Get More Direct Bookings for Your Rental Property with Special Places of Costa Rica

Are you looking for a way to boost the success of your vacation rental in Costa Rica? If so, the secret might be securing more direct bookings.

Direct bookings increase the profitability of your vacation rental by eliminating commission fees charged by online travel agencies (OTAs), allowing you to make more on each booking — all while charging your guests less! Direct bookings also give you more control over the guest experience to ensure that each person who stays in your vacation rental has a positive experience and a personalized stay.

So, what’s the key to securing more direct bookings for your vacation rental? It’s working with Special Places of Costa Rica for property management and marketing! Discover how we help our homeowners experience success with their vacation rentals by leveraging the power of direct bookings.

What Are the Benefits of Booking Direct for Guests?

Before we explain our strategies for securing more direct bookings for our property owners, let’s review the many benefits of direct bookings for guests:

#1

Cost Savings

When guests book your property on an OTA (like Airbnb or Booking.com), they will pay a service fee of 10–20% of the total property cost. This fee covers the costs of using the platform, like secure transactions, customer support, marketing, and booking management. And, as a property owner, you will pay an additional commission fee for using the platform, which is usually 3–15% of the booking subtotal. 

Think about it — for a week-long stay in a beachfront villa that costs $2,000, your guests could end up paying up to $400 in fees, and you’ll pay $60–300! Not only is this frustrating, but it’s also unnecessary.

When guests book directly through your website or a property management company like Special Places of Costa Rica, they’ll save on service fees while you save on commission fees, leading to a positive customer experience (and a more affordable stay).

#2

Trip Flexibility

Most guests want flexibility while booking a trip, and there is no more flexible option than booking a property directly with the homeowner or property management company!

As a property owner, you can offer guests flexible payment terms for their down payment and damage deposit, and you can also provide more favorable cancellation or date change policies than OTAs. Plus, if a guest needs to make a change to their reservation, they can directly talk to the management team instead of sitting on a third-party support phone line for hours. This enhances the customer experience!

#3

Personalized Service

OTAs might “provide” customer service, but it’s nowhere near the customer service guests will experience when booking directly through a management team. If guests have special needs, requests, or questions, they can talk to a real agent before booking instead of jumping through hoops with a support team from Airbnb or Vrbo that doesn’t really know the nuances of your property and policies.

Plus, when you list your property with Special Places of Costa Rica, you’ll be able to share as much information about your property as you want with potential guests, including links, files, and images. This ensures a transparent booking process for guests that leads to fewer questions and higher satisfaction..

#4

Concierge Service

When guests book directly through a property owner or management company, they can access perks that OTAs can’t offer, like concierge services.

When booking through an OTA, potential guests cannot see or receive any information about concierge services before booking the property. However, before or after guests book through Special Places of Costa Rica, they can read through tons of helpful information on our website about what to do near their vacation rental, the top dining options, and more to plan a perfect trip! We can also help arrange guest services like airport transportation, car rentals, and a private chef for a seamless stay in Costa Rica.

How Do Direct Bookings and Bookings from OTAs Work Together?

Here’s the deal — even though booking direct might provide the best deal for you and your guests, that doesn’t mean that OTAs don’t have a time and place.

For example, guests who use OTAs are more likely to book last-minute trips than guests who book directly, which can help to maintain a full rental calendar. As a property owner, using direct bookings and bookings from OTAs together is the best way to guarantee success. You’ll be able to keep more money in your pocket from the guests who book directly, but keep your property booked 24/7 by reaching guests who exclusively use Airbnb, Vrbo, or other third-party booking platforms to fill in the gaps.

Breaking Down the Numbers: Vacation Rental Performance by Booking Source

As of April 2025, here is a breakdown of the platforms guests use most often to book vacation rentals from Special Places of Costa Rica:

• Airbnb — 32.1%
• Direct Bookings — 31.0%
• Booking.com — 12.3%
• Vrbo — 9.1%
• Reserved by Owner — 8.8%
• Expedia — 2.5%
• Other OTAs — 4.2%

Our Proven Marketing Strategies to Prioritize Direct Bookings

As you can see from the data above, we receive almost as many direct bookings at Special Places of Costa Rica as bookings from Airbnb — and we secure more direct bookings than bookings through Booking.com, Vrbo, Expedia, and all other OTAs combined!

So, how do we secure so many direct bookings for our homeowners to help them save money on commission fees while providing their guests with a more flexible, personalized rental experience? Great question! Here are our proven marketing strategies for securing direct bookings:

#1

Search Engine Optimization

Search engine optimization (SEO) describes the process of improving a website’s visibility in online search results. By optimizing our website content and property descriptions for SEO, we help potential guests who are planning a trip to Costa Rica and looking for a place to stay find (and book!) our properties directly.

#2

Social Media

Did you know that 57% of people (especially Gen Z and Millennials) use social media for travel planning?

At Special Places of Costa Rica, we have an active and engaged following on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and other social media platforms to showcase the allure of vacationing in Costa Rica while promoting our homeowners’ properties as the premier places to stay in Costa Rica.

#3

Content Marketing

Before traveling somewhere new, have you ever hopped online to search for the top things to do in a destination? Which restaurants are the best to eat at? What can’t-miss activities you need to put on your vacation bucket list? The information you find online is a byproduct of content marketing — the practice of sharing valuable, helpful, and relevant information with the goal of attracting potential guests.

We use our website for content marketing by publishing blog posts and informational pages about Costa Rica to establish ourselves as a destination expert while building brand awareness and loyalty.

#4

Paid Advertising

In addition to organic marketing strategies, we also use paid advertising to promote direct bookings.

By paying to display ads on search engine result pages, we can direct users searching for vacation rentals in Costa Rica (or similar queries) to our website — or even a specific property — where they can choose to make direct bookings.

Outsource Property Management & Marketing to Special Places of Costa Rica for a Successful Rental Property

While OTAs have their time and place, if you’d rather turn to a property management company that will help you keep more money in your pocket per booking on your rental while offering a personalized, flexible rental experience for your guests, turn to Special Places of Costa Rica!

Special Places of Costa Rica is the premier full-service property management company for homeowners in Guanacaste, Costa Rica. If you want to list your property with Special Places of Costa Rica, learn more about our vacation rental property management services!