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Guest Education Day is Here!

Guest Education Day is Here!

As more and more guests discover the benefits of vacation rentals, it’s the industry’s job to let travelers know they have options when it comes to finding and booking their ideal accommodation.

That’s where Guest Education Day comes in.

Every year in the first week of February—peak booking season!—property managers, vacation rental owners, and other small accommodations providers encourage guests to #BookDirect via their own bookings-enabled websites.

What is #BookDirect?

It’s a #hashtag, a concept, and a movement.

Online travel agencies (OTAs) give both accommodation providers and their guests a convenient, trustworthy place to transact a reservation. But these conveniences come at a cost: most OTA platforms charge guests a booking fee of 10% – 20% per reservation, which really adds up! Guests booking large and luxury properties, for example, can end up paying hundreds of dollars in fees.

Owners, hosts, and managers, meanwhile, must play by the OTA rules—conducting all email conversations on-platform and, in some cases, paying a fee for the transaction, too.

For vacation rental businesses who have their own website capable of accepting bookings, Guest Education Day and Book Direct allows them to let guests know they can save on traveler fees by booking direct with them.

How Can You Educate Your Guests?

There are a few ways to spread the word about the benefits of booking direct.

Offer guests a discount for booking via your website, and share the deal with your mailing list. Post a graphic to your social media accounts like the one below (provided by VRMIntel, the driving force behind Guest Education Day and #BookDirect).

You can even tell your guests in-person (or leave a note at your vacation rental). It might be too late for that reservation to book direct, but in the future, the same guests will know they can “think beyond the booking sites” by booking directly with you—and save cold, hard cash in the process!

aBundle and the entire American Hotel Register team wish you a healthy, happy and profitable 2019.