Question from one of our members in Say Yes to Houfy Facebook Group:
We want Houfy to succeed and for us to have more Direct Bookings.
What we need is:
Houfy to charge a reasonable booking fee and Advertise the platform. Mere word of mouth has resulted in slow organic Growth. This is merely to acknowledge the situation and plead for a different approach so that we can all succeed.
After 5 years, this group has only 6K members. If Houfy is to become a leading "go to search" platform for Guests, it is time that we respectfully discuss how we can work together to everyone's benefit. Thank you!
1) Houfy will not charge booking fees. Our mission for hosts and guests is to connect direct and book direct without 3rd party fees/commissions etc.
How can Houfy earn funds?
- Website creation
- Embed Tools/Widgets
- Rental Agreement creation
- Promotions - Last Minute Deals & Featured Listings
Income for Houfy would pay for expenses (Site/Programming/Salaries) & Marketing = further growth.
Will the above tools be enough to grow Houfy rapidly once implemented?
We do not know yet. I suspect a slow start.
Marketing:
Where, how, with who should Houfy advertise the platform? How much would this cost? Is there a realistic plan? What would the results be? Are competing companies successful with their marketing strategies? (I have followed a few of them for years and can inform growth has been marginal to non-existent - excluding the big 4 - Airbnb/Booking/Expedia/Tripadvsior) - Note: VRBO is owned by Homeaway, which in turn is owned by Expedia Group.
Word of Mouth Marketing:
You are correct with your assessment the result is slow organic growth, however: this was clear from day 1. It has been our primary focus to create a super product for our hosts and guests. This is still very much ongoing and in our case takes a LOT of time as we are limited with just 1 programmer, Swapnil. We have the time.
Different Approach:
I'm open to any ideas our members might have. Houfy has a strong community which can and should be used to its advantage.
Some other notes:
Ownership/Skin in the game - currently my wife and I are the only people who are financially supporting Houfy. I have an idea to issue tokens/stock/ownership certificates to members who might want to partly own Houfy. See this YouTube video:
Crowdfunding: Above would be a form of crowdfunding.
Venture Capital: This might be needed in the future. However: keeping control as long as we can is quite important. (We might consider above ideas first before searching for VC funds)
After 5 Years this group has merely 6K members: You are referring to our Facebook Group.
Be advised the Facebook Group was mainly created to report problems/site issues for Houfy - There has never been a moment where we suggested to grow the group and share the group online. Bridget Johnson and many others here have done tremendous work in informing us on small errors and in informing members how to share Houfy, how to get more bookings etc.
We use the Facebook group as our customer service.
Here I will be sharing latest Houfy numbers to show growth by "just" word of mouth from our fantastic community of Houfies!
Number of listings: 47109 - 4 Years
Number of Hosts: 9436
Bookings: 6.173 MLN - 3 Years! (We have no idea how many bookings were done outside Houfy who have not been marked as confirmed - for example through Ownerrez or direct between hosts & guests)
How we can work together to everyone's benefit..
1) Swapnil and I will remain focussed on our product/the site. In 2022, we'll add the paid for services(mentioned above) which could help offset expenses and future marketing costs.
FYI: I personally can not charge anyone for anything as long as I can not offer a close to perfect product. We are getting there now with the widgets/website builder and rental agreement.
2) We have a super cool community and I'm sure together we can continue growing Houfy and make plans for even faster growth as our site/product is working quite well right now. (Technically)
I suggest to all of you to not only promote Houfy (your listing) to your past guests, but also consider promoting Houfy in general.
You can help guests search for places to stay, help hosts add listings, answer questions, forward our Say Yes to Houfy Facebook Group etc. etc. The more you help, just a few minutes a week, the faster Houfy can grow.
Thanks Thijs (Tice), Swapnil & Bridget.
OH: By the way: Howfeed is a place where you can find many articles written by Bridget - Marketing help etc.
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Great and direct answer. To be direct if a user needs pay site services them stay at the pay site. This is a grass roots effort aimed at returning the market to its original state and such laments from those not promoting their own direct efforts are not a part of the team. I personally am very greatly for the efforts and expense expended by those who have made this platform possible. We talked about it for years but you actually did it. This link should be pinned in the FB pages.
I am in support of a reasonable booking fee as a % from revenue host (thinking 3%), and not charged to the guest. This is something I would definitely support in exchange for advertising and customer service. Definitely would like a more streamlined way to handle a deposit.