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Advent
With Christmas just around the corner and the start of Advent on December 1st, now is the perfect time to think about ways to make your property stand out. Everyone loves the excitement of opening an Advent calendar door, so why not create a daily numbered surprise for your guests? Housekeeping could leave a small gift when making up the rooms, or for long-term stays, place one for each day at the start of their visit. You could include discounts for future bookings, a free drink at the bar (if you have one), a small chocolate, or partner with local businesses to offer exclusive discount vouchers. These thoughtful touches don't have to be expensive but can leave a lasting impression, setting you apart from the competition.
21 Nov 2024 - Jane Hill, freeonlinbooking UK team -
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Create Insta-Worthy Moments at Your Property!
Create ‘selfie-worthy’ spots around your property! Travelers love sharing their snaps on social media, so why not let them do your marketing for you? It’s easier than you think. Set up a fun frame or backdrop featuring your property’s name, and place a basket of props nearby. You can switch out the props to match different seasons or events! Don’t forget about the furry family members – add a basket of props for guests’ dogs to get in on the action too. It’s a simple way to boost your visibility and give your guests a memorable experience!
14 Nov 2024 - Jane Hill, freeonlinbooking UK team -
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Keeping Pets Calm and Safe This Bonfire Night: A Guide for Pet-Friendly Stays
While we might enjoy the colourful fireworks on November 5th, it can be a frightening night for our pets. Many pet owners choose to book a getaway where their animals can feel safe and secure. To help, provide clear information on local firework displays, including times and duration's, and reassure guests by outlining steps you're taking to ensure their pets are comfortable. Consider creating a soothing pet sanctuary with white noise, calming treats, and toys, or offering calming pheromone sprays. Running pet exercise classes before the festivities or hosting a puppy playgroup can also help pets relax. By making your space pet-friendly, both guests and their pets can enjoy a peaceful Bonfire Night.
1 Nov 2024 - Jane Hill, freeonlinbooking UK team -
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Guy Fawkes
Bonfire Night is all about fireworks, jacket potatoes, and hot chocolate by the fire – what's not to love? Now is the ideal time to send out marketing emails inviting guests to stay with you. You can partner with a local event to offer discounted tickets or simply inform your guests about nearby Bonfire Night events. Share details like event start times, ticket prices, and directions, making it easier for them to plan their visit and enjoy the celebrations.
24 Oct 2024 - Jane Hill, freeonlinbooking UK team -
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Returning Guests
When you have guests who return year after year around the same dates, take a moment to learn more about the reason behind their visits. Perhaps they’re celebrating a special occasion or spending time with loved ones. Understanding the "why" allows you to add a personal touch to their stay next time. Whether it's a complimentary room upgrade or a personalised card, these small gestures can make their visit even more memorable. If they’ve stayed with you multiple times, consider going the extra mile with something more thoughtful, like a handmade gift, as a token of appreciation for their loyalty.
10 Oct 2024 - Jane Hill, freeonlinbooking UK team -
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Halloween
October brings Halloween, and as families look for last-minute getaways, it's a great opportunity to boost bookings with themed packages and special offers for the weekends surrounding the holiday. Consider providing trick-or-treat baskets for both kids and adults (because who doesn't love treats?). Add spooky decor, rename menu items or rooms with a fun, gruesome twist, and even offer guests the option to have their rooms decorated to their preferred level of spookiness. These extra touches will make their stay memorable, increasing the chances of social media posts, mentions of your property, and glowing reviews.
3 Oct 2024 - Jane Hill, freeonlinbooking UK team -
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School holidays
Keep an eye on school holiday dates, not just locally but across the country. Half-term breaks can vary by up to a week, and some regions start and end their summer holidays earlier than others. This can extend the high season, offering more opportunities to maximise your income if you adjust accordingly.
