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Attracting Large Groups to your Property with Ed Maughan & Sarah Pursey
Episode 3222nd September 2025 • Get Fully Booked • Sarah Orchard
00:00:00 00:30:33

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This week, I'm chatting with Ed Maughan and Sarah Pursey, two brilliant hosts who've cracked the code on marketing to groups. And trust me, this isn't just about squeezing more beds into your property - it's about understanding what makes group guests tick.

Because group bookings are a completely different beast from your standard couple's getaway. We're talking hen dos, family reunions, milestone birthdays, corporate retreats and more. Each one needs a different approach, and frankly, most hosts are missing a trick here.

Ed's been banging the drum about direct bookings (music to my ears!), and he'll tell you exactly why ditching those booking agents is crucial when you're dealing with larger groups. Meanwhile, Sarah's juggling multiple properties and has some seriously smart marketing strategies that actually work.

We're covering everything from ensuring guests return again and again to creating visuals that actually show groups how your space works for them. No fluff, no nonsense - just practical advice that'll help you fill those bigger properties and get more profit in your pocket.

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Key Takeaways

  • Mastering marketing is key to ditching online agents and boosting direct bookings.
  • Growing direct bookings takes simple marketing steps that put more profit in your pocket!
  • Group accommodations are unique and require different marketing strategies than smaller properties, for real.
  • Capturing email addresses from your guests can lead to repeat bookings, so think smart!
  • High-quality visuals and clear info about your property setup are essential for group bookings, trust me.
  • Understanding guest behaviour for group bookings is crucial, especially for special occasions like reunions.

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Find out more:

Group Accommodation

Scenic Stays Herefordshire:

www.trevasecottages.co.uk

www.oldbarnhousehereford.co.uk

www.bettwscourtretreats.co.uk

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Connect with Sarah:

Website

Instagram

LinkedIn

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Are you ready to take more direct bookings?

Take Sarah's FREE quiz here to find out how ready you are with your marketing to ditch the likes of Airbnb! Put your business to the test...

Transcripts

Sarah:

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. Hello and welcome to this week's episode of the Get Fully Booked podcast.

I'm Sarah, I'm your host, Sarah Orchard and today I'm delighted to welcome two wonderful guests to the podcast, Ed Morne from GroupAccommodation and Sarah Purcey at Scenic Stays Herefordshire. Now I've invited them onto the podcast today to share their experiences of marketing to attract group bookings to your accommodation or site.

This can be particularly lucrative for larger holiday homes, owners with multiple holiday cottages on the same site or larger glamping sites with multiple units. So we're going to explore the differences between multiple marketing to groups versus maybe like couples and families. A warm welcome to the podcast.

Sarah Percy:

Thank you.

Ed Maughan:

Thank you.

Sarah:

Good to have you here. So Sarah, can I start with you? Just tell me a little bit about your business and the properties that you've got.

Sarah Percy:

So I run self catering holiday accommodation in South Herefordshire.

The business was started in:

Each one has a hot tub, games room, bar area, cinema room, EV charging and are accessible.

as then expanded by myself in:

And I'm currently going through a rebrand to bring all six properties under one brand, Scenic Stays Herefordshire.

Sarah:

Fantastic. That sounds like that's going to keep you very busy.

Sarah Percy:

It certainly does. It keeps us all busy, especially with.

Sarah:

Them being on different sites as well and being a sort of distance from each other.

And they're actually quite different as well because obviously you've got larger groups and then you've also got the, you know, the more like the couples, smaller units. Do you tend to rent them all at the same time or do they get booked out separately?

Sarah Percy:

Never all at the same time, just because there's no space for 50 people to be. So never at at the same time. So they're all very, very different people that go into the different sites.

And yes, being across the four sites, it's a huge selling point because they've all got their own space and their own facilities. But yeah, logistically it means we need a very strong team and we're kept very busy.

Sarah:

Sounds like it. Well, we're going to come on to talk about the marketing side in a little bit, but I'm going to swap over to Ed.

Tell us a little bit about group accommodation and what you do.

Ed Maughan:

in the Brecon beacons back in:

My parents owned a bunkhouse in the hills above Sennybridge and they were looking for somewhere to market the bunkhouse. Effectively it was a sleeps 20. There wasn't really anything out there.

