How it works · October 26, 2026

Your next five steps to more direct bookings

Some guests already love your home. Others haven’t found it yet. The direct booking toolkit shows you how to get both to book with you directly, from setting up your website to your first direct booking.

On the last morning of their stay, your guests hand back the keys and tell you they’d love to come back next year. A year later they do, but they book through the same booking site as last time, and you pay the channel commission again.

Your direct booking website is there for guests like them: when they book through it, there’s no channel commission to pay. Setting it up on Holidu takes a few minutes. Getting your first guest to book through it is the harder part.

Maybe you created your direct booking website during onboarding, when you had a hundred other things to set up, and haven’t touched it since. Or maybe you already have your own website and added the booking module to it.

Either way, the next question is how guests find you and book with you directly. The direct booking toolkit in your Holidu account now shows you this, one step at a time.

How to set up your direct booking website in minutes

If you haven’t created your direct booking website yet, go to Direct Bookings → Toolkit, and you’ll see a short intro to what direct bookings bring you, with a button that takes you to the setup.

The setup asks you a few questions: which languages your website should show, what it’s called and its web address, and which of your properties you want to connect to it. Your prices, calendar and property details come straight from your Holidu account, so there’s nothing to enter twice and it takes only a few minutes. If you stop halfway, your progress is saved, and the next time you open the toolkit you pick up where you left off.

Already have your own website? Add the booking module to it instead, and guests can book with you without leaving your site.

What changes once your direct booking website is live

Once your website or booking module is live, the toolkit tells you what to do next to get guests booking directly, shows you whether it’s working, and keeps track of every custom offer you’ve sent, so you no longer have to remember who you made an offer to.

Most of those next steps put your link in front of guests. Booking sites send guests to you on their own, but your direct booking website only gets the guests who find it: when you share your link, when they search for your home on Google, or when they come back after a stay. Some steps you complete once. Others work best when you repeat them.

Five next steps, and why they come in this order

The toolkit lists five steps that help guests find you and book with you directly. Each one has a button that takes you straight to the right place in your account. Some steps are ticked off automatically once they’re completed, and you mark the rest yourself, so you can see how far you’ve come and what’s left.

The steps follow a simple order: start with the guests who already know you, and leave the look of your website for last.

1. Share your link with guests you already talk to

This step needs no setup. When a guest asks about availability for the next season, whether they write during their stay or months later, reply with your link instead of agreeing dates and prices in the chat. Click the copy button for your website or module link and paste it into your reply.

Some guests tell you at checkout that they’d like to hear from you once next year’s dates are open. When they are, send those guests your link with a few friendly lines welcoming them back.

When a guest books through your link, the booking is paid and confirmed through Holidu, and the dates close automatically on your connected booking sites. All further messages with the guest run through your Holidu account.

2. Set up your Google Business Profile so new guests can find you

Your direct booking link only reaches guests who already know you. A Google Business Profile shows your home to people searching on Google Search and Maps, with a link to your website so they can book with you directly. You set it up once, starting from the toolkit. Check Google’s rules first: individual holiday homes aren’t always eligible, and verification can take a few days. If no guest has stayed with you yet, this is the step to start with.

3. Send a custom offer for the dates a guest wants

A couple stayed in your holiday home in the second week of June. On the way out, they asked whether the same week is free next year, but next June isn’t priced in your calendar yet.

Send them a custom offer: choose the dates, set your price and add a short note, then send it by email, WhatsApp or as a link. You can also offer a different price for dates that already have one. Before you send it, a breakdown shows you the fees and what you’ll earn. When they book, the booking is paid and confirmed through Holidu like any other, and the dates close on your connected booking sites.

Custom offers also help when plans change. Say a guest wanted the first week of September, but it was already taken. If a cancellation frees it up, send them an offer for those dates before they book somewhere else.

If a past guest told you they’d like to come back, send them an offer for the dates they mentioned, or ask the Holidu AI Assistant to create it for you.

4. Use scheduled messages so every guest leaves with your link

Right after checkout, your home is still fresh in your guests’ minds, which makes it a good moment to remind them they can book with you directly next time.

Some hosts send that message by hand after every stay. With Holidu, you can pick a ready-made template or write your own message with your direct booking link included. As a scheduled message, it goes out after every stay, so every guest leaves with your link, even in the busiest weeks of the season.

The scheduled message after checkout works best when the stay itself went well: a warm welcome, quick replies and a few personal touches are what make guests want to come back. Read more about How to get more returning guests.

5. Customize your direct booking website last

Your ready-made website already takes bookings, which is why this step comes last. Still a website that feels like yours gives guests one more reason to book with you instead of a booking site. Start with your host profile: a photo and a few lines about yourself, so guests know who they’re booking with. Then choose a layout and colors that suit your home, add your logo and a header photo if you have them, and link your social media profiles.

When every step is done, the toolkit confirms it and the list closes. From then on, the toolkit is where you check your direct bookings and send your next custom offer.

How to see whether your direct bookings are growing

Below the guided steps, the new “Your direct bookings” section shows your direct booking website and booking module side by side, each with its shareable link and a way to manage it. Next to them are three numbers: confirmed direct bookings, upcoming earnings and paid-out earnings. They show whether the steps are turning into bookings and what those bookings have earned you so far. Until the first one comes in, you’ll see “No direct bookings yet” with a link back to your next step.

Underneath sits every custom offer you’ve sent, with its details, and you create the next one from the same screen. That way you can see which offers were booked, which expired and who to follow up with.

Your direct bookings routine in three lines

Set up once: your direct booking website, your Google Business Profile and the scheduled message after checkout.
Keep doing: reply to guests with your link, and send custom offers to past guests who’d like to come back.
Check now and then: your direct bookings, earnings and offers in the toolkit.

Frequently asked questions

I started setting up my website and stopped. Do I have to start again?

No. Your progress is saved. A card in the toolkit takes you back to the exact screen where you left off, and finishing takes only a few minutes.

My website is live but nobody can book. Why?

Usually that means your property hasn’t been published yet. In that case, the toolkit shows “Your website is live, now publish your property to enable direct bookings”. Click “Go to property configuration”, publish your property, and guests can book from then on.

I already have my own website. Does the toolkit work for me?

Yes. Add the direct booking module to your website, and guests can book with you right there, without leaving your site. Once the module is live, the toolkit works the same way: your next steps, your direct bookings and your custom offers, all in one place.

What do direct bookings bring me?

Direct bookings help you keep more of every booking: on a direct booking, there’s no channel commission to pay. And it doesn’t add admin, because payment, invoice, calendar and guest messages run through your Holidu account, like any other booking. You also stay in touch with your guests directly, which makes it easier for them to come back to you.

Can I get help with direct bookings?

Yes. Ask the Holidu AI Assistant in your account. It answers your questions about the direct booking toolkit day and night, in your language, and can create custom offers for you.

Your first direct booking can start with one message

Open the toolkit and share your direct booking link with a guest you’re already in touch with. The rest of the list can follow at your pace, and none of it commits you to anything.

Your Holidu account → Direct Bookings → Toolkit

Open the Direct Booking Toolkit

New to Holidu? You only pay when you earn, with no channel commission on direct bookings.