023636/12851With huge thanks to Emma Waddell for all her assistance in creating this ...

29/04/2021

➡️ REMINDER! Tonight's the Night or Today's the Day (depending on where you are in the world!) Thursday, April 29th: 19h CEST / 2pm EST
⬇️ We're going deep into my favourite subject...
❤️ The Power of Content Marketing for more Direct Bookings.
Join me, Damian Sheridan, Frank Bosi and Pedro Leal for this tip-packed Hostfully webinar.
https://app.livestorm.co/hostfully/content-for-more-direct-bookings

📢 Join Damian Sheridan from the Book Direct Show, Louise Brace of Rental Tonic, Pedro Leal, and Frank Bosi of Hostfully as they explore the power of content marketing to attract more direct booking...

27/04/2021

➡️ This Thursday, April 29th 19h CEST / 2pm EST
⬇️ We're going deep into my favourite subject...
❤️ The Power of Content Marketing for more Direct Bookings.

Join me, Damian Sheridan, Frank Bosi and Pedro Leal for this tip-packed Hostfully webinar.
https://app.livestorm.co/hostfully/content-for-more-direct-bookings?type=detailed

📢 Join Damian Sheridan from the Book Direct Show, Louise Brace of Rental Tonic, Pedro Leal, and Frank Bosi of Hostfully as they explore the power of content marketing to attract more direct booking...

26/04/2021

So, this is how we rolled on the Zeevou webinar on Long-form content. Heaps of great content marketing and SEO tips for short-term rental providers. And we have another webinar coming up this week. Watch this space for more info! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzYeRfFAGfw&t=78s

Have you got yourself to write a 2000-word article for your website? If yes, you know the frustration of looking at a blank page and not knowing what to do n...

03/04/2021

I have been writing destination content for accommodation businesses for over a decade now but increasingly we see the importance of using video to complete a travel story... so we upped our game.

Now we'll write and video journal our way around your destination. Get in touch to find out more. https://rentaltonic.com/

30/03/2021

Looking forward to delving into my favourite subject: How to use content marketing to attract direct bookings.

Come and join me, Damian Sheridan and the Hostfully team on Thursday April 29th at 20h CEST.

📢 Join Damian Sheridan from the Book Direct Show, Louise Brace of Rental Tonic, and David Jacoby of Hostfully as they explore the power of content marketing to attract more direct bookings. 🙋🏿‍♀️🙋🏼...

09/03/2021

This list! Honoured to be included in this article from Lodgify alongside peers that are truly breaking boundaries in our industry. Thank you! https://www.lodgify.com/blog/women-vacation-rental-industry/

There are a number of admirable women who are making a real contribution to the vacation rental industry. Get to know our shortlist of the top influencers.

03/02/2021

Happy Day!

WHY SHOULD GUESTS AND WHY SHOULD YOU FOCUS ON A BOOK DIRECT STRATEGY?

https://thebookdirect.network/why-should-guests-book-direct/