Get Fully Booked

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 Cl...

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...

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...

You've probably got reviews sitting on Google. Maybe some on Tripadvisor. Possibly a stack buried inside Airbnb or Booking.com. And if you're anything like most accommodation owners, you look at them occasionally, feel very pleased that guests love your place and then do absolutely nothing else with them.

This episode is the nudge to change that.

Sarah makes the case that your reviews aren't a vanity metric. They aren't there simply so you can admire your 5-star rating and feel smug, although, as she freely admits, we all do that. They're sales content. Real...

If you've ever posted a photograph of your accommodation online and thought "I hope the right people see this" - this episode is a timely reminder that visibility can attract the wrong kind of attention too.

On 26th August, Sarah discovered that someone had taken photographs of The Hudnalls Hideout, her luxury couples-only treehouse in the Wye Valley and used them to build a completely fake holiday accommodation website. Different brand name. Random private residential address in Gloucestershire. Convincing booking page. Real guests handing over real money for a holiday that didn't exist.

In this...

To close out Season 6, Sarah is joined by one of her Fully Booked Business Club members whose results over the last two years have been, in her own words, impressive and whose approach to marketing holds a lesson every short-term rental accommodation owner needs to hear.

Joe Marshall is a heating engineer turned glamping and campsite owner. He and his wife Kimberly bought Prospect House Farm in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in March 2022 with a vision of living the good life and quickly discovered that keeping a farm, a growing campsite, glamping cabins, a plant nursery and a...

You asked AI to write an Instagram caption for your accommodation. It came back with something about a “tranquil haven nestled amidst breathtaking natural beauty where luxury meets comfort.” You deleted it immediately. Sound familiar?

In this solo episode, Sarah gets practical about one of the most common frustrations she hears from hosts: AI that produces bland, generic content that sounds nothing like their actual business. The problem, she argues, isn’t the tool — it’s the prompts. Most people are using AI like a magic content machine, typing “write me an Instagram caption for my Airbnb” and pressing e...

If you’ve ever felt isolated in your business, wondered whether you’re the only one juggling quite this much, or noticed that the people on the big industry stages rarely look like you, this episode is for you.

Lisa Roads has spent over 25 years in short-term rentals, starting with buy-to-lets at 19, building a holiday portfolio in Cyprus from the UK, and eventually running a fully managed property management business of 225 luxury coastal villas and apartments across three locations on the island, all operated remotely. She sold that business in 2021 and has since moved into consulting, coaching and...

Bookings are slower than you’d like, so you look at your website and think: “it’s not converting. I need new photos. I need a new booking system. I need a new website.” But what if that’s the wrong diagnosis entirely?

What if the real problem isn’t conversion at all, it’s that almost nobody is actually visiting your website in the first place?

In this solo episode, Sarah tackles one of the most common (and costly) mistakes she sees accommodation owners make: trying to fix a conversion problem when they actually have a traffic...

“SEO is dead.” “Google is finished.” “AI is taking over search.”

If you’ve spent any time online recently, you’ve probably seen at least one of those headlines. In this solo episode, Sarah cuts through the noise and gives you a clear, practical answer to what’s actually changing and, more importantly, what it means for your holiday cottage, glamping site, Airbnb or boutique accommodation business.

It’s true that the way people search is shifting.

More people are asking ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini and Perplexity full conversational questions instead of typing keywords into Google and Goog...

What actually happens when you want to move on from a business you’ve spent years building? And what does it really look like to take that dream of running a retreat abroad and live it out — with all the complicated, unglamorous bits included?

Kerry Roy is someone Sarah describes as glamping royalty and it’s not hard to see why. She was one of the earliest glamping pioneers in the UK, building Camp Couture from scratch on a 250-acre Yorkshire estate in 2012, growing it to 19 units plus pop-up bell tents, launching one of the UK’s most cel...

Your About page. It’s probably the one you set up early on, haven’t touched since and don’t spend much time thinking about. But what if it’s quietly one of the most important conversion tools on your entire website?

In this solo episode, Sarah makes the case for why your About page deserves a serious rethink — and it starts with a fascinating piece of consumer psychology. Research by neuroscientist Paul Zak found that stories trigger oxytocin in the brain (the trust hormone), making people significantly more likely to take action. In hospitality, where guests are bookin...

