The Guesty Booking Engine allows you to display listings to potential guests and allows them to book reservations, without you or the guest having to pay fees to the booking channels.
Our suggested best practices will help you optimize your Booking Engine configuration and suggest effective ways to promote your business. See the information below.
Increase engine bookings
Encourage potential guests to book a reservation
- Business address: Improve your engine's position on the search engine results page.
- Email: Hint to booking the listing, e.g., Stays@mydomain.com or booking@mydomain.com.
- Allow coupons: Enable by turning the toggle on. Boost bookings by offering coupons to past guests or present coupons on the engine to entice new guests.
- Listing price type: "per night" can tempt guests to book a reservation, while the "total" amount may discourage hesitant guests.
- About page: Enable by turning the toggle on. Present your brand’s story. Explain which gap in the market or industry your brand is solving.
- Featured listings: Enable by turning the toggle on. Rotate listings regularly to present a range of options to visitors who may frequent the site.
- Contact us form: Disable by turning the toggle off. Could distract potential guests from the Booking Engine's main objective, which is to book reservations.
- Services page: Enable by turning the toggle on. Mention paid and unpaid services offered by the brand, such as cleaning services or early check-in and late check-out. If paid services available, state the fee clearly or add "reach out and ask about our rates".
- Custom snippets - Advanced usage: Enable by turning the toggle on. A translation tool can make your engine appealing to an international audience.
Promote direct bookings from channel-booking guests
1. Create a coupon for your booking engine called “Returning Guest”, limit use to 1.
2. Create an auto-message scheduled a few days after check-out sent by email with the text: “It was great having you, we hope to have the pleasure of hosting you again. For the next time, feel free to book here {{booking engine address}} and use this exclusive coupon 'Returning Guest' when booking to get a 10% discount!."
3. If you don't have the guest's email, you can use the check-in form to collect their personal email address.
Present Your Business Accurately
Give potential guests a better understanding of your brand
- Background image: Frequently used backsplashes include an aerial view of the market you are in, or a picture of a common area in your most appealing listing, such as the living room, patio, or porch.
- Theme colors: The color of the main button you want potential guests to press should match the primary brand color, and is recommended to be a warm color, such as green or red.
- Terms, Conditions & Cancellation Policy: Enable by turning the toggle on. Describe the rules, and cancellation and payment policies for guests to review before booking a reservation, to avoid disputing a charge.
- Link logo in navigation to external website: Enable by turning the toggle on, only if you have a separate splash page that promotes the property management or acquisition side of the business.
Promote Your Engine
Create a business profile on social media
Create a company page on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter and generate content with commonly used hashtags, such as #stay[nameofcity], #summervacations, and #fallgetaways. Learn how people use these hashtags and choose them wisely moving forward.
Ask family and friends to like your pages and be your most passionate brand ambassadors.
Ask guests to take pictures and post them on your social media pages. You can also create a dedicated spot in your listings to encourage guests to create their own content and share it with you. Fresh content helps potential guests feel more confident when deciding where to book a reservation.
Create ads with Facebook Pixel and Google Analytics
Facebook has over 1 billion active users. Their ads are very cost-effective, with a setup that is easy to learn.
We recommend setting up a Facebook Pixel account and entering the code when configuring your Guesty Booking Engine. This will allow you to track conversions from Facebook ads and provide important information to optimize ads and better target your audience.
Google Analytics is for more advanced users that can work with Google’s user interface (UI) and have a better understanding of pay-per-click (PPC) advertising. This is also usually more expensive, depending on the micro-targeting of your keywords.
As with Facebook Pixel, we recommend setting up a Google Analytics account and entering the code when configuring your Guesty Booking Engine.
Put your private social media to use
Use your own social media to promote your business and ask family and friends to refer potential guests to your engine. These first guests will be the start of a referral network.
Join groups of like-minded entrepreneurs and travel groups that appeal to your ideal target audience.
Place "take-home" items in your listings, such as magnets, a USB drive, or a silly gimmick, to help guests remember you and your listing after their stay.