It was the relatively early days of internet marketing and they got started with groupacommodation.com just literally to market the bunkhouse. They were part of an association of other local bunkhouses at the time and basically it grew from there.

and today we advertise about:

We've been working with Sarah's family for a long time, I think from the early days of when she first opened her barns and I guess quickly in terms of how we operate, we are a direct bookings first platform. So owners pay us an annual subscription to list on the website and then we pass the enquiries to them to deal with directly.

So we're not an OTA or kind of commission based platform. We just operate on a simple subscription basis and help owners take more direct bookings with less commission.

Sarah:

Music to my ears. You know I'm a huge fan of that. So always a big fan of somewhere where you can advertise and list rather than pay commission to an agent.

So thanks for sharing that. We're going to come on to talk a little bit more about that in a minute. Ed.

Sarah, your guests that are booking with you, you've mentioned that you've got some quite different properties. Why are they coming to stay? Are they regular holiday makers or are they coming for special occasions? What's driving their bookings?

Sarah Percy:

So in the big properties, the two that sleep up to 18. It's a bit of both. Predominantly a special stay. So a big birthday, a wedding anniversary, a reunion, something along those lines.

However, we also get regular holiday makers, particularly if they have stayed previously for a special occasion.

They've all really enjoyed their stay, the memories that they've made, and decided to make it a regular holiday or perhaps bring in a different group of friends or another side of the family. So really, it's a variety of reasons, but in the bigger properties it is predominantly for special stays.

Sarah:

Yeah. And that makes it quite challenging, doesn't it, when people are coming for different reasons? So do you have a separate website for each property.

Sarah Percy:

At the moment we do have separate websites for all the properties. However, I'm looking to put them under one sort of big website, which would be carefully curated.

Sarah:

Yeah. So do people come back for, tend to come back for, like multiple stays. So they come and stay with you and then they'll come back again.

Sarah Percy:

We have lots of returning guests. It's actually sort of one of our best performing booking sources. So we have people who have come since the beginning.

So for the last 18 years, you know, might have only missed one year, but come back year on year. We have people who will go one year to one, then to the other, then maybe skip a year and then come back.

I've got people who come every other Christmas to one of the big properties.

So, yes, we get lots and lots of returners, which are the sort of more regular holiday makers, have enjoyed their family time together and really that's their sort of time.

They all get together, but they have usually come in the first time because they've come for some special occasion, a big birthday, something like that.

Sarah:

Once they've discovered your beautiful properties, they then want to come back again, which is which is great. It's always easier, isn't it, to get people, It's an easier form of marketing to get people to come back, rather than always starting with needing to find fresh new guests.

Sarah Percy:

Yes, absolutely.

Sarah:

So just quickly on that, do you incentivise them to come back for another stay? Do you send them, like, email campaigns? What sort of marketing do you do to your past guests?

Sarah Percy:

So, to the past guests, we don't offer any sort of discount or anything like that. We try to sort of ensure that what we're offering is good value.

So, you know, for the quality of the offering, and we invest huge sums of money to maintain the quality.

So we always ensure that we've got a quality offering and then we sort of stand by our pricing rather than offering a range of discounts to actually stay in touch with them. We do, yes, email marketing. And then for us, social media is how we actually keep in touch with our past guests for the big properties.

Social media has a very different use for us for the smaller ones, but for the bigger ones, that's actually sort of how we keep our properties in mind as well as email marketing.

Sarah:

Okay, now that, that's good. I mean, email marketing is obviously a great way of keeping in touch.

But like you say, it's interesting what you've said about the different audiences. Which leads me onto my next question. You know, marketing to groups versus your sort of smaller, like couples coming to stay.

What differences have you noticed in marketing to those two different groups of potential guests?

Sarah Percy:

It is extremely different.

Even marketing to my sleeps eight, which would be classed as a group property, is very different to my sleeps 18, which is the reason my rebrand is being done so carefully. So a particular listing website might work extremely well for one property, but another property might receive very little from that same website.

So it's really important that you understand the customer, what the customer wants, the services they require, why they're staying and then how to reach them and that you're always reviewing that.

