Direct booking champion Mark Simpson is the man Airbnb do not want their hosts to listen to.

In today's episode of the Host Planet Podcast, Mark explains why he is Airbnb's nemesis and shares some quirky direct booking strategies (bin advertising, anyone?!) that you have probably never considered.

Mark also shares his business story – including how close he came to selling Boostly last year. He also talks about dealing with online trolls in Facebook groups and Trustpilot after being forced to quadruple prices for some of his most loyal customers.

There are shout-outs for yhangry, Mount, Siddhi Mittal, Madison Rifkin, and Jodie Odlin during the episode.

Key takeaways:

• Airbnb hosts need to learn about direct bookings.
• There are so many quirky and effective direct booking strategies – and they start with knowing where your target guests are.
• Mark was weeks away from selling Boostly in 2024 after losing 1,000 customers. 
• Despite a tough year, Boostly is now more profitable than ever.

1:06 Why Mark Simpson is Airbnb’s nemesis 
4:16 Don’t build your house on someone else’s land
6:22 Can direct bookings be a false economy?
9:37 The best direct booking websites have this in common
11:00 Weird (but effective) direct booking strategies
15:44 Challenges and opportunities in 2025
20:36 Wild times running Boostly
32:51 How close was Mark to selling Boostly?
34:54 Dealing with online trolls, including 1-star Trustpilot reviews
37:35 Favourite brands: yhangry and Mount
38:57 Individual shout-out: Jodie Odlin
39:39 Number one lesson learned from the last year

Links:

Host Planet: https://www.hostplanet.club/

James Varley: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jdsvarley/

Mark Simpson: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mrmarksimpson/

Boostly: https://boostly.co.uk/

Episode to check next: 

Why stamp duty is stalling the UK property market: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lt2H9LWDwT4

The Host Planet Mortgage Podcast is presented by James Varley – a holiday let investor and property manager who is also the Founder of Host Planet. Before founding Host Planet, James spent 20 years in the media, including almost a decade leading corporate communications for the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 organising committee.

Contact the show: [email protected]

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