A guest looking at websites for B&Bs and guesthouses in Dublin has a reason to be in the city: a match at Croke Park, a concert, a wedding in a hotel that was full, a hospital appointment, an early flight, a ferry. They want a clean room they can see in photos, a proper breakfast, somewhere to leave the car, how far you are from where they are going and how to get there, and the price per night. Then they want to know whether booking direct is cheaper than the site they found you on.
We build the site and the Book Direct button, sort the Google listing and send you the numbers monthly. You run the house.
The commission question
The booking sites are not the enemy. They put you in front of a German couple who had never heard of your road, and take a slice of every booking for it. But they also take a slice from the guest who stayed with you last September and came back, the woman whose daughter is in the Mater and was given your name by a nurse, and the man who found you on Google Maps. Those bookings should be yours, and the site is where they book.
A Book Direct button on every page, connected to the booking engine or channel manager you already use so availability stays in step, or taking a dated request with a deposit by card if you have no system. Within whatever your agreements with the booking sites allow, give the direct guest a reason: a better room, a later checkout, a free parking space. There is a guide to how online bookings work if you want the detail.
Photograph every room, and the breakfast
A B&B is sold on photographs, and the ones that sell are honest. Each room in daylight, bed made, curtains open, from the door and from the window, with the bathroom beside it. The breakfast room with a breakfast on the table, because the full Irish is a big part of why people choose a B&B over a budget hotel. The front door, so they recognise the house from the taxi. The parking.
If you are Fáilte Ireland approved, say so near the top with the shamrock. Overseas visitors have been told to look for it.
Where you are, and what that means to a guest
Guests do not know Dublin. “Drumcondra” means nothing to someone from Lyon; “fifteen minutes’ walk to Croke Park, twenty minutes by bus to O’Connell Street, the airport bus stops at the end of the road” means everything. Write the location page in journeys: to the city centre, to the airport, to the port, to the stadiums, to the nearest hospital, and to the pub down the road that does dinner. Put the Eircode and a map on it so the taxi finds you first time.
The same page can say what is nearby for a free afternoon, and if you send guests to a tour guide you trust, name them. Local knowledge is what a B&B has that a hotel chain does not.
Check-in, house rules and the midnight question
State the things that cause trouble when they are not stated: check-in and checkout times, what happens if the flight lands at midnight, whether you take children, whether dogs are welcome, your cancellation terms and whether breakfast has a cut-off. The chat box answers those from your own details at any hour and hands the rest to your WhatsApp, so the parking question gets answered without you getting out of bed.
After checkout, one message with a direct link to your Google review box. Guests who had a good breakfast will write two lines if it is made easy. When a review is unfair, reply calmly and never confirm who stayed or when. The guide on replying to bad Google reviews covers the wording.
Match days, concerts and the quiet of January
A Dublin B&B’s calendar is the city’s calendar. Summer is full. The autumn and spring bring rugby and football weekends, the big concerts and the conferences, and the rooms go to whoever can be found on the day the tickets go on sale. Christmas week is quiet and January quieter, and that is when the site needs a line saying you are open. That line, the seasonal rates and the “no vacancies this weekend” notice are yours to change from your phone.
What to hand over
Photos of every room and the breakfast room, your room types with rates by season, your breakfast details and times, check-in and checkout times, your house rules and cancellation terms, your Fáilte Ireland status if you have it, the login for your booking engine if you use one, and ten minutes at the kitchen table.
Plan and price
Complete, at €1,499 to set up and €100 a month, is the plan for a B&B that wants direct bookings, the deposit by card, the review request and the chat box. Essentials, at €499 and €50 a month, covers the site, the photos and the Google listing for a house that fills from the booking sites and repeat guests. Both are on the pricing page. Outside Dublin, the first chat is a phone call.