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case studies

From accidental host to full house: how Wendy went from zero to 74% direct bookings

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.

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.”

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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™.

Sarah’s Marketing Club has been an absolute game-changer for our business, and the results have been nothing short of amazing.

First things first, the training resources in the club are gold. I recently tuned into a YouTube training session, and it was like a lightbulb moment. The ideas I got from it were mind-blowing.

But the real magic happens during the weekly helpdesk calls. You won’t believe the little gems of wisdom and inspiration you pick up just by listening to others share their challenges. It’s like a support system you never knew you needed; those “aha” moments are priceless.

What hit us most is the power of consistency. Over the last six months, we’ve been putting into practice what we’ve learned in the club, and the results have been incredible.

Just this past weekend, we reaped the rewards. We bagged four bookings! One came from a Facebook ad – I never thought it would work until Sarah showed me how. Two more bookings came from our email marketing efforts. We used to wonder if it was worth the effort reaching out to our 150-odd subscribers each month. But guess what? One of our past guests saw our new property in one of those emails and wanted to book both houses for Christmas 2024. He would never have known about the new property if it wasn’t for those regular emails. And the last booking? It came from sharing our offers in our local Facebook group.

No kidding, the best marketing money we spent this year was joining Sarah’s club. So, if you’re still unsure, let’s channel Nike and say, “Just Do It!”

We can’t thank Sarah enough. However, we’re gutted to miss her upcoming conference in January because we’ll be attending a super important board meeting in Barbados. We partly blame her for that – her guidance led us to these bookings and the financial confidence to take a well-deserved holiday. Thanks, Sarah; you’re a legend!

Anna – Driftwood Stays

my email list has almost quadrupled!

I was lucky enough to be on Sarah’s bootcamp this time round. It has been fantastic, and I would thoroughly recommend it.

I started with very little knowledge of how to market our new (to us) glamping site and have learnt so much in 7 weeks.

I started to implement many of Sarah’s ideas throughout the course and we are already seeing results.

My email list has almost quadrupled in size this last week almost reaching my objective for 2022.

Well worth it. Thank you, Sarah, for sharing your expertise with us.

Caroline – Hadrian’s Wall Country Yurts

NO MORE OVERWHELM!

Before working with Sarah, I was overwhelmed by all of the information out there about how to market my business and was at a standstill.

She concentrated my mind and efforts on the most important elements of marketing to begin with, and now I’m off and running.

I now have focus for 2022 on 3 key elements with actionable steps, tips and tricks that I can easily implement on my website, Google SEO and social media.

Plus, I now have loads of ideas to implement going forward.

Thanks Sarah!

Erin – 66.Royal.Street (Luxury Villa, Spain)

CREATING AN AWARD-WINNING business

Today was the Rural Business Awards National Final and The Roost Glamping won “Best Rural Tourism Business.”

I am totally blown away and very, very chuffed.

The judging panel singled out my website for praise (created by Sarah) and were very impressed with my social media content and engagement.

All thanks to the excellent training received in The Fully Booked Business Club.

Thank you Fully Booked Business Club!

Lorraine – The Roost Glamping

Sarah Orchard | Chartered Marketer & Fellow of the CIM

As featured

Marketing Expert Speaker at The Book Direct Show 2021 - Sarah Orchard
Marketing Expert Speaker at The Book Direct Show 2021 - Sarah Orchard
BDS Award Winner. Best Marketing Company, Get Fully Booked
Expert Marketing Speaker - The Direct Booking Success Summit 2022 - Sarah Orchard

“Real ‘aha’ moments!”

“Sarah’s marketing blueprint really gave me food for thought. I’ve been running two successful holiday cottages and I’ve just launched two luxury glamping cabins. I’d say I have a good grasp of my marketing but this course gave me a fresh look at what I have been doing and I had some real ‘aha’ moments. It was fun to work through – Sarah makes it really easy to follow and clear to do. Thank you. I can’t wait to put what I have learned into place and be less reliant on Airbnb in the future!”

Lorraine – The Roost Luxury Glamping