Sarah:

Yeah. And it sounds like you've understood like the different sources.

So obviously, you know, there's a different emphasis in terms of where people are finding you. Do you find that Google search for the bigger, you know, obviously people coming as a larger group, do they tend to Google to find properties?

How are they finding you? Obviously, hopefully via GroupAccommodation.

Sarah Percy:

Yeah, that we do get direct to our website, so from Google search. But a lot of it does come from the selected listing websites, such as GroupAccommodation.

Sarah:

Yeah.

Sarah Percy:

So, yeah, the. For the big properties

Sarah:

And they obviously perform very well on Google searches. So it's a great way of being discovered when people are sort of actively looking. So Ed, what do you think is key for marketing to larger groups?

Ed Maughan:

There's plenty and I've got some interesting stats that I can share on that. I think to pick up on Sarah's point there. Looking for listing websites or looking where your guests are looking is really important.

So definitely recommend stepping into the guest shoes and working out what their user journey is going to be to finding your property, whether that's looking at a Google search, running an AI search.

There's lots of stats about how much people are using AI these days to discover properties and thinking about what their touch points are going to be and making sure that you're present in the places that guests are going to be searching for you, whether that's on listing websites like ours, making sure that your own website's nicely SEO optimised, looking potentially at things like destination sites. We've been doing some work recently on lead times as well for larger properties.

And so it's making sure you're getting in front of them at the right moments in time. So some of the stats that the team have pulled over the last couple of weeks is that for our smaller stays, so for those that sleep eight or less, it tends to be about 16 weeks on average that we see people are booking in advance. As soon as you get over that 8 figure, you can add 50% to that. So that increases up to kind of around 24 weeks.

And then what we see is that as soon as it gets up to 18 or 20 guests, the average is 30 weeks, so increasing even further again.

So I think it's thinking about where you are much further ahead in the journey to make sure that you're getting in front of them at the right moments, I suppose.

And so as Sarah said around social media, while that works really well, I think for her smaller properties and lodges, channels like email and listing websites are probably very important for people making those bigger decisions up to kind of half a year or more out for the pretty expensive family holiday that they've been put in charge of planning, that they're thinking about it much further in advance and they want to make sure that everyone has a really good time. So there's quite a lot of pressure on to make sure that the property is suitable.

Sarah:

Wow. I think those statistics are really powerful, actually.

And I think it just proves that people often don't think about their marketing far enough in advance because we forget that the guests are like you say, when they're coming for us, particularly for a special occasion or maybe like a multigenerational holiday or getting like multiple families together. There's a lot of logistics, so there's a lot of organising. You know, you found some dates that everyone can do and then.

And that would indicate that they are booking a lot further out because they need to coordinate all of that. So those, thanks for sharing those stats. That's really helpful to get people thinking about.

I think I did on a previous podcast I mentioned that the average sort of holiday planning process is about 70 days. So it just goes to show how much longer it is when it's group accommodation and people are, you know, getting together in a bigger group.

Sarah Percy:

It definitely is.

I mean, all the bookings I've received in the last two weeks are actually for next summer holidays, because people have had their summer holidays just now and they have really enjoyed it. They all want to go away again together, so they're searching.

All my repeats are obviously been on their holiday and then want to secure their dates for the following year. So all of my bookings in the last couple of weeks have just been next July and August.

Ed Maughan:

Yeah, we see the same. So we've got a graph that we look at every Monday morning, which is what have people been enquiring for this week?

pikes are for July and August:

They've just got back from summer holidays and they want to make sure that either they secure that same property again or they're looking for something different for next year. But someone's been put in charge while they were away saying, right, it's you next year, make sure you get it booked.

So it's really interesting to see those spikes in the graph and that rolls around all year. So as we get into Christmas, people are looking for Christmas the following year. So it's just a much, It's a much longer timeline, I think, than some of the smaller stays where people can kind of pack their bags and head off as a couple that week or the following week. It's a very different demographic, I suppose.

Sarah:

Very different consumer behaviour because obviously couples can be more impulsive, can't they? But it just goes to show the importance of reminding your guests, maybe when they've just left, about securing their dates for the next year.

