How to Get More Repeat Stays for Free!

Sarah Orchard: 00:00:00

You're listening to Get Fully Booked with Sarah Orchard. Are you ready to master your marketing so you can ditch your reliance on the online agents and grow your direct bookings?

I'll be sharing with you exactly what it takes to grow your direct bookings and the simple marketing steps to get more profit in your pocket. Hello and welcome to the Get Fully Booked podcast. I'm your host, Sarah Orchard.

It's great to have you listening today and thanks for joining me for another solo episode. Today I'm diving into a marketing gold mine that so many hosts overlook. How do you get more repeat stays without spending a penny? Yes, for free.

Sounds too good to be true. Well, stick around and I'll show you how to keep your guests coming back for more without breaking the bank. So, let's get started.

So, firstly, I thought I'd look at, like, why repeat guests matter. So let's kick off with some facts. Did you know it's up to 10 times cheaper to retain an existing guest than to acquire a new one? And why is that?

Well, your marketing has already acquired them. You've done the hard work. You've acquired them as your first, you know, guest. So they were new to your business.

And repeat guests already know what to expect. And they have a higher propensity to purchase or repurchase because they literally know what they're getting.

It's always easier to sell to somebody who has already bought before. They will ask fewer questions, they'll need less hand holding, and they'll be basically much easier to convert into a repeat booking.

The best part is that repeat guests are your ultimate fan club. They're more likely to recommend your place to friends and family and they'll leave glowing reviews and tag you on social media.

They really are the ultimate marketing jackpot. So how do you turn a one time guest or visitor into a loyal guest? So let's talk some marketing strategies.

Well, one of the first things is obviously making your stay unforgettable. First impressions matter, but actually lasting impressions are what bring people back to your holiday business.

Here's how you can create an experience that guests can't stop raving about. Firstly, I'd say go the extra mile.

Now, we hear this a lot, but adding personal touches like a handwritten welcome note or a personalised greeting really makes them feel like an individual and not a number. And it goes a long way. Recognise repeat guests with small gifts.

Sometimes something simple like local chocolates or a mini bottle of wine can leave a big impression.

If you've got guests celebrating an anniversary or birthday, maybe they've told you and you know that they celebrated that the first time and they come back for an anniversary. I use our booking notes section, like we have a private notes section on our booking system Glamp Manager.

And I use that to make notes about like did they get engaged when they stayed with us? Were they coming for a specific birthday or anniversary?

Because then when they come back I write them a handwritten card welcoming them back and maybe surprising them.

Normally with a little extra gift, I normally upgrade their fizz to more premium bottle of local fizz so they know that I'm treating them as an individual rather than just as a number. And people definitely do notice that.

Secondly, things like, attention to detail and what we need to do is consider the whole guest journey with us.

So everything from the pre arrival communications that you send them, the actual welcome and the sort of check in experience, whether you've got a digital guest guide that actually helps them get the most from their stay right the way through to the cleanliness of your property, little design and amenity touches, it all adds up and makes them want to come back again.

And they're more likely to tell their friends if they've had that amazing experience and they can see that you really love and care about your short term rental or your glamping business. The third one is really be attentive without being overbearing.

There's nothing worse than feeling like the host is sort of in your back pocket and isn't leaving you alone. So check in with your guests during their stay to make sure that everything is perfect.

But don't overdo it because no one feels like nobody likes feeling like they're being watched. And actually some of the recent ad commercials have been playing to that. And the fact that, you know, sometimes us hosts can be a bit overbearing.

So we need to bear that in mind. One of the other key things I'd like to share with you today is think about how you can stay connected after they leave.

Because once guests check out, it's very easy to just be thinking about the next changeover, your guests that are arriving and making sure that everything is perfect for them. But once the guest has left, the relationship doesn't end there.

And there are some free ways that you can basically stay in touch with them and keep on their radar. You definitely need to do a post stay follow up. So use your booking system to actually automate some emails that go out.

We send two, one that goes out two days after and another one that goes I think three to five days out after that to actually thank them for staying and to also ask them if they would leave a review. We also asked them for any feedback, anything that they weren't happy about and things that we could improve.

If you really want to encourage them to come back, you can also get some bonus points for yourself if you include something like a discount code or a special offer on their next day. Now you might be thinking why? You know, I don't do discounting. Remember, it hasn't cost you anything to get them to come back.

Unlike your marketing that you're doing for your new guests.

We're always thinking of like this, almost like a leaking bucket and we're trying to get, you know, new guests coming in the top all the time and we let all of the other ones seep out of the bottom. So we do have this sort of holy bucket with a, you know, a bucket with a very large hole in it letting the water out. And those are your past guests.

So don't think about it as discounting, think about it as loyalty pricing and that you're actually offering them an incentive to come and stay again.

If your guests have engaged with you on social media and if you think it's appropriate, particularly if they have tagged you on their posts, you can follow them on Instagram or Facebook, you can comment on their photos, but try and be respectful. Obviously if they haven't tagged you or you think it's not appropriate, don't sort of comment and tag.

You don't want them to feel like they're being stalked.

But if they do tag you, obviously user generated content is some of your best forms of marketing because it is genuine and obviously it has that sort of social proof. So share those posts or stories to your own stories so that other guests and fans will see them.

So if they've tagged you, that makes it super easy to do that. I always love it when guests tag us, particularly for Instagram.

