Bookdirect Devon

Why #Bookdirect for your holiday rental?

What is Bookdirect ?

#Bookdirect is a global movement aimed at helping people to learn and understand how bookings in the holiday cottage and bed and breakfast market work. The goal is to show the benefits, financial and practical, of booking with the owner rather than an agent.
We wish everyone would bookdirect when choosing their holiday….even if you are not coming to Moorparks Cottages.
When you are researching your holiday rental booking, we understand that it’s hard to know where to start. Well known international booking sites (online travel agencies or ‘OTAs’) make things seem easy. You may have used them for other holidays elsewhere, so they offer a familiar option. It can seem like a leap of faith to leave these platforms and seek out independent companies. There are lots of benefits to booking direct.

There is no such thing as ‘An airb’&’B’ or ‘A VRBO property’ or ‘A booking.con property’

They don’t own the properties, they just advertise them for the owner. The owner, obviously, adds the huge commisions charged on top of their rate.
So you may as well just go straight to the owners.

Did you know that some OTA’s have been under investigation by the ‘Competitions and Markets Autority UK’ ?
I’m sure you have seen the quotes and flashing messages which come up:
* Best rates when you book with us (most unlikely as cottage owners add their commission)
* 24 people have viewed this in the last hour
* Usually booked
These are all just pressure techniques to make you sign up NOW!

Did you know you will still find our property on some of the agents sites, they WON’T take it down. Even if you search for us by name, they PAY to show our property, even though you can’t book it with them 😲. People will go to their site, see our property, hopefully like it but then the calendar will say ‘Not available….but we have this one nearby’.
IT’S ALL FALSE, THEY DON’T WANT YOU TO LEAVE THEIR SITE.

Why does the cottage owner care where the booking comes from ?

OTA’s can charge the guests/owner upto 25% (inc vat) AND a booking fee to the customer.
This is the reason OTA’s don’t like people booking direct. That’s shareholder profit!

OK, if all these OTA’s are the ‘Big Bad Wolf’ why do cottage owners still use them ?

Quite simple, they have millions of pounds for advertising. They can afford to make it look like they have everything you need and don’t need to go elsewhere. We, on the other hand, don’t have that budget. Any money we save by not using OTA’s goes back into maintaining and improving Moorparks, not to a shareholder. Will we get less bookings ? Maybe, but bookings that we do get will be ‘our’ guests, not someones else’s (a call center) that doesn’t really care about them.

So, you might ask, why should I bother to bookdirect?

Let’s give you an idea of some of the advantages.
Bookdirect and you’ll benefit from intimate knowledge of the destination you’ve chosen. You get invaluable local experience and you can speak to the owners not a salesperson.
The OTA’s don’t give us, the hosts, your email address just in case you book direct. We get a filtered ‘clone’ address. This way they can make sure we don’t send you something they don’t want us to, like useful information!
Like us, some have stopped using OTAs completely. If you do decide to bookdirect you’ll usually find it’s cheaper. You may also be offered extras such as early check ins, later check outs.
Moorparks have online booking which is easy and secure to use.

If you’re still not sure, look online at the OTA’s, find the perfect place (assuming you’re not coming to Devon, otherwise it’d be Moorparks…right ? 😉) then call the owner direct. It’s not dificult to find their details, clues will be there.
By booking Direct you will not be paying the ‘agents cut’, upto 25% of the holiday!
So, the question you should be asking is, why wouldn’t I #Bookdirect ?

Moorparks Cottage or Moorparks Barn that’s the hard question!

If you want to book direct but don’t know how, wherever you want to go, send me a message and I will point you in the right direction.

How do I know what is an OTA and what is a good listing site ?

If you look at a property and it takes you to the OWNERS OWN website or owners details then that’s great. If it doesn’t, look a little deeper.
There are lots of Facebook groups for owners, just search ‘holiday cottage Devon’.
There are listing sites which owners can pay a small yearly fee to be on too: E.G.


Find us in My Favourite Holiday Cottages in North Devon
Simmply owners
Independent Cottages

Thank you for reading.

UPDATE: In 2020/21 due to Covid there was a lack of properties for UK holiday makers. Some cottages stayed closed, some couldn’t stay open for financial reasons and lots of people who would usually holiday abroad couldn’t. Everyone was busy.
For some reason, some of the big agents double booked holiday accommodation leaving many people without their needed break, some even cancelled on the day of the holiday 😱, most of them increased their pricing too.
Book direct and you will always get to speak to the owner,someone who cares, not a call center who ‘knock off at 5.00pm.

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