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Get Fully Booked

Get Fully Booked

By: Sarah Orchard
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Get Fully Booked is for Airbnb hosts, holiday cottage and glampsite owners who are ready to master their marketing so they can ditch their reliance on online agents and grow their direct bookings. Your host Sarah Orchard, an award-winning marketing strategist, #1 Amazon best-selling author, and fellow host; will share with you exactly what it takes to grow your direct bookings and the simple marketing steps to get more profit in your pocket! She shares her proven marketing strategies and interviews fellow hosts to find out what has worked for them and how they have achieved more direct bookings.Copyright 2026 Sarah Orchard Economics Leadership Management & Leadership Marketing Marketing & Sales
Episodes
  • How Hart Lake Escapes Turned 5-Star Reviews into a Fully Booked Calendar with Andrew & Clare Hart

    How Hart Lake Escapes Turned 5-Star Reviews into a Fully Booked Calendar with Andrew & Clare Hart
    Oct 26 2026
    What does it actually look like to build a reviews-led marketing strategy from the ground up , without a big budget, a marketing agency, or any prior experience of running a hospitality business?Andrew and Clare Hart opened Hart Lake Escapes in June 2022, over the late Queen’s Jubilee weekend. Five boutique shepherd huts near York, each ensuite, with wood-fired hot tubs. A beautiful property, a considered guest experience, and absolutely no guarantee that anyone would come.They came. And they kept coming back.In this guest episode, Sarah sits down with Andrew and Clare to talk through how they’ve built a loyal guest base and a reputation that keeps their calendar full and how reviews have been at the centre of that, not as a vanity metric but as a genuine marketing tool.Andrew is refreshingly candid about what he didn’t know when they started.He built their website without knowing what SEO was. He came to email marketing late, and by his own admission hasn’t always been consistent with it. But he’s also someone who learns quickly, acts on advice, and understands the value of investing in the right support, which is how he found his way to joining Sarah’s membership - THE FULLY BOOKED BUSINESS CLUB®.Clare brings a different perspective: the guest experience side, the detail, the loyalty card system that has guests returning so often some are on their third card. That’s the kind of repeat loyalty most businesses spend years trying to build!The conversation covers how they ask for reviews and what they do with them once they have them, how word of mouth has shaped their growth, and what they’d tell someone starting out with a new STR property and wondering how to get momentum.If you listened to Episode 62 on using reviews as a marketing asset, this episode is the real-world case study of it in practice: what it looks like when a host actually does it, over time, with consistency.Key TakeawaysReviews are a long game, not a launch strategy. Hart Lake Escapes’ reputation was built gradually, through consistently asking every guest, responding to every review, and letting that social proof compound over time.The loyalty card works because it gives guests a reason to come back that feels like a reward rather than a promotion. A tangible, physical card: eight stamps, one free night, has created repeat guests who are now on their third card. Simple mechanics, powerful psychology.You don’t have to know everything at the start. Andrew built a website without understanding SEO, came to email marketing slowly, and has figured things out as he’s gone. What matters is that he kept going, kept investing in his marketing learning, and kept asking for help when he needed it.Word of mouth is still one of the most powerful marketing channels available to a small STR hospitality business, but it doesn’t happen by accident. The guest experience that generates referrals is designed, not left to chance.Getting the right support at the right time makes a difference. Andrew’s work with Sarah shifted their organic visibility and joining her membership accelerated their learning. Neither required a large budget, but both required a decision to invest.Your primary market isn’t always who you expected. Hart Lake Escapes is positioned as a romantic retreat but the mums and daughters, the groups of friends, the people celebrating something that isn’t a couple’s anniversary: they’re part of the picture too. Know who’s actually booking, not just who you imagined would.- - -Find out more about Hart Lake EscapesWebsiteInstagramFacebook- - -More marketing training resourcesFor ‘how to’ STR specific marketing training — join THE FULLY BOOKED BUSINESS CLUB®---Do you have a marketing roadmap for your business?No more winging it and feeling like you are in constant marketing chaos! Create your easy-to-follow marketing roadmap for the year ahead. My Direct Bookings Bootcamp is now available ON DEMAND! Let’s make this the best year yet for direct bookings! Head to my website for more info.---Are you currently rely on Airbnb or another online agent (OTA)? Take Sarah's FREE quiz here - it's time to give them the boot!---Connect with Sarah:WebsiteInstagramFacebookLinkedIn---
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    26 mins
  • The Free Marketing Tool You're Probably Ignoring Your Google Business Profile

