A direct booking site does not bring guests on its own. It gives the guests who already want to book you a place to do it. Here is where they come from.
1. People searching your name
Guests who saw your homes somewhere - a platform, a friend's photos, a sign - often search for you by name. Make sure your own site is what they find: your company name and each home's name in the page titles, and a Google Business Profile that links to your site.
2. Guests who booked direct before
Someone who booked on your site once is your customer, not a platform's. With their consent, stay in touch: a thank-you after the stay, and a note before the season they came last year.
3. Referrals
Past direct guests, your owners' friends and family, and local businesses your guests use - surf schools, yoga studios, restaurants. A simple link to your site from each of them is worth more than it looks.
4. Your own channels
Your social accounts and the email list people join on your own site. Post the homes, the season, the availability - and link to your site, not to a listing.
5. Stays that do not fit a platform
Groups taking several homes, long stays, retreats, company trips. These often start as an enquiry. A site that shows all your homes and takes a booking is where they land.
What to measure
Each month, per home: bookings made on your own site against bookings from each platform. The share that is direct is the number to grow.
What not to do
Do not try to move guests who booked on Airbnb off it - no discounts to book elsewhere, no collecting their contact details through its messages. What Airbnb allows sets out the rules.