What does it actually feel like to give up a 35-year London career, say yes to a seven-acre farm you’ve never run before, inherit fifteen animals you’ve never looked after, and move to a county you’ve never lived in, all in under four months? Nicky Cooper is about to tell you.

Nicky is one of Sarah’s 2026 Bootcampers and the new owner of Tredarrup Farm Holiday Cottages: a stunning North Cornwall farmstead near Port Isaac with four converted holiday cottages, fifteen animals (sheep, goats, running ducks and more), and views over the Allen Valley that she...

If the words “marketing metrics” make you want to switch off immediately, I get it. Numbers and spreadsheets weren’t what drew most of us into hospitality. But this episode might just change how you feel about them — because the hosts who track the right things are the ones who stop making decisions based on panic and start making them based on evidence.

In this solo episode, I’m walking you through the marketing metrics that I think every short-term rental host should have an eye on. Not vanity metrics. Not “look how many followers I’ve got” metrics...

When the market feels uncertain, it’s very easy to assume your business is failing.

The quieter inbox.

The later bookings.

The random gaps in the diary that suddenly appear where they never used to.

And meanwhile, social media is full of hosts apparently having their “best year ever” while you’re wondering whether everyone else is somehow in a totally different economy!

So today, I’m talking about what’s actually happening in the UK short stay market right now and why many hospitality business owners, like you, are feeling...

If you've ever wondered whether growing a portfolio of properties makes marketing harder, Clare from Suffolk Coastal Escapes is about to give you a very reassuring answer.

This week I'm chatting with Clare, a long-standing member of my membership, The FULLY BOOOKED BUSINESS CLUB, who manages 11 holiday cottages on the Suffolk coast - an area she describes as a hidden gem that most people have never even heard of.

She started with one apartment back in 2017, grew her own portfolio during Covid, and has only recently begun taking on other owners' properties. And she's done...

Here's a question for you. When did you last actually stay in your own short-term rental?

If the answer is "never" or it's been a very long time, this episode is going to make you uncomfortable. In the best possible way.

I'm talking today about why staying in your own property is one of the most important things you can do as a host, and why relying on your best friends or family to test it first is a terrible idea. (They love you too much to tell you the truth. You need someone who...

I have to be honest, this episode genuinely made me smile from start to finish.

This week I'm joined by Wendy from Acorn Glade Glamping, one of my longest-standing Fully Booked Business Club members and a fellow host who has quietly built something really rather special just outside York in the UK. And when I say special, I mean four completely unique glamping units, a mirrored dome with a bespoke circular bed (Wendy reveals which celebrity has the same one), and a mullet-sporting alpaca called Hobnob who has become something of a social media superstar.

...

I've seen it so many times, and it genuinely breaks my heart.

Someone pours £80,000, £100,000, or even more into a beautiful cottage renovation, cabin, shepherd's hut, or glamping site. Blood, sweat, tears—the lot. Then they open their doors to nothing. Tumbleweed. Silence. And that desperate, sinking feeling that something has gone very wrong.

It's not because their property isn't gorgeous. It's because nobody knew it existed.

This episode is one of my all-time favourite topics because getting your launch right can make an enormous difference to your first year in business, and getting it w...

Five years. Can you believe it?

Get Fully Booked is officially five years old, and I'm not letting this one slip by quietly. Because if I've learned anything from working with hundreds of hosts, it's that we are absolutely terrible at celebrating our own wins. We hit a milestone, give ourselves a quick nod, and then crack on as if nothing happened. And I'm calling us out today!

This episode is a little bit different. Yes, I'm celebrating, but it's also evidence. Five years in business is no small thing when you consider that almost...

This week, I'm chatting with Ben Makin, who runs a lighthouse keeper's cottage near Wick in Scotland – possibly the most remote location of any of my marketing club members.

Ben's got a really interesting guest mix, with around 38% of her bookings coming from overseas visitors. She's worked out exactly who her ideal guests are and has even given them names. There's Christine, her UK off-season guest who comes with her husband and a couple of dogs, and Christophe, the European family road-tripper who books nice and early.

What's brilliant about Ben's approach is how data-driven he...

In this episode, I tackle something I hear constantly – "I don't want to spam people." I'm tackling this mindset head-on because it's holding so many short-term rental and glamping site owners back from using one of the most powerful marketing tools available to them. Yes, even more powerful than social media!

