Welcome to Boostly Podcast Episode 589.
In this podcast episode, Mark celebrates Boostly's success in winning the 2023 Shot Award for the best app and website solution in the hospitality industry.
He was initially unsure of their chances, given the stiff competition, but credits the win to the community's support behind the scenes.
Mark feels this award is significant as it reflects the team's hard work in creating a reliable product, the Boostly Bookings Booster, which was launched on May 1st, 2023.
The goal is to attract direct bookings and generate revenue, with Mark's long-term objective to reach £100 million.
By doing so, Boostly can gain the attention of OTAs, a significant challenge in the industry.
The Boostly Bookings Booster will provide a “done-for-you” solution with improved functionality, including chat enabled websites and a better booking engine.
Mark believes that the award and the new product solution are a massive achievement for everyone behind Boostly, providing the confidence to continue the journey.
Here's the video for this episode:
Timestamps (audio)
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Transcript from the Episode
Intro
[00:00:00] Mark: This is a very quick podcast, uh, update just to say, and I wanted to document, cause everything that I've been doing since 2016 has been documenting the journey of Boostly through this podcast, while we also do behind the host the Spotlight series. And everything else that we do is also, um, documenting Boostly in the journey.
[00:00:17] And today is a big milestone because we won this. This is the, uh, shot award, 2023 for the best app and website solution in the whole industry. This is, this is Boostlys. It's a little bit marked still because it got covered in champagne and beer and all those things, but it was a, it was a massive night.
[00:00:36] I'll be perfectly honest, when we were shortlisted for this award and the people that were coming up against, I did think it was a step too far. Cuz the way that the is works is that it is 50% judges vote and then 50% people can, the public can vote. And I know because of the amazing community that we have behind the scenes, we will definitely get loads of public votes.
[00:00:56] But it was the judges' one that I wasn't quite sure. And the people that we were up against in this category, they are like the Goliaths of this industry. They are, they are huge. So to the Hear my name get called out to hear Boostlys name get called out was phenomenal. And this is the one, um, that I really, really, really wanted.
[00:01:13] I was nominated for two awards. Well Boostly was nominated for, for one, and I was nominated for the ever the best disruptor. Billboard, you know, the things. Um, but this. Was big because this is Boostly this is not just me. This is like the whole team behind the scenes and what we've built and trying to get towards.
[00:01:30] And now when we jump on a, a sales call for example, or if somebody's like shopping around having this just to say we are voted for. By our peers. The best website solution is huge and it's like a massive achievement for everybody. Uh, B, behind the scenes, which, which is great. And also as well, the timing is perfect because literally as of the 1st of May, we've now launched our brand new website, product and solution, which is called the Boostly Bookings Booster.
A Quick Summary
[00:02:01] I'm gonna do a separate video, which goes into a lot more detail about what that entails, but I'll give you the very quick summary. Number one, no more DIY websites, no more pro websites. It's all going to be Boostly Bookings Booster. Every single website is going to become a done for you solution, and it's going to be integrated.
[00:02:20] The reason why for that is because at the present moment in time, as of the 1st of May, Ley websites have got attract 13 million pounds in direct bookings over the past 12 to 14 months, and that's only from 335 websites. We have got over 450. DIY websites that aren't being able to be get tracked. And we've got many more that aren't even live just yet, just literally behind the scenes.
[00:02:46] And so my goal is to move everybody of our existing clients over to, um, the, the, the new 3.0 version where we're able to track every booking that comes in. And if we can get that 335 current live API sites up to a thousand. Then the potential of how much revenue that we can generate for direct bookings is even bigger and bigger and bigger.
[00:03:10] My big goal is to get it to a hundred million. If we can get a hundred million of direct bookings coming in, we will start to get the attention of the OTAs and if we can get the attention of the OTAs, it will show them that bookings is a thing. And I know that direct bookings is a massive pain point for 'em right now because in London last week I heard from sources that they are massively worried about it.
[00:03:33] It is annoying to one of the OTAs. The other ones, the other OTAs, they kind of embrace it in a kind of way, shape, or form. But one OTA hates it and this is really massive, um, for what we are doing. And it's like a lit, you know, as big as this award was to hear that, that the OTAs are a certain ota, um, is really worried about.
The new Boostly Booking Boost
[00:03:54] It is music to my ears and gives me the spur and the confidence to keep on going. So the new Boostly bookings boost through a quick summary of what we've done. Number one, we've now got our own plugin and our own theme. We've created it behind the scenes. It's taken a long time to do it, but what that means is that we have more power, more functionality, and we can do more cool stuff, cool stuff, as in every single one of our new websites will have chat.