    The Free Marketing Tool You're Probably Ignoring Your Google Business Profile
    Oct 19 2026
    Have you ever Googled your own property name and actually looked at what comes up?Because what appears in those first few seconds, before a potential guest has clicked a single link, can make the difference between someone booking with you and someone scrolling straight past.And for most short-term rental owners, what comes up is a Google Business Profile that was set up once, never touched again, and is quietly doing far less work than it should be.In this solo episode, Sarah makes the case for why your Google Business Profile is one of the highest-leverage, lowest-cost visibility tools available to you as a location-based business and walks through exactly what to do with it.The episode covers how Google decides which businesses to show (relevance, distance and prominence and why prominence is the factor you can actually influence), what Google is doing behind the scenes with your profile that most hosts don’t know about (including the fact that Google can and does update your information, whether you want it to or not!), and why this matters more than ever now that AI Overviews are pulling content directly from Business Profiles to answer guest questions before they’ve even visited your website.The practical section works through four layers of a well-optimised profile: the essential information (the stuff most people have, often partially or incorrectly), visual content (photos that work harder than a stock image ever will), reviews (how to ask for them, how to respond, and why the responses matter as much as the reviews themselves) and Google Posts (the feature almost nobody uses, that keeps your profile active and feeds Google’s algorithm exactly what it needs).If you’ve been treating your Google Business Profile as a set-and-forget listing, this episode will change that and it won’t take more than 15 to 20 minutes a month to stay on top of once you’ve got it right.Key TakeawaysGoogle ranks Business Profiles on three factors: relevance, distance and prominence. Relevance and distance you can influence at setup; prominence: built through reviews, activity and consistency: is what separates the profiles that appear from the ones that don’t.Google can change your profile information without asking you. It pulls data from third-party sources and may update your hours, address or other details based on what it finds elsewhere online. Check your profile regularly and correct anything that’s drifted.AI Overviews are now pulling content directly from Google Business Profiles to answer search queries before a guest visits any website. If your profile is thin, incomplete or inactive, you may be invisible before the search has even properly begun.Your profile has four layers worth optimising: essential information (name, address, category, hours, phone, website: all accurate and complete), visual content (real photos that show your property honestly and attractively), reviews (actively requested, consistently responded to), and Google Posts (short updates that signal to Google that your business is active).Responding to reviews, including negative ones, matters as much as the reviews themselves. Google surfaces your responses. Potential guests read them. How you handle a difficult review tells them more about you than a string of five-stars.Your Google Business Profile performance data is available and worth looking at. Google emails a monthly summary; the full dashboard shows searches, views, clicks and direction requests: data that tells you whether your visibility is improving and where guests are coming from.A well-maintained profile takes 15–20 minutes a month once it’s set up correctly. That’s a low bar for a tool that feeds your visibility in local search, supports direct bookings, and costs nothing.- - -More training resourcesFor more on how to edit and fully utilise your Google Business Profile - join Sarah’s marketing club: THE FULLY BOOKED BUSINESS CLUB®- - -Do you have a marketing roadmap for your business?No more winging it and feeling like you are in constant marketing chaos! Create your easy-to-follow marketing roadmap for the year ahead. My Direct Bookings Bootcamp is now available ON DEMAND! Let’s make this the best year yet for direct bookings! Head to my website for more info.---Are you currently rely on Airbnb or another online agent (OTA)? Take Sarah's FREE quiz here - it's time to give them the boot!---Connect with Sarah:WebsiteInstagramFacebookLinkedIn---
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    19 mins
  • Behind the Scenes: How the Right Booking System Powers Your Marketing with Alison Carsley