It's just so easy then to share to stories and you've got an instant bit of content that I haven't had to think about, which is always a Brucey bonus in my book. Think about using things like personalised reminders. So use your booking system to send an automated personalised message.

For example, one year ago today you stayed with us. Can you believe it's been a year since your last day? We'd love to welcome you back.

So again, try and get your booking system to actually do some of the heavy lifting for you or use tags in your email marketing system so that you can actually flag the month, maybe that guests stayed or the year so that you can do those types of marketing activity to remind them. Lastly, I'd like to sort of look at some loyalty incentives that you can create that don't actually cost you anything.

As I said at the top of this episode, you know, people like to be feel like individuals. None of us like to feel like we're a number. So we need to think about how we can make them feel special.

And this is how you can build loyalty without spending a fortune. Think about giving them some exclusive perks for returning guests.

So free upgrades, things like early check in or late checkout if you've got some small extras that you would normally charge for. For example, we have things like charcoal and we also have things like our pizza starter kit. They don't, we don't charge very much for them.

They don't cost us very much to do. But actually, you know, for repeat guests, it would be quite good to be able to give them those as freebies. Just as a little thank you.

As I said to you, when I have guests coming back, I upgrade their fizz from the free bottle of Prosecco to actually some local English sparkling wine from an award wining vineyard which we actually sell in the Lookout Bar. But it's about three times the value of the Prosecco. So actually it only cost me about another five pounds.

But you know, what about seven pounds, you know, seven US dollars.

But ultimately for the guests, the perception is that they've had something much more valuable as a little thank you for coming back and that's really good marketing. Also maybe let them choose their favourite room, property or unit. So if they have a favourite, we only have the one so they're not going to get any choice.

But if you have multiple units, you might find that people actually have some preference and therefore you can actually give them that when they come back and give them that choice. Again, it's about making them feel recognised as individuals. Maybe think about referral rewards.

So if you've got returning guests, let them know that they'll get something special. If they refer a friend who books a stay, even if it's just a simple acknowledgement. Or you could try an incentive.

Maybe they get some a percentage off, like 10% off their stay and 10% off for their friend. Again, people are more likely to share something if it's a win win situation. They get something and their friend gets something.

They feel good about doing it and obviously telling them about the places that they've stayed. You can also think about featuring your loyal guests in your social media.

Obviously, with their permission, maybe a photo or a story about their stay will make them feel valued.

I've got some guests who've actually shared some really lovely content on social and with their permission, I do reshare their content and tag them when I do it so they get a little mention. It makes them probably quite important on social media and they don't mind me doing it.

And if you think about it, there's an expression that we use in Britain called Keeping up with the Joneses, and it's all about wanting to outdo your friends and neighbours.

So actually, people sometimes feel very smug if they've had their content shared on social media because their friends are going to see it potentially and it makes them feel good. Okay. Lastly, I wanted to talk about how you can make the rebooking process simple and tempting for your guests.

So sometimes the easiest way to encourage repeat stays is to make it just super simple for guests to book again. And we don't even think about this. But I've got a few suggestions for you. First of all, give them direct booking links.

So when you do follow up emails or on your social media posts or maybe on stories, make it easy for them to skip booking through an OTA. Make sure that even, like, don't send them to your homepage.

Make sure you send them to the actual booking page so that they, you know, they know what they're going to get. So ultimately you probably don't need to take them through all of those clicks to get to the actual booking.

Secondly, you know, think about giving them, as I said, some exclusive offers. So create special packages that are only available to previous guests, special discounts, you know, give them loyalty weekends or VIP retreats.

Make it feel like they are being treated as special, not just one of the masses that you have on your email list or that are visiting your website or on your social media. And lastly, and I think this is the most important one, email them regularly, like every month.

We soon forget who we have stayed with or places that we've been. I don't know about you, I stay in some amazing places. We eat in some fabulous places.

But it's just so easy when life is busy to just move on and forget about it. And all your email marketing is doing is just giving them that gentle nudge to say, hi, we're still here.

Remember how good it was, do come and stay again. And you're not being pushy, you're not being overly salesy. You're just giving them a gentle nudge.

So if the one tip you can take away from this episode is is do regular email marketing, it will make a difference and it will make your marketing job so much easier.

If you're using an online agent like Airbnb at the moment and you're struggling to get guests email addresses, do have a listen to episode four where I share lots of tips on how to capture the email addresses during the stay. So there you have it. Some simple and often free ways to turn one time visitors into loyal repeat guests.

Remember, it's all about creating a memorable experience, staying connected and making your guests feel valuable. And keep sending those email campaigns. Thank you for listening.

I will be back next week with another solo episode where I'm sharing my own journey in creating a lifestyle business but still trying to have a lifestyle and that can be a bit of a juggle. I hope you'll join me for that one. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd love it if you could leave me a review.

You know how much us hosts love those five star reviews. Until next time, have a good week.

Thank you for listening to Get Fully Booked with Sarah Orchard if you want to see if you are ready to ditch the likes of Airbnb and grow your direct bookings, put your business to the test with my free Direct booking Roadmap quiz. Head to my website get-fully-booked.com/quiz and let's get you more direct bookings and more profit in your pocket.

Share Episode

Shownotes

Transcripts

Follow

Links

Video

More from YouTube