I'll walk you through what actually counts as spam, how GDPR actually works for your business rather than against it, and why a small engaged list will always outperform a massive uninterested one. We'll also cover the three questions you should ask before hitting send on an...

Let's talk about something that trips up so many hosts – marketing promotions. You know the sort: giveaways, discounts, special offers. They can be brilliant for filling gaps and growing your audience, but get them wrong, and you'll land yourself in what I call "marketing jail."

No, there won't be sirens or handcuffs, but you might end up with angry guests, awkward refund requests, or even your social accounts shut down. And if you're really unlucky, you could find yourself in proper legal hot water.

In this episode, I'm walking you through the three big promotional pi...

This week I'm chatting with Katie Colella, a meta ads specialist who knows her stuff when it comes to Facebook and Instagram ads. And yes, they can work for short-term rentals and glamping sites – when done properly!

We're cutting through the myths around paid ads. Katie explains why so many hosts think ads don't work (spoiler: they've probably just hit the boost button and hoped for the best), and what you actually need to do to make them effective.

In this episode, we talk about why the boost button isn't your friend and the difference be...

Welcome to Season 5 of the podcast. Today, I'm diving into why building your own website might be silently holding your business back!

With over 30 years of marketing experience and 80+ website audits under my belt, I have seen three recurring pitfalls of DIY websites that can drain your time, energy and profits.

The importance of your biggest marketing asset to your short-term rental business cannot be overlooked. The guest web user experience is an art and I will show you that a pretty website isn't enough if it doesn't convert visitors into paying guests.

...

Think TikTok's just for teenagers doing dance challenges? Think again. In this episode, I'm chatting with Paige McNeil, a social media whizz who specialises in helping accommodation businesses crack TikTok marketing.

We're talking about why you can't afford to write off this platform – especially when guests in their 30s and 40s are actively using it to find their next getaway. Paige shares the truth about what actually works on TikTok (spoiler: forget the polished perfection), why authentic content beats professional shots every time, and how to turn those viral views into actual bookings through your email list an...

Got another DM asking for a free stay? Me too, my inbox is groaning with them right now! Someone with 500,000 followers wants to stay at your property - sounds flattering, but will it actually get you any bookings? Probably not. And that's because most hosts don't understand the massive difference between an influencer and a content creator. They're not the same thing, and getting this wrong can be a costly mistake.

In this episode, I break down exactly how to spot the difference and avoid getting burned. Influencers promote your stay to their audience - that's it...

OK, let's talk about the elephant in the room - the market has changed, and winging your marketing just doesn't cut it anymore.

You've probably noticed that guests are booking later than ever, there's more competition than you can shake a stick at, and your usual marketing tactics aren't working like they used to. Well, you're not imagining things.

In this episode, I'm sharing the hard truth about what's shifted in the short-term rental market, backed by real data. But don't panic, I'm also walking you through exactly what you need to do differently to...

This week, I'm chatting with Sean Ronan from One Acre Wood in Herefordshire, and honestly, his story is brilliant. He and his wife, Annie, went from running a cosy cottage in Norfolk to creating something truly special: two stunning treehouses nestled in 18 acres of woodland that attract both families and romantic couples.

Now, launching during a pandemic wasn't exactly ideal timing (we did it as well, so I know that's the understatement of the century!), but Sean and Annie absolutely smashed it. They've built a thriving business through clever marketing partnerships with local businesses, even landing a...

If you're serious about ditching those commission-hungry booking platforms and keeping more profit in your own pocket, an email list is hands-down your most valuable asset.

I know, social media feels easier. Instagram's pretty, TikTok's trendy, and Facebook... well, it exists. But here's the problem: you don't own any of those audiences. One algorithm change and poof - all that hard work vanishes into thin air. But your email list? That's yours. Forever.

So, in this episode, I'm sharing five practical, proven strategies to grow your email list faster than you ever thought possible. And...

In this episode, I'm chatting to Charlotte Hughes, the imaginative brain behind Yorkshire's Scarlet Hen, a unique rental for hen parties and wellness retreats. Charlotte opens up about her unexpected journey into the world of short-term rentals, which began out of necessity when her family home wasn't selling.