26 Sep 2024 - Jane Hill, freeonlinbooking UK team -
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Make Their Special Day Even More Special
When a guest mentions that they're staying with you to celebrate a special occasion, like an anniversary, birthday, honeymoon, or even a minimoon, take the opportunity to make their experience truly unforgettable. Small touches can go a long way—consider sprinkling petals on their bed, placing chocolates on their pillow, or leaving a thoughtful card in their room. Fresh flowers with a personal note or a bottle of bubbly to toast the occasion can add that extra sparkle to their stay. These thoughtful gestures not only make your guests feel cherished but also increase the likelihood of glowing reviews, repeat visits, and enthusiastic recommendations to their friends and family.
19 Sep 2024 - Jane Hill, freeonlinbooking UK team -
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Lighting for bathrooms & ensuites
Studies have shown that red lighting has a minimal impact on brain activity, making it less likely to disrupt circadian rhythms or suppress melatonin production.
Using a red motion sensor light in your ensuite can help your guests to fall back to sleep after a night-time visit to the bathroom, while also causing less disturbance to the other in the room, helping your guests to have an even better nights sleep. This, in turn, will lead to happier guests and improved reviews.
27 Aug 2024 - Jane Hill, freeonlinebooking UK team -
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Budget friendly alternatives to professional photographers!
If there are any universities or colleges nearby, consider reaching out to their photography or art students to see if they’d be interested in photographing your accommodation. These students might be looking to diversify their portfolios or need images for their coursework. Facebook groups can also be a valuable resource. Photographers who are building their portfolios might offer their services for free or at a reduced rate. You'll be saving some money while supporting amateur photographers in your area.
7 Aug 2024 - Cait, freeonlinebooking UK team -
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Play upsell bingo!
Make it fun and rewarding for your front desk staff to upsell your extra products & services by starting a game of upsell bingo. With a list of all extra products and services you have available, create a bingo grid containing them all. Each front desk worker should have a unique identifier, such as a specific colour marker or sticker they can apply to the grid when they successfully upsell an extra. The first to sell one of everything gets a prize - maybe an extra day off, a cash bonus, or a prize.
30 Jul 2024 - Cait, freeonlinebooking UK team -
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Accommodating our four legged friends!
Making your pet policy clear before guests book with you is essential. State whether or not your property is 'Pet Friendly' or just 'Dog Friendly' as many animals can be considered pets.
Add your pet policy to your website's home or property details page. If you only allow pets in some rooms, state which rooms are pet-friendly in your room descriptions too.
Applying policies to specific rooms can be tricky, so consider a flexible pet policy requiring guests to contact you directly if they plan to bring a pet. This approach can increase direct bookings and improve property-guest relationships too.
If you're planning on accommodating pets then consider leaving supplies for pet owners, such as water bowls, dry food, and toys. You could even add this as an extra if you're looking to increase profits. You'll stand out in the area as being owner friendly, as well as pet friendly!
16 Jul 2024 - Ellie, freeonlinebooking UK team -
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Keeping Guests Cool
During the hot summer months, helping your guests to stay cool and comfortable during the night is a must.
Before your guests arrive, keep curtains and blinds closed to block out direct sunlight and prevent the room from heating up. Be sure to open them back up again before showing your guests to their rooms.
Put fans in guest rooms to circulate air and create a cooling breeze. For an extra cooling effect, set a bowl of ice in front of the fan.
Leave a cooling mist or spray on the bedside table for your guests to use during the night. Combined with the fan's breeze, this will help them quickly fall back to sleep.
When it's too hot for a quilt, place a thin sheet and blanket, folded nicely, at the foot of the bed. Your guests will appreciate these thoughtful gestures and are more likely to give positive feedback after a good night's sleep.
Going above and beyond to keep them cool and comfortable makes their stay memorable. It's the little extras that count.
9 Jul 2024 - Jane Hill, Freeonlinebooking UK team -
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Using ChatGPT to write amazing marketing content!