I think it's really easy to forget to communicate. Just maybe having an automated email that goes out that sort of says, enjoyed your stay. Make sure you don't miss out next year.

It's quite a powerful message to get people to take action and book in. And obviously great from a business point of view, to have the revenue in the bank as well. Sure that's made Sarah happy.

So, Ed, you touched briefly on obviously the difference in behaviour in terms of booking behaviour, and you're seeing that particularly. But what other marketing tips do you have for hosts that are looking to maybe market to groups, larger groups for the first time.

Maybe they've got, I'm thinking maybe of like holiday cottage owners that have got multiple properties on the same site or they've got a glamping site with multiple units, but they've not really thought about the groups market before. What marketing tips would you have for them?

Ed Maughan:

I mean, there's all the kind of classic tips that I know that you share all the time. So making sure that they're kind of showcasing the full property, giving a really clear view of what's on offer.

We work with lots of groups of cottages and group glamping sites. They make up about a third of what we have on the website.

So that could be a series of smaller units that make up a sleep state or more, which is our lower limit. Or it might be a number of larger units on one site as well.

And what we really encourage owners to do when they list with us and also on their own websites, because that's just as important, it's just making sure they've got very clear marketing about what the different spaces are where people are going to be sleeping.

So great photography, great video, all that good stuff, and just making it really clear about what the setup is so that they can kind of plan it around their group, whether or not they're going away as a business group, looking for somewhere where they might need individual rooms for everyone, or it might be a family group where, yeah, they need some accessible rooms for the older generation and they also want the kids potentially to be in a separate cottage across the courtyard or something so that everyone can have a bit of peace and quiet. There's some different challenges when you're managing a group, so I think that one is really important.

And then, yeah, as Sarah says, repeat bookings, also very important.

And the interesting thing when you're going away with a group is there are lots of people within that group who may also be interested in coming back with other groups of friends, or they might have a different event coming up with the other side of the family. So it's not just the individual couple for a smaller property who might come back.

There's potentially 10, 15, 20 people who've got other groups of friends, other sides of the family, other events coming up where you've kind of got a great marketing opportunity while they're on site. And I think a bit of that repeat booking, well, a lot of it comes back to fantastic service.

We're all in the service industry, so making sure people have a great time on site, being available for groups, I think is really important. A bit more of a kind of concierge service and making sure they have a smooth check in. I'm going to keep coming back to that stressed organiser I think it's the person who's in charge who just needs to make sure everything's being handled because inevitably they've got a huge number of family and friends turning up on site and they want to make sure everyone has a good experience.

Sarah:

The organiser is under a lot of pressure, aren't they, to make sure that everyone is happy with the choice that they booked.

I've got, actually, based on what you've just said, Ed, and I know we didn't say that we were going to talk about this, but it just reminded me of a couple of things that I get asked all the time.

One is about floor plans and things like video tours on your website, and the second one is about capturing all of the email addresses of the people in the group. So let's start with the floor plans and sort of how do you, any tips for like, do you think floor plans are a good idea?

Do you think people should have these? I mean, you can have like Matterport, these sort of very whizzy video walkthroughs in your property.

What do you think works from your experience in terms of working with so many group hosts?

Ed Maughan:

I think the floor plans are really important, largely so that people can map out and picture exactly where everyone's going to be staying. I think the 3D tours are also really good. You have those at your properties, I think, Sarah, don't you?

Sarah Percy:

We do, yes. They all have a place, I think, and there's like a funnel.

Ed Maughan:

So, yeah, I think they are really important. So, yeah, I do think that helps. Sorry, what was the second part of the question?

Sarah:

Well, yeah, I'm going to go and talk about sort of capturing all of the email addresses, but I think on the point about the floor plans, I've worked with quite a few sort of larger holiday homes, like sleeps 21 and sort of, you know, bigger ones. And.

And I do think that actually it's something that often gets overlooked, the floor plans, because I've also had to try and plan like a business retreat. And it's the same principle. It's like everyone wants, like you were saying, you know, single rooms.

Some people are saying they want en-suite, some people don't want to be like on the ground floor. Say, if you've got elderly people in the party, maybe people with mobility issues, they might. Grandparents might want to be in a separate wing.

