Digital Redefined

More reservations made straight with the property manager is the outcome this firm builds everything around. The firm serves managers of vacation rentals who wish to rely less on those platforms and to turn browsers into bookers.

Starting from booking data

The agency's opening question to a manager is who their best guest is, and whether they could back the answer with booking data. It says most operators cannot, and that this is the real reason their tactics have not worked. Its method starts there, finding the most valuable guest groups in a client's data before anything is designed or posted.

Three linked services

• A direct booking website: built around the best guest and the booking data instead of a template, delivered through the firm's Booking Redefined platform, which ties into the client's property management system
• Marketing for the right guest: search optimization, content and email, meant to attract the guests the data shows are most valuable and to bring past guests back directly
• A planned program: a process in four phases, in which every tactic has a stated reason

The GROW System

The four phases are named Gain, Redefine, Optimize and Widen, and together they make up what the firm calls the GROW System. It says one client moved from 19 percent to 34 percent of bookings coming direct over a five-year engagement, and that direct bookings earned higher ratings than those from the booking platforms. These are the firm's own figures.

Where it started

Earlier site copy shows a broader background in central Ohio website redesign and optimization, including a WordPress solution built for users of the Escapia reservation software. The firm now concentrates on vacation rentals, and its current pages say the work is aimed at managers who want fewer fees paid to booking platforms and a stronger link with guests who have already stayed. Its stated starting point for every client is an insight session in which the booking data is reviewed before any design or marketing begins.

Digital Redefined works with vacation rental managers who want more guests to book directly rather than through online travel agencies. It starts from a client's booking data to identify its most valuable guest groups, then builds the website and marketing around them. The work follows a four-phase method the firm calls the GROW System.

What Digital Redefined offers

• Direct booking websites: sites built on its Booking Redefined platform and connected to the client's property management system.
• Guest-focused marketing: SEO, content and email aimed at high-value guests and at bringing past guests back.
• Strategy and data audits: defining the most valuable guest segments and setting a roadmap.
• Escapia WordPress solution: a WordPress setup for Escapia customers.
• Analytics support: tracking reservation conversions in Google Analytics.

Who it works with

Its clients are vacation and short-term rental operators; guest segments it has built sites around include snowbirds, families, large groups, European travellers and pet owners.

Key facts

• Method: the GROW System (Gain, Redefine, Optimize, Widen)
• Platform: Booking Redefined