I talk a lot in my paid courses about how important it is to have a direct booking site that you can send to people. Something that cuts out the middle-man of Airbnb, Booking.com, VRBO, or any other channel that you choose to list with.
If you’re using Your Porter, they already have a built-in direct booking site. It’s clean, looks good, and is VERY easy to set up and use. So if you’re already a Your Porter customer, their direct booking site is definitely the way to go.
But what if you stop using Your Porter? Or never use them in the first place? That’s where Houfy comes in.
Houfy is a platform that allows you to directly list your space to customers without paying any third-party commission fees. Best of all, the platform itself is absolutely free! So both you and the guest literally pay nothing more than the price that’s listed (plus credit card processing fees).
That’s it. No hidden fees, gimmicks, or surprises.
I’ve been using Houfy for a little while now and I have to say I’m very pleased so far.
It’s super easy to import your existing listings from other major channels, so you don’t have to go through the headache of re-creating all of your listings from scratch. You can create guidebooks that can be easily shared with other people. It’s a clean and easy user interface. And of course, it’s free – always a plus :).
Houfy isn’t perfect and doesn’t pretend to be.
It looks like it’s mostly run at this point by a single person, who is honest about the presence of bugs and other issues on the platform. However, as it reaches critical mass (it recently hit over 50,000 listings), I suspect that it will rapidly improve to meet the demand. And frankly, it’s already pretty good as is.
So I encourage you to hop on the Houfy bandwagon today – or at least give it a try. You can always back out later if you decide it’s not for you.
But the market is changing. Laws are getting tighter around Airbnb, restrictions are getting tougher, and there is a lot of uncertainty in the air. Hopefully I don’t need to remind you that if you’re relying solely on third-party booking sites, you’re in a precarious position. A single change could really devastate your business. Don’t be caught unaware. Prepare now before it becomes a crisis.
Hello. I want to start out that I love your articles! You keep it real and easy to read & understand.
I do have a question: I’m new to the Airbnb industry. We’ve stayed in them when we travel and have decided to invest in a few as we can. I have am opportunity to purchase an existing Airbnb in our town. The house did well and was a super host. They have put it on the market as a single family home though. My question is-if I purchase this house, is there a way the owners can re-instate the account so the ratings stay active. I know it’ll be my ratings after I purchased the property. I am looking to keep the same customers bookings as she had in the past-not have to start from scratch. Of course, I have to get bookings because she stopped taking them bc they are selling. And it’s my responsibility to keep the ratings high by giving great service.
Before I write a contract, I wanted to know if I can put that in my contingencies.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated! I look forward to growing this business for our family. Have a blessed day!
The only way you can keep the reviews is if you convince the previous owner to let you take over her Airbnb account. You can’t transfer reviews across Airbnb accounts or listings.