HI·06 · Numbered guides

How To

Ten numbered guides, in the order you’d actually do them: from your first direct booking to a channel mix where the OTAs are the garnish rather than the meal. Each one is a job you do once, properly. No news, no trends and no “10 Instagram hacks”.

HI·06.1 Your first direct booking 9 min
The minimum viable escape: a booking path, a reason to use it, and where your first direct guests actually come from.
HI·06.2 Google Business Profile, done properly 7 min
The highest-leverage free marketing asset a host can own: claiming it, categorising it and feeding it reviews.
HI·06.3 The email that books the second stay 8 min
Collecting guest emails legally, and the two messages a year that quietly rebuild your channel mix. Template included.
HI·06.4 A website worth booking on 8 min
Upgrading from the weekend payment link: the booking engine, the five pages that matter, and the trust signals that get strangers to pay.
HI·06.5 The safety net 9 min
Deposits, damage, cancellations, house rules and insurance without a platform behind you. The fear, dismantled piece by piece.
HI·06.6 Price like you mean it 8 min
Commission belongs in your OTA prices, not your pocket. The channel pricing maths, parity workarounds and a direct discount that still pays you more.
HI·06.7 Turn OTA guests into direct guests 7 min
The stay itself is your best marketing channel: welcome cards, wi-fi moments and the polite conversation that wins the second booking.
HI·06.8 Get found beyond Google 8 min
Local links, tourist boards, book-direct platforms and simple SEO for one property. A dozen good links beat an agency retainer.
HI·06.9 Social media without losing your evenings 7 min
What social actually does for bookings (trust and memory), the one-platform routine that survives real life, and what to cheerfully ignore.
HI·06.10 Rebalancing the mix 9 min
The operating rhythm that shifts you from 95% OTA to mostly direct: route peak weeks to your own site first, review quarterly, fix the bottleneck.