B&B booking system: how to get more direct bookings

Whether you have three rooms in a Cotswolds cottage or eight in a Victorian guest house in Whitby, the job is the same: know which rooms are free on which nights, take bookings from guests and from booking sites, and never sell the same room twice.

• Rooms and rates: each room with its capacity, nightly price, seasonal prices and minimum stays (two nights at weekends, three over bank holidays).
• An availability calendar that’s readable at a glance.
• Online booking from your own website, with clear terms.
• Deposits or full prepayment, with a written cancellation policy.
• Guest records: contact details, arrival time, dietary needs for breakfast, returning guests.
• Sync with booking sites, usually through a channel manager or calendar links.

Online travel agents (OTAs) such as Booking.com, Expedia and Airbnb are brilliant at putting your rooms in front of people who have never heard of you. They charge for it: commission on Booking.com typically starts around 15% and can be higher if you pay for extra visibility.

On a £120 room for three nights, 15% is £54 per stay. A B&B with five rooms at 70% occupancy, half of it through OTAs, can easily pay £10,000 or more a year in commission. Shifting even a fifth of those bookings to direct covers the cost of a good website and booking system several times over.

The realistic goal isn’t to leave the OTAs, which bring first-time guests, but to make sure that returning guests and people who find you on Google book directly.

1. A fast website with a clear “Check availability” button on every page, working well on a phone.
2. Prices and availability shown straight away, not “email us to enquire”.
3. A reason to book direct: a more flexible cancellation policy, a welcome drink, early check-in, a small discount where your OTA contract allows it.
4. A Google Business Profile with your website link, photos and up-to-date reviews.
5. Collect email addresses from every guest (with permission) and send a short note before the next season.
6. Tell guests at check-out that next time they can book directly with you.

Double bookings happen when a room is sold on two channels before either knows about the other. There are two ways to prevent them:

• Calendar sync (iCal links): most OTAs can export and import availability as a calendar link. It’s free and simple, but updates every so often rather than instantly, so on busy weeks there’s a small risk.
• A channel manager: software that updates all channels at once in near real time, usually for a monthly fee. Worth it once you’re on several channels with high occupancy.

For a three-room B&B on one OTA plus direct bookings, calendar sync and a habit of checking each morning is often enough. For eight rooms on three channels, a channel manager pays for itself the first time it prevents a walked guest.

Late cancellations hurt small properties more than hotels: with four rooms, one cancelled weekend is a quarter of your income for those nights. Most UK B&Bs choose one of three approaches:

1. Flexible: free cancellation up to a few days before arrival, card details as a guarantee. Attractive to guests, more risk for you.
2. Deposit: typically the first night or 20–30% of the stay at booking, refundable up to a set date (often 7 or 14 days before arrival).
3. Non-refundable at a lower price, for guests who are sure of their dates.

Many owners offer the flexible option direct and the stricter one on booking sites, which doubles as a reason to book direct. Whatever you choose, state it on the booking page before the guest pays, repeat it in the confirmation email, and apply it consistently. Peak dates such as bank holidays, local festivals and graduation weekends can reasonably have stricter terms, as long as they’re clear at the time of booking.

Finally, keep a short waiting list for your busiest dates. When a room is cancelled, an email to three people on the list often fills it within the hour.

Keep what helps you look after people: name, contact details, arrival time, dietary needs and allergies for breakfast, the room they liked, and notes like “anniversary” or “cyclists, need bike storage”. Returning guests notice when you remember.

UK accommodation providers must keep a record of the name and nationality of guests aged 16 or over, and passport details for overseas guests, under the Immigration (Hotel Records) Order. Keep these records secure and for the period required, and treat dietary and health notes with care under UK GDPR.

Yes. With Plannify you can describe the website you want (“a B&B with four rooms, photos, prices by season, minimum two nights at weekends, an availability calendar and a booking form”) and a team of AI agents builds it in front of you. Alongside it, you can build the back-office software: rooms, bookings, guests with breakfast notes, arrivals today and payments due.

You change everything by writing in the chat (“add a dog-friendly room”, “close the second week of January”), and Undo takes you back. Building is free, with the AI you choose.

Read how it works in build an app or a website.