The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has skyrocketed in recent years. You can use tools like ChatGPT for almost anything - email marketing, social media posts, or even to write content for your website. Remember that AI is there to spark your creativity and motivation. You should edit text, personalise with email tags, and format the content you intend to use to match your property's branding and style.
Give it a go! Visit www.chatgpt.com to get started. You can be very specific when you ask ChatGPT to write something for you. So for example you could ask ChatGPT to "Write me a marketing email to previous guests telling them that it's not too late to book their summer holiday because we still have availability. Make it summer themed. Use summer themed emojis where appropriate. Create a special offer and add this in too. I would like the email to be informative without many adjectives."
19 Jun 2024 - Cait Buttery, Freeonlinebooking UK team -
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Spa pool management
Spa pools/Jacuzzis can be a real asset for your business allowing you to increase your rates. It is, however essential that they are properly managed and kept spotless. If a pool is out of use for whatever reason, it can upset customers who have paid a premium to relax and enjoy a hot tub.
You will need to empty the pool more regularly than a home hot tub and ensure that the chemical levels are all up to date. A great idea is to have a whiteboard next to the pool with the date/time it was last sanitized. In addition make sure that you have a sign indicating the pool rules - so include things like usage times, the lid must be closed after use, no glass (maybe supply acrylic glasses specifically for pool use), no intimate relations, no pets etc. Lastly you may wish to recommend guests to not to spend too long in the pool and to drink a large glass of water after use as overheating can make guests feel lightheaded and drowsy.
28 May 2024 - Nick, Freeonlinebooking Managing Director -
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Create free floor plans!
Many of the chain hotels, like Four Seasons, include floor plans of their rooms alongside photos. This allows guests to plan whether a space will be big enough, encourage room upgrades, and can ease worries about whether their infant's crib will fit, or where their children will sleep. It's good to have floor plans for each type of accommodation you offer, e.g. a vacation rental, connecting rooms, or a double room. Make sure the floor plans are accurate. If all of your double rooms are different sizes and layouts, include a floorplan for each. Knowing your property or rooms are perfect for their needs will make you stand out against your competition. You can design and create your own floorplans for free using services such as FloorPlanner, and then upload it as a photo to your room type. Why not give it a go?
22 May 2024 - Cait Buttery, freeonlinebooking UK team -
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Managing smoking!
Be clear about your smoking policy in your terms and conditions, and use signs and ashtrays to indicate where smoking is allowed. Consider a 'smoking fee' for guests who break your no smoking policy to encourage use of the designated smoking areas only, and be sure to state this clearly in your terms and conditions. Use services such as Minut and Wynd to detect smoking in prohibited areas – make it clear to guests if you use these devices. If a guest does smoke where they shouldn't, try using an aromatherapy oil diffuser or ozone machine to reduce the smell.
14 May 2024 - Cait Buttery -
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Build a social media strategy!
Promoting your accommodation business on websites/apps like Facebook, Instagram and Tik-Tok really does work and takes a lot less time than you might think. Define your goals, know your audience, choose platforms wisely, and create engaging content. It's important to interact with your followers and reply to comments. Regularly evaluate how successful your posts are, and note what's working and what isn't. Don't be afraid to adapt your approach if it isn't working!
7 May 2024 - Cait -
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Show off your points of difference!
Are you the only vacation rental in the area with a hot tub? Or the only B&B with a beer garden? Show it off! Tell potential guests why staying with you is better than your competition. List out the most loved and unique aspects of your accommodation. Being able to relax in the garden in summer can be a huge draw for browsing guests! Even better if you're the only one to offer this in your area..
1 May 2024 - Cait -
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Boost longer stays!
Getting customers to stay longer with you is great, even if you have good occupancy levels as it reduces the number of full room change cleans required. Reducing price and increasing minimum stays aren’t the only ways to increase length of stay. Offer multi-night and weekly rates to encourage longer stays or consider giving a discount or special offer on an extra night. Upgrading amenities and highlighting must-see sites, restaurants, or events nearby can encourage your guests to extend their stay too. If your accommodation feels like a second home, they’re more likely to extend their stay or stay longer the next time they visit.
