Repeat Guests and Direct Bookings: Building a Hocking Hills Guest List

Why Repeat Guests Matter More in Hocking Hills

Hocking Hills isn’t a once-in-a-lifetime destination. It’s a weekend escape — close enough to Columbus, Cleveland, and Cincinnati that guests come back. Many families make it an annual tradition: fall foliage one year, winter hikes the next, spring wildflowers after that. The guests who’ve already stayed with you and loved it are your most valuable marketing asset. They don’t need to be sold on the area. They need to be reminded that your cabin exists and invited to come back.

Every repeat guest who books directly instead of through Airbnb saves you 15.5% in platform fees. On a $1,000 booking, that’s $155 back in your pocket. Over a year, repeat direct bookings can add thousands to your bottom line.

Collecting Guest Information (Legally)

Airbnb’s Terms of Service are clear: you cannot solicit off-platform bookings through Airbnb messaging during an active reservation. You cannot undercut your Airbnb pricing to incentivize guests to book elsewhere. And you cannot share contact information through Airbnb’s messaging system for the purpose of circumventing the platform.

What you can do: include your website URL in your listing description (Airbnb allows this). Place a tasteful card or welcome binder in your cabin with your property name and website. After checkout and the review period, guests who want to reach out to you can do so through your website. You’re building a brand around your property, not poaching guests from Airbnb’s platform.

If a guest contacts you directly through your website after their stay, that’s a perfectly legitimate relationship. They found your direct booking option on their own. You can communicate freely, offer your direct pricing, and build an ongoing relationship.

Setting Up Direct Booking

Your direct booking setup doesn’t need to be complex. At minimum, you need a simple website with professional photos of your property, an availability calendar, a booking form with payment processing, and basic information about your cabin and the area.

Platforms like Lodgify, Hospitable, and OwnerRez offer integrated direct booking websites with calendar sync, payment processing, and automated guest communication. They cost $20–50/month but eliminate the need to build a website from scratch. If you’re more technical, a WordPress site with a booking plugin can work too.

For payment processing, Stripe and Square both work well. The processing fee (roughly 2.9% + $0.30 per transaction) is a fraction of Airbnb’s 15.5%.

What to Offer Direct Bookers

You don’t need to undercut your Airbnb price dramatically — in fact, doing so can create problems if Airbnb detects a significant price discrepancy. Instead, offer value-adds that make direct booking more appealing:

A more flexible cancellation policy. Airbnb’s cancellation policies have become more restrictive. Offering a slightly more generous policy on your direct site gives guests a reason to prefer it.

Priority booking for peak weekends. Give past guests first access to fall foliage weekends or holiday dates before those dates go live on Airbnb.

Small perks: a welcome basket with local products, a free late checkout, or a discount on their third stay. These cost you very little but create loyalty.

Building an Email List

An email list is the most reliable way to stay in front of past guests. Collect email addresses through your website (with a simple signup form offering something like “get notified when peak season dates open”) and from guests who book directly.

Send 3–4 emails per year: one before fall foliage season with a booking link, one before summer, one with any property updates or new amenities, and one around the holidays. Keep the emails short, personal, and focused on making it easy to book again. Use a simple email tool like Mailchimp (free for small lists) or ConvertKit.

The Long Game

Direct booking isn’t about abandoning Airbnb. Airbnb will likely remain your primary source of new guests for years. Direct booking is about capturing the repeat business that Airbnb generated for you and converting it into a relationship you own. Over time, a healthy mix might look like 60% Airbnb, 20% Vrbo, and 20% direct — with the direct percentage growing each year as your guest list builds.

The goal is simple: every guest who stays with you once should know how to book with you again without going through a platform. How many of them actually do is up to the experience you provide.