Wendy’s journey to becoming a successful fully booked host was anything but typical. She didn’t set out to become a host; it was more of an accidental discovery.

Wendy and her husband, Nigel, had always holidayed in the Peak District; it was their favourite place to spend their free time hiking and exploring. And, due to the amount of time they spent there, they decided to buy their own cottage. However, this meant they needed to rent the cottage as holiday accommodation while they weren’t there.

Once their ideal cottage came up in the perfect location, they leapt at the chance to buy it. However, having spent many years as a teacher, Wendy knew nothing about becoming a host. So like many others, she did some research and came across Airbnb and Vrbo. After a conversation with both, Wendy decided to list with Airbnb and bookings soon came in.

As a new host, Wendy faced her fair share of challenges. The guests she attracted were not always the right fit, leading to a string of issues. It was a steep learning curve, and she knew there had to be a better way.

Then, by chance, Wendy received a message from another host introducing her to Sarah at Get Fully Booked. Sarah was running a free challenge, and that’s where Wendy’s journey with Sarah began. Wendy had no idea what marketing was; she’d never heard of “ideal guests” and had no idea how to market her own holiday business.

But, after completing the free challenge, Wendy knew Sarah was the person to help her. Wendy had tried a similar business but didn’t like the pushy sales tactics. Whereas Sarah was down to earth, and as a fellow host, she knew the day-to-day challenges hosts face.

Sarah’s down-to-earth approach resonated with Wendy, she quickly gained the knowledge and confidence to market her business herself without having to give away large commissions to Airbnb. The results were nothing short of outstanding.

Wendy began working with Sarah in 2023, completing her Bootcamp (7 week Live group marketing strategy training programme) and achieved 73% direct bookings. So far, in 2024, she’s at 74% direct bookings and only has a few free dates for the rest of this year.

What makes Wendy’s experience even more inspiring is that Sarah has helped her create a marketing plan that works for her, not based on the things we’re typically told to do, like ust do Facebook and Instagram! Wendy’s ideal guests tend to be older and don’t necessarily use social media, so Wendy decided to focus on something other than social media. Instead, she has a large base of return guests and has optimised her website pages (SEO) and uses blogs to rank highly on Google Search. Wendy had this to say about her experience with social media.

“I kind of knew that they [ideal guests] didn’t really hang out on social media. But there’s so much pressure to engage with social media that I felt I should do it too. So I struggled with content, and captions, and scheduled three posts a week on Facebook and Instagram, and tried to keep on going.  Then, I had some tough times personally, which brought a lot of my marketing to a standstill.

So I decided that in order to keep the most important things going, something had to give; I couldn’t do everything. As social media gave me the most angst, I quickly decided to abandon it.”

 

 

 

But the bookings kept on coming. Nothing changed, absolutely nothing changed”.

Wendy’s success is clearly a result of her hard work, but also the marketing clarity the Bootcamp course gave her coupled with the ongoing support she found in THE FULLY BOOKED BUSINESS CLUB™. With its weekly live Marketing Helpdesk with Sarah, the Facebook group, and the monthly training all contribute to a sense of community and support that Wendy finds invaluable. When asked why she chose to work with Sarah over similar businesses, Wendy said…

“Sarah’s very down to earth, and very relatable and gentle, and I think all those things appeal to me. There was no hard sell whatsoever. She was also providing something really positive for my business, and I was able to learn so much from her.”

If you’d like to stop handing over huge commissions to Airbnb or other booking agents, book a free consultation call with Sarah today or check out THE FULLY BOOKED BUSINESS CLUB™.