    Behind the Scenes: How the Right Booking System Powers Your Marketing with Alison Carsley
    Oct 12 2026
    Here's a question most accommodation owners never think to ask: is your booking system actually working with your marketing, or quietly working against it?Alison Carsley is a host, a property management system specialist, and someone who has spent years helping accommodation businesses untangle their tech setup so it stops costing them bookings and starts earning them.In this episode, Sarah and Alison pull back the curtain on something that rarely gets discussed in the short-term rental world: the booking and property management system running behind the scenes, and why the right one is far more than a calendar.They cover what a good PMS should actually be doing for your business: capturing the guest data that makes email marketing possible, firing off the automated communications that save hours every week, and creating a checkout experience smooth enough that potential guests don't abandon it halfway through.Alison shares the automations that make the biggest difference (including abandoned booking nudges that can recover guests who got within touching distance of confirming, then disappeared), the data you should be collecting at the point of every booking, and the friction points that are silently killing conversions before a guest ever reaches your confirmation page.They also get into channel management, integrations, and, perhaps most usefully, how to approach choosing or switching systems without ending up with something that can't actually do what your business needs. Alison's advice: write down exactly what you need before you trial anything. The surprises come later for hosts who skip that step.Whether your current system feels like a paper diary, you're wondering if you've outgrown what you started with, or you're just not sure your tech is pulling its weight: this episode will give you the clarity to figure it out.Key TakeawaysYour booking system isn't just a calendar: it's the engine behind your marketing, your guest communications and your direct-booking journey. The right system captures data, automates emails and creates a frictionless checkout. The wrong one blocks all three.Collect real guest data at the point of booking: name, email, phone, address, party composition and marketing permissions. This is what makes future email marketing, segmentation and repeat-booking campaigns possible. Without it, you're starting from scratch every time.Build automated email sequences into your booking flow: abandoned booking nudges, booking confirmations, pre-arrival information, a check-in message, checkout reminders and a post-stay email with a review request and repeat-booking incentive. These save time and drive bookings without you lifting a finger.Remove friction from your checkout. Visible pricing (no hidden fees), a clear availability calendar, mobile-friendly booking and secure payment options are non-negotiable. Forcing a guest to create an account before they can see your prices is one of the fastest ways to lose them.If you're using iCal to sync across multiple platforms, switch to a proper API channel manager. iCal is slow, unreliable and doesn't pass guest data through: API connections give you real-time sync, guest details and accurate pricing across every channel.List your exact business needs before you choose or switch systems. What works brilliantly for a two-cabin glamping site won't necessarily work for a portfolio of apartments with dynamic pricing, smart lock integrations and multiple channels. Know what you need first.---Find out more about Alison CarsleyWebsiteFacebookInstagramLinkedIn---Do you have a marketing roadmap for your business?No more winging it and feeling like you are in constant marketing chaos! Create your easy-to-follow marketing roadmap for the year ahead. My Direct Bookings Bootcamp is now available ON DEMAND! Let’s make this the best year yet for direct bookings! Head to my website for more info.---Are you currently rely on Airbnb or another online agent (OTA)? Take Sarah's FREE quiz here - it's time to give them the boot!---Connect with Sarah:WebsiteInstagramFacebookLinkedIn---
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    37 mins
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This is a super informative podcast full of actionable and practical information about marketing! Really enjoyed it, and very good listening.
Sarah is great to listen to and
clearly knows her stuff.
Great to hear Wendy’s host journey from the beginning. Really enjoyed this ❤️

Easy listening but super informative!

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Sarah is really easy to listen to, loved her podcasts so far and already full of food for thought. I highly recommend checking out her Get fully booked business club too for more training and help 🙏

Full of food for thought

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A really insightful podcast, with plenty of food for thought. Looking forward to future episodes!

Brilliant podcast!!

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