So I think that's what prompted me to ask the question because I think sometimes you have to have a slightly different mindset when you're marketing to groups because they're going to want to know different elements of information. Sarah, do you find that.

Sarah Percy:

Yes, our website's got huge amounts of information on it and that's kind of been built up over the 18 years of knowing what people ask. So, you know, listening to their feedback and knowing what frequently gets asked. Floor plans are hugely important.

So I sort of mentioned there's a funnel.

I think that in my experience, first of all, people might see a video and think, oh, that looks really interesting, then go and look at all the photographs, then would book.

And then when it then comes down to logistically working out who goes where, the virtual tours come into their own at that point where they're trying to work out who should go in what room.

And we will, most weeks will find our floor plan which has been printed off, because you can print it off our website in the property where they have written on who is going to stay in which room and that is then there for their arrival so that everyone knows where to go and where their room is.

Sarah:

And no fighting over the bedrooms. It can get quite contentious when you go away as a group.

So that just shows, doesn't it, that it's quite different than if a couple were coming to stay, that, you know, the kids, kids going and bagsying the best rooms and upsetting the parents or the uncle and aunt and things like that can be quite contentious. So, yeah, I'm glad you, you know, you shared that about the floor plans. But obviously having something that's printable, that's. That's a great tip.

You know, making sure that what you've got on your website, because web pages are not easy, whereas if you've got a downloadable PDF or something that's easy to share, that's a really good tip for, for owners that have got the larger properties. Great tip.

Sarah Percy:

Yeah, I think it's really important.

Sarah:

Yeah, really important.

And the other one was about email marketing because we obviously when you have a larger party, I know one of the big challenges is that you get a lead booker and you get their email address.

But as you quite rightly touched on, both of you have sort of said that potentially you've got all of these people enjoying your properties and could actually then be potential guests in the future. So, Sarah, do you use any techniques to capture the email addresses of everyone in the booking?

Sarah Percy:

We don't capture the email addresses for everyone in the booking.

d, I'm going to book this for:

We don't, as I said, we don't capture them because I haven't thought of a really good way of doing it that's not going to be quite intrusive on their holiday. I guess I would say.

Sarah:

Yeah, it is a, I think it's always because people use like gated WIFI which can be very effective, but it's a little bit, It puts a hurdle in the way, doesn't it, of people. But that can be you know, there are systems like Stayfi where you can capture everyone's email addresses when they basically sign up to the WIFI and you can guarantee that everyone's going to sign up to the, want to log into the WIFI. But it is always, I think, I think you're quite right, a balancing act to make sure that you don't make the stay like this friction and it feels like they're being marketed to constantly or put under pressure.

Ed Maughan:

Just to pick up on that point. I think there's some interesting things around the kind of point in the funnel at which you want to engage people.

So while grabbing an email address may not be appropriate while people are on site having an Instagram QR code or something like that where people can follow you on Instagram and potentially tag the property, once you've got them on Instagram, you can then think about what your upsells are from there and how you might kind of nurture that lead over time and re engage them that way. And that feels like a lighter touch to me. And it's something that I know a lot of our owners do when people are on site.

It's to kind of encourage the social media part as a starting point and then try and carry people through to email addresses and booking further down the track.

Sarah Percy:

Yeah, we have that. We have the WIFI password is on the same thing as our Instagram handle and social media handles. And we often that's how we would sort of speak to people.

Sarah:

Yes, I agree. I think that's a nice subtle way of doing it. QR codes went through a bit of a, they were fashionable and then they went a little bit out of fashion.

But I do think they're a great way of shortcutting people to like you say, to follow you on Instagram.

And even I've had clients who've put things like, like almost like I wish you were here a nicely branded depending on your brand, a branded postcard or even like a, like a winner stay promotion where they fill in their details and then you've obviously got the email addresses.

So there's lots of different techniques and I think it's always like you say, just balancing it and making sure people don't feel like they're being aggressively sort of hunted down in terms of the email address while they're, while they're staying with you. Sarah, that leads me on to our sort of final question really about you know, what's worked for you in terms of marketing.

What's been your most successful marketing sort of techniques to get your group bookings in.

Sarah Percy:

So lots of this has already been touched on and it's quite a sort of big question. There's lots of things that and it is continually changing as well. So for us selected listing websites and actually working with them.

