We've covered online travel agencies, booking agents, and tour operators in our previous blog posts. The question is, what are the best bookings to take and where should property owners and managers focus their energy for bookings? The answer to this question is actually none of the above. There's a way that you can earn more money from each booking, have a consistently full calendar, and have confidence that your renters are caring for your property like it's theirs. The answer to this is repeat bookings. 

You earn more money on each repeat booking when compared to bookings that are secured through 3rd party marketing platforms. Each of these platforms, like Airbnb, will charge a commission on each booking that is generated on their platform. Likewise your guests will usually pay more as well. OTA's will charge a booking fee to guests on top of the commission taken out of your end. It's a win-win when guest book direct.

Your calendar will be consistently full throughout the year once you've established a base of repeat customers. This point is rather obvious, but deserves to be focused on. Once guests have found that perfect property for them and their family and they know and trust you as the owner/manager, they'll keep coming back year after year. It only takes a handful of repeat customers to keep your calendar full. Think about it. If you have a couple from Canada who loves to winter in Orlando from January to March, then a family who loves Easters at Disney, then another 5 families who take an annual summer Disney trip. That's just 7 contacts that you have a good relationship with, that book the first 7 months of the year and generate you thousands of dollars in rental revenue.