[00:04:17] G p t enabled, uh, there's a, a live demo happening right now, um, over on the YouTube channel where you can see that. Number two, we have been able now to improve the booking engine. So we're gonna be able to collect guest data right at the very start of the booking process. And with Zapier integration that we've now created, it means that all of the information that your website collects, all the data that you collect, it will instantly sync in to your email market and software.
[00:04:43] I e MailChimp, I e active campaign, i e switchback, whoever you use. So there's much more power with what we can do with our book direct websites, and the main goal is to turn a looker into a booker. Sooner rather than later, which is the goal for every website needs to be. With the API integration that we have into the top PMs providers around the world, it means that we can keep the booking on site.
[00:05:08] It means that we can do much more, and for the guest, it's as seamless process. The checkout process will be as easy as checking out on Airbnb, checking out on booking.com, checking out on Ox Expedia, or checking out on any of these OTAs that that are out there. We've got a new simplified pricing model. It all can be viewable and visible by going to boost Lee dot code uk slash pricing, so B O O S T O Y dot code uk slash pricing.
[00:05:36] And all you need to do to get started with is to book a call. The links are all on the website booster dot code uk. It'll take you to Calendly. Uh, you can then choose a time and a date that fits you best. We'll get on a call. We'll find out about you, where you are in your business. And we'll make a decision if we are best suited for you or if we could recommend somebody else.
[00:05:53] Obviously we want to take on board as many as possible, but I've really been refining who our ideal, uh, clients that we wanna work with are ideal hosts that we wanna work with are, and that is what we're going to be deciding on these calls. I am really excited. I hope you are. I just wanna say again for everybody who voted, thank you so much.
[00:06:12] Uh, obviously the public vote was a large part of, of the reason for it. Um, thank you to all the judges, whoever you are. I don't know who was voting on our category, but thank you for choosing, uh, Bruce Lee, and this is a little flag in the ground for towards the next step. Of the growth of what we're doing here.
[00:06:29] We've just surpassed 44 members of staff behind the scenes. Uh, we've got, you know, everybody in support, project managers, customer services, copywriters. There's loads of people behind the scenes and that's not even to talk about the marketing team, the social media team that's helping me to finance his team.
A lot of hard work behind the scenes
[00:06:45] Um, and you know, chow the coo who's such a major part of what we're doing, and obviously Tom, who's the CTO who's designed all of this. So there's been a lot of hard work behind the scenes. It's definitely not just me. In fact, I play a minor role in it Now. I'm just the voice and I'm the mouth that talks to you and to to, so I can focus on helping you with the tools, tactics, and the training, but most importantly, the confidence.
[00:07:07] To getting you those direct bookings. So thank you for tuning in short, under 10 Minute podcast today. Uh, this will be a visible on video and it'll be visible on the audio as well. I'm gonna leave you with the video that somebody sent me on WhatsApp of me collecting the award. And I'll give you the context behind it, is that I was talking to somebody, the venue was in, uh, east London, next to the Olympic Stadium in London.
[00:07:28] Cool, cool venue. It was like a, a big circle. And you could overlook the views of London. The problem is, is that because it was this massive circle, the the voice from the stage couldn't travel. And I was chatting, chatting, chatting somebody, and all of a sudden somebody grabbed me and said, you've won. So I didn't even know it was our category, which is crazy.
[00:07:46] Someone just said, you've won. And I was like a little, I was just like a. A deer caught in the headlights. I didn't have a clue where to go, what was going on, and I just arrived at the venue. So I was seeing people for the first time that I haven't seen in a while. So very happy and took me ages to get to stage, which is why this happened.
Outro
[00:08:19] All right. So as you can see, very happy, very proud, very smiley. Um, but that is it for today. Um, hopefully. You'll stick around and you wanna find out more, uh, make sure you subscribe and all those cool things. We've got free podcasts every single week coming out, uh, giving you the tools, the tactics help the confidence.
[00:08:34] My name's been Mark Simpson. Thank you so much for this. And if you wanna find out more about Boostly Bookings booster, all you have to do is got a Boostly.co.uk. Have it in the blast. Gonna get it on the Bruce Lee podcast. Bruce Lee. Let Bruce Lee cuz it's so hard on the tee is loose leaf.
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