She's transformed her massive mansion into a party pad that's not only stylish but also caters to the needs of her guests, creating an unforgettable experience. The episode dives deep into the challenges of managing a property that's also your home, the logistics of moving out every weekend, and...

Today, I'd like to talk about blogging for a minute. Because I see so many businesses, including short-term rental holiday businesses, that think it's dead and buried!

Look, I get it. You're busy doing changeovers, replying to guest enquiries, and trying to figure out Instagram reels (don't even get me started on that!). But here's the truth - blogging is still one of the absolute best ways to get Google to actually notice your holiday cottage or glamping site.

Think of each blog post as a brand new doorway for your ideal guests to find...

This week, I'm diving into SEO and marketing while you sleep - because who doesn't want their business working hard while they're catching some well-deserved shut-eye?

I'm chatting about the reality of getting your holiday business found online without losing your sanity in the process. No fancy jargon or complicated tricks here - just straight-talking advice that actually works for real people running real businesses.

Now, I know SEO can feel like trying to crack some mysterious code that Google keeps changing (because, let's face it, they do!). But here's the thing - it doesn't...

This week, I'm chatting with Ed Maughan and Sarah Pursey, two brilliant hosts who've cracked the code on marketing to groups. And trust me, this isn't just about squeezing more beds into your property - it's about understanding what makes group guests tick.

Because group bookings are a completely different beast from your standard couple's getaway. We're talking hen dos, family reunions, milestone birthdays, corporate retreats and more. Each one needs a different approach, and frankly, most hosts are missing a trick here.

Ed's been banging the drum about direct bookings (music to my ears...

Right, let's talk about the elephant in the room - AI and marketing. Everyone's either singing its praises or running scared from it, but where's the middle ground?

AI can absolutely be your marketing mate, but only if you don't hand over the room keys completely. I've seen too many businesses churn out content that sounds like it came straight from a robot factory. And trust me, guests can spot that bland, cookie-cutter stuff a mile off!

So, what's the reality check on AI?

It's brilliant for speeding up your content creation (thank...

This week, I'm chatting with the fabulous Charlotte Taylor, who runs some absolutely gorgeous self-catering properties - and let me tell you, her story is going to resonate with so many of you!

We're getting into the real nitty-gritty of what it's like when you're staring at an empty calendar, feeling that horrible pit in your stomach, and thinking "Right, back to Airbnb it is then!" Sound familiar?

Charlotte's been there, done that, and bought the (very expensive commission-paying) t-shirt! She'll tell you exactly how she went from being booked solid to facing a booking...

This week, I'm getting fired up about why playing it safe is actually the riskiest thing you can do for your holiday business. Because when your property looks like every other rental out there, you're basically invisible to potential guests scrolling through endless options. For example, if I see one more listing with grey cushions and "live, laugh, love" signs, I might scream!

So, I'm talking about ditching the boring and embracing what makes YOUR place special. Whether that's bold colours, quirky themes, or those little touches that make people go "wow!" - it's time to stop...

Let's have a proper chat about something I see all the time - and it's driving me absolutely bonkers!

I'm talking about the "throw everything at the wall and see what sticks" approach to marketing. You know the one - posting more on social media, sending more emails, running more ads, thinking that MORE automatically equals BETTER results. Well, I'm here to tell you it doesn't work like that.

I'm getting straight to the point about why ramping up your marketing efforts without a proper strategy is like trying to fill a bucket with a...

This week, I'm chatting with the brilliant Vicki Jones from 'Tractors and Cream' - and trust me, you'll love her story!

Vicki's taking me through their whole journey - from that lightbulb moment when they decided to give glamping a go, right through to the challenges they faced getting everything up and running.

But the real goldmine in this episode? How Vicki's using AI to make her marketing life so much easier. We're talking about streamlining social media, sorting out email marketing, and creating content without spending hours staring at a blank screen (we've all...

In this episode, I'm diving into why your emails might be getting the cold shoulder and how to fix it.

Firstly, your subject line is make-or-break time. I'm not being dramatic here - it literally determines whether your email gets opened or deleted faster than you can say "direct booking." Those generic, snooze-fest subject lines? They're doing you absolutely no favours.

I'll share my tried-and-tested tricks for writing subject lines that actually get people curious enough to click. We're talking about tapping into emotions, creating a bit of urgency (the good kind, not the pushy...