Direct Booking Launch Kit
Take your first bookings direct, paid to you rather than through Airbnb or Vrbo. Do it in the order that works: past guests first, a simple booking page second.
15% of every booking goes to Airbnb or Vrbo instead of to you
You don't escape online travel agency (OTA) fees by building a website and praying. You escape them guest by guest: capturing contact info legitimately, giving past guests a reason to book direct, and only then putting up a simple booking page.
This kit lays out that sequence honestly, including what direct bookings actually require: payments, damage protection, and a cancellation policy you enforce yourself. You go in with eyes open. Includes the repeat-guest email templates and the discount math worksheet that keeps direct deals profitable.
Written by Eric, who founded a vacation rental company in 2004 and spent close to a decade deep cleaning rentals somebody else had already called clean.
What is inside: all 7 parts
This is the complete contents list, not a highlights reel. Every line below is a part of the file that is already written and already laid out. Print-ready as it stands. Print it, laminate it, or send the file to whoever does the work.
- The direct booking readiness checklist (do this before any website)
- Guest contact capture: what platforms allow, and the in-home methods that work
- Repeat-guest email sequence: 4 templates from "thanks for staying" to "book direct"
- Discount math worksheet: price direct deals below OTA but above your net
- Simple booking site options compared: link-in-bio to full engine
- Payments, deposits & damage protection without a platform safety net
- 12-month direct booking growth plan for an independent operation
What it replaces
the work it removes- A blank document and every decision inside it. Somebody has to work out what belongs in each of those 7 parts, write the wording, and lay it out, 7 times over. That is the part already done.
- A generic small-business template with the word "property" pasted over it. It was written against one problem: 15% of every booking goes to Airbnb or Vrbo instead of to you.
- Version chasing. If the file gets revised, the new one is a free re-download, not a second purchase.
- A subscription. It is a PDF file you keep. Nothing logs in, nothing syncs, and nothing stops working when a card expires.
When not to buy this
said plainly- If what you want is software that runs itself, this isn't it and never claimed to be. It's a PDF file you print, post, and own. No app, nothing to log into.
- Already have a version of this written down, with a team that follows it? Keep it. Swapping a working system for a stranger's is a downgrade.
- The writing is done. Filling in your codes, your local numbers and your house rules is still on you.
- You have not read one of these yet. 9 of the 35 files download with no account and no email address. Take one of those first and judge the writing before you spend $69 CAD.
There is no buy button for this one file. I would rather say so than print a price you cannot pay.
The 26 Pro toolkits are sold as one thing. One payment of $69 CAD opens all of them. This file does not sell on its own, so there is no separate price to quote for it. What I will stand behind is a count: 26 files, 168 written parts between them. Every toolkit is named on the pricing page before you decide. Anything added to the library later is included, and nothing renews.
Three more that sit next to this one
Same category first, meaning Marketing & Listing, then the library's featured picks if the shelf runs short. Free ones download without an account; Pro ones come with the $69 CAD All-Access Pass.
PDFFreeListing Photo Shot List
Shoot the photos a real-estate photographer would. The staging pass first, then the angle for each room, then the test for picking the cover shot guests see first.
PDF ProListing Optimization Workbook
Audit your listing the way Airbnb and Vrbo rank it: title, photos, description, and the amenity boxes that act as search filters. Then fix the weakest part first.
PDFFreeTurnover Cleaning Checklist
A room-by-room list your cleaner works from on a turnover, plus what to restock. When they're done they send you 10 photos.