Top

Tough times are temporary. Knowledge is forever. Sign up for short-term rental tips, news, and motivation from TDG!

StayFi

This post may contain affiliate links or sponsored content for products we've tried and loved.

stayfi-vacation-rental-airbnb-bookdirect

If you are a short-term rental owner trying to market your own property outside of the big listing sites/OTAs, you know the struggle is real. The listing sites are large, well-funded marketing machines and they still—even now—have a huge slice of the pie. 

It can be tempting to just turn all your marketing over to them. But don’t get complacent! There are numerous advantages to building your #bookdirect funnel. [link] 

The beauty is, all the hard work you put into building your brand outside of the listing sites is not going anywhere—because you control your brand. You don’t have to be anxious about whether your own brand will fold, or pivot, or make a sweeping policy change that jeopardizes your income. 

There are many reasons to work toward listing site independence that I could discuss at length! 

But let’s get a bit more specific and talk about the importance of building your guest database for your book direct campaigns. 

A healthy email database = revenue. Revenue from repeat guests, revenue from new guests, and even revenue at a sale.  If you sell your property as a vacation rental, a good, healthy, and active database of past guests can be a huge perk for buyers who want to continue using the property as a rental (the same is true for your website, by the way!). 

Building A Highly Targeted Database 

The usual methods to building your database are a combo of your website, social, and other campaigns. But these come with a cost—your time and/or money! What about the more creative and inexpensive ways to get email addresses at scale? 

Here’s one method I love: StayFi’s email capture software.

StayFi non-intrusively helps you market to your actual guests, who already know and love your place. 

When a guest books with you, typically you get just one email address (the guest who does the booking). And if the OTAs get their way, they may try to limit you from collecting the booker’s email. 

But what about all the other guests who will be joining them? Especially for big house owners—there’s a lot of potential repeat business going uncaptured! 

StayFi is quite simple and works like this: Every guest—or nearly every guest—will have a device and a need to connect that device to WiFi. StayFi adds a layer to the login process that asks guests to enter their email address and signup for your newsletter. 

Easy peasy. 

stayfi-vacation-rental-email-capture-software-book-direct

StayFi By the Numbers

On average, guests using StayFi are collecting between 4-10 unique emails per stay, per property.  Assuming each home has 50 stays a year, we’re talking between 200-500 emails a year! 

And remember that’s 200-500 highly engaged, bottom-of-funnel guests who have already had a chance to experience your home. 

So, what’s the cost to use StayFi? 

For my fellow cohorts with only one property, we win at $0.00 a month with only the up-front cost of the StayFi device.  Rejoice!

For those of you with multiple properties, the price increases to $0.00 – $6.00 monthly, but that amounts to pennies per email collected.  Even at StayFi’s highest monthly rate, each email costs just $0.14 to $0.36 apiece!

StayFi does more than just email capture as well. You have the ability to remotely monitor your WiFi, integrate with your email tool and more.

Interested in getting started? Talk to folks at StayFi!

Stayfi

 

Client Love

Alanna Schroeder’s common sense approach, level headed ideas, and years of practical experience all come together in her excellent course on STR...

David Boe

Vacation Rental & Boutique Hotel Supplies
5
2021-09-03T08:09:53-07:00

David Boe

Alanna Schroeder’s common sense approach, level headed ideas, and years of practical experience all come together in her excellent course on STR hosting. Every page yields valuable insights, which are thoughtfully presented with clarity and purpose. A terrific resource.
Alanna's online, self-directed short term vacation rental course is THE one you want to take if you are serious about...

CL Reed

Vacation Rental & Boutique Hotel Supplies
5
2021-09-07T09:59:48-07:00

CL Reed

Alanna's online, self-directed short term vacation rental course is THE one you want to take if you are serious about getting into the short term vacation rental game!  This course will take you step-by-step from the initial thought of why you should get involved in short term vacation renting to every possible aspect of operating, maintaining and protecting your investment.  Additionally, you will learn some of Hospitality's Best Business Practices along the way. I highly recommend this course for Beginners and Intermediates to learn much information in one succinct setting.  If you have been operating short term vacation rentals for some time and consider yourself to be at the Expert level, you should take this as a refresher/stay relevant course, as there are many gold nuggets to support you in enhancing your method of operation.
In my experiences as a short term rental host, podcaster and founder of Host2Host, I have found Alanna Schroeder of...

Debi Hertert

Vacation Rental & Boutique Hotel Supplies
2021-09-22T09:27:40-07:00

Debi Hertert

In my experiences as a short term rental host, podcaster and founder of Host2Host, I have found Alanna Schroeder of The Distinguished Guest to be professional, ethical and informative.  She possesses great business savvy, offering views that express her knowledge and her caring.  I have seen Alanna go out of her way to help another host/owner achieve success.  In an industry that is continually growing, Alanna has developed an understanding of how our industry works and who works within it.  I trust her judgement and advice and have learned more from her than from almost anyone else in this field.   Alanna’s contributions and work with Host2Host have been invaluable. Her new course TDGs Blueprint for Beginning Rentalists includes comprehensive and vital information for the short term rental host.  Although it is designed for the beginning host, the course includes so much information it is also great for established hosts.  It’s comprehensive from the purchase of property, through the setup of rental space and navigating Online Travel Agency listings.  The TDG course modules will save headaches and missteps, increasing satisfaction as well as income!
If you own a short term vacation rental or are considering purchasing a vacation rental Alanna’s course, Blueprint For Beginning...

Melissa MacNail

Vacation Rental & Boutique Hotel Supplies
5
2021-11-01T12:23:59-07:00

Melissa MacNail

If you own a short term vacation rental or are considering purchasing a vacation rental Alanna’s course, Blueprint For Beginning Rentalists, is an absolute must. Alanna has gone above and beyond to lend her expertise in the hospitality business with several years of personal experience. This course is extremely thorough; complete with checklists and extensive resources, walking you through the process of finding a qualified realtor, to the ins and outs of running your business, marketing, and so much more. You will not find another course out there to match the quality of what this course has to offer. Coming in as a newbie myself I feel well equipped with the proper tools and know-how to run my business successfully and how to continue to grow in the future. In addition to the course material, Alanna holds weekly office hours via zoom where you can ask any questions you may have as well as connect with fellow owners gaining even more insight and knowledge to this ever growing and evolving industry. From personal help and feedback on website design, channel management, interior design, insurance and so much more. These are just a few of the many ways Alanna has helped me personally and I look forward to staying connected over the coming years through her office hours and private Facebook group as questions and scenarios arise. If you desire to create a profitable vacation rental investing in the Blueprint For Beginning Rentalists course will set you and your business up for success!
Alanna has been my go-to person as I've navigated the learning curves of running my vacation rental businesses.  She helped...

Cathy Scott

Vacation Rental & Boutique Hotel Supplies
5
2016-05-03T18:24:44-07:00

Cathy Scott

Alanna has been my go-to person as I've navigated the learning curves of running my vacation rental businesses.  She helped me re-brand my properties, market them effectively, and connect with other valuable industry resources.
5
4
Vacation Rental & Boutique Hotel Supplies