So making sure you're continued updating your listing, making sure there's top quality photographs and content and then your own website making sure there's lots of information for guests people.

As Ed said, the lead booker is under pressure to make sure that they pick a property that everyone's going to really enjoy and you want the website to have lots and lots of information so they feel comfortable in placing the booking with you and that everyone will enjoy their stay. Ultimately it is about standing out.

So making sure that's that quality offering and facilities continually developing your marketing as I said, what works one year needs to be built on for future years. You can't stand still both in terms of facilities improvements and marketing. We also do awards.

We came silver in the self catering holiday accommodation of the year and then building guest reviews as well.

So lots of, lots of things amongst that really but really it's all packaged into making sure that you stand out and then as we've already touched on for us repeat guests, this is our best performing booking source. Repeat guests and recommendations.

So you know, people going home and telling their friends this place was amazing, you know, and then perhaps coming with their family.

So sort of your repeat guest recommendations and there are a few key reasons sort of why I think we get so much repeat guests and as I said a lot of this has been touched on so that guest communication, making sure you respond to guests promptly.

We personally welcome the guests in the larger properties so we make sure we build rapport with that lead booker so that they know that we're the point of contact and we're happy to help and live close by if they need anything. And then we also make sure we action any of their feedback as well to keep that top quality product.

And then sort of for us, the repeat guests as well, I think is a team. My housekeepers are really, really important.

I've got a really strong team and they inform me when something doesn't look right and ultimately help me deliver a top quality product. So yeah, team is so important and one of our housekeepers has actually been with us for the full 18 years of business.

Sarah:

Wow. That, that really is an achievement.

Having known myself in terms of housekeeping teams with our tree house, it's like that is an achievement in itself to have somebody with your, in your team for that length of time. But I think you're spot on about how a bit, maybe a bit more demanding the groups are.

You know, there's a, you know, they're obviously renting, you know, and having a larger property. They're investing sometimes a lot of emotion as well as financial into the, into the stay.

And that obviously always makes guest behaviour slightly different because if someone is booking for a special occasion, they're potentially going to be slightly, maybe more demanding. So like you say, the guest communication is so important.

Ed Maughan:

I just had one more point. I got to visit Sarah's properties earlier in the year and I think she's great at just staying one step ahead and adding new facilities.

So I know over the last year she's added these fantastic cinema rooms to both of the bigger properties and yeah, they're amazing. Really cool added feature. And I think to that point of standing out for bigger groups, it's thinking about how you keep the whole family entertained.

So having something like that, which, yeah, the kids are going to love, the adults can have a movie night afterwards. It's just really cool what Sarah's doing at her properties.

And I think that's how the most successful properties on our platform are certainly the ones that are continually innovating, adding new features, thinking about how they can keep groups entertained. So, yeah, just, just a plug for Sarah's great work.

Sarah:

Yeah, no, Ed, I think that's a really valid point.

And Sarah touched on this about, you know, marketing changing every year and not just saying, well, we've done it that way for like the last five years. So we just, you know, we've offered this for the last five years. Let's just sit on our laurels and not change things.

And I think that's a really good point in terms of, you know, keeping abreast of trends. I mean, obviously saunas are a massive thing as well at the moment. So, you know, and cinema rooms have become very popular as well.

And obviously I always feel like when hire a, you know, a bigger house for an occasion, sometimes it's quite aspirational. They want to stay somewhere that actually maybe is a step up from where home, and they want to experience something different.

So I think you do have to keep up with the trends and understand, you know, what guests are looking for. Now you guys have shared some really good tips with us today.

So thank you for being on the podcast and giving us your benefit of your knowledge and your tips of what's worked for you. It's been great to have you here.

Sarah Percy:

Thank you very much.

Ed Maughan:

Thanks for having us.

Sarah:

Thank you for listening today. If you've enjoyed this episode, you know what to do. I'd love it if you could leave me a review.

You know how much us hosts love those five star reviews. Thank you for listening to Get Fully Booked with Sarah Orchard.

If you want to see if you are ready to display 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 www.get-fully-booked.com/quiz and let's get you more direct bookings and more profit in your pocket.

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