Field notes for independent properties.
Practical thinking on bookings, revenue and getting found, written for owners of boutique hotels, B&Bs and holiday lets.
Latest field notes
08 essays
01How reviews feed AI recommendations: why your profiles now matter more, not less
For years reviews did one job: they reassured a human who was already looking at you. They have quietly taken on a second, larger one, and most owners haven’t noticed it happening.
The post-stay sequence that turns a great stay into a direct repeat booking
Most owners pour their energy into winning the booking and delivering the stay. Then the guest checks out and the relationship quietly ends, which is one of the most expensive missed moments in the business.
How to get more direct bookings when you’re not allowed to be cheaper
Almost every guide to direct bookings tells you to be cheaper on your own website. For a UK property that advice may breach your contract, and the levers you’re left with are more interesting than the one you’ve lost.
Rate parity explained: what you can and can’t do to reward direct bookers
For more than a decade one contractual clause quietly shaped how independent hotels priced their rooms, and most owners never knew its name. The rules have changed, significantly.
llms.txt, schema and NAP consistency: what actually gets you cited in 2026
There is a tidy list doing the rounds of what a property “needs” for AI search. Two of the three are quietly essential. One is a reasonable bet that the major AI systems mostly ignore.
Dynamic pricing for a property run by one or two people: is it worth it?
For a property your size, is repricing your rooms actually worth it, and how much of it do you really need? An honest answer, without the jargon or the wall of screens.
What independent hotels actually lose to OTA commission, and how to find your real rate
Ask most owners what they pay the booking platforms and you’ll get one number. It almost never is the real one, and the gap is where a surprising amount of profit quietly leaves the building.
Is your hotel in the answer? How travellers now book through ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini
When a traveller asks an AI assistant where to stay in your town, does it mention you? For a growing share of guests that’s now the first step of the journey, and where many properties quietly disappear.
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