17 Apr 2024 - Cait -
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Use email marketing!
Encourage repeat stays by sending twice weekly or monthly marketing emails to past guests. Sending email is free, is quick to do and gives a good return on your investment of time. Show off upgrades you've made, tell them about upcoming events over the next few months in your area, or draw their attention to new extra products and services you have to offer. To make your email more enticing, include an exclusive discount or promotion linked to the theme of your email. For example, when telling guests about the upcoming carnival a great promotion could be to offer free glowsticks or a free carnival bundle with the code CARNIVAL24. Make sure to include photos to really capture your readers attention!
3 Apr 2024 - Cait -
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Build a book direct strategy!
Given the high commissions that Online Travel Agents (OTAs) charge, it is essential to build a book direct strategy to maximise your profits. Start with ensuring you have a great looking and well performing website that is optimised for search engine positioning. Next make sure that you are encouraging guests to book direct by rewarding them to do so, either with a slightly reduced rate or some other incentive. Finally, fine-tune your operations so that the book direct message is effectively communicated to your guests eg by giving guests a small discount if they book direct with you next time. If you need help with your book direct strategy then freeonlinebooking is more than happy to help!
21 Mar 2024 - Nick -
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Offer a non-refundable option!
Whilst offering non-refundable rates at a small discount may cost you money, it will be money in the bank which you will not ever have to refund. Many properties offering non-refundable rates report occupancy rates exceeding 100% in busy periods due to the effect of cancellations. You may wish to recommend to customers to take travel insurance to mitigate the effect of customers being frustrated by not being able to cancel their booking.
13 Mar 2024 - Nick -
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Tell your customers about your local area!
Include a local area guide on your website and in folders in your rooms. Tell your guests how wonderful your town and region is, where the best places to eat are (for all budgets), the best activities (for all age groups), what to do on a rainy day etc. For your adventerous guests, include information about local trails, where to mountain bike, where to take their dogs, where to go fishing, best sunrise and sunset spots, and restaurants, the difficulty of each trail and how long the trail takes to walk. if your guests have an amazing time, they will thank you for giving them the ideas, and hopefully will return!
27 Feb 2024 - Cait -
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Upsell effectively!
It is important to always give guests the option to book your extra products and services at the time of booking. Combining multiple approaches to upselling is more effective though, so add these into your pre-stay email, in your general marketing emails, and post photos of them on your website and social media. If you want to go a step further, ask your guests at check-in whether they'd like any extras - if you have quite a few, create an extras menu and put it in your welcome pack!
23 Feb 2024 - Cait -
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Manage TripAdvisor intelligently!
Always respond to TripAdvisor reviews good and bad. Always thank guests for taking the time to leave a review and if a review is negative then make sure you appear sympathetic and keen to resolve any problems. Make sure you mention in your reply that your best rates can only be booked direct. A high proportion of guests will check TripAdvisor before booking and using this simple tip can greatly impact your direct bookings.
14 Feb 2024 - Nick -
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Update your photos!
Make sure you have up to date, high quality photos of your property as they are ESSENTIAL when customers are selecting where to stay. Pick a day with no clouds and blue, sunny skies. Include photos of the food and extras you offer, creating an immersive experience the guest simply cannot wait to dive into. Make sure your photos are reflective of your accommodation to build trust and be seen as authentic. Know your limits and hire a photographer if required.
8 Feb 2024 - Cait -
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Test your website!
A website full of glitches, bugs, and pages that won't load will no doubt put guests off booking diretly with you. Catch issues early by regularly testing your website. Make sure it works well on a mobile device and check your photos are high quality and up to date. Consider how visible your 'book now' buttons are too. If a guest can't see how to book, they may go somewhere else!
13 Jan 2024 - Cait -
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