Using Marketing Insights to Drive More Direct Bookings with Joe Marshall, Prospect House Farm

To close out Season 6, Sarah is joined by one of her Fully Booked Business Club members whose results over the last two years have been, in her own words, impressive and whose approach to marketing holds a lesson every short-term rental accommodation owner needs to hear. Joe Marshall is a heating engineer turned glamping and campsite owner. He and his wife Kimberly bought Prospect House Farm in Scarborough, North Yorkshire in March 2022 with a vision of living the good life and quickly discovered that keeping a farm, a growing campsite, glamping cabins, a plant nursery and a livery yard financially viable requires rather more than Big Dreams and good intentions. Joe knew nothing about accommodation marketing when they started. He opened a five-pitch campsite in their first summer, added a glamping cabin that winter and has been building ever since. By July 2026, Prospect House Farm now has 27 campsite pitches, two glamping cabins running at 90-96% occupancy, two more cabins due in September and a guest waiting list. What changed? Joe went looking for knowledge, found Sarah through a Facebook group reply, downloaded a free social media masterclass, joined her signature Direct Bookings Bootcamp, joined the marketing club and then, critically, did the actual work. But the thing that has driven the most dramatic shift is something most hosts overlook entirely: obsessively tracking the right data and making every marketing decision from insight rather than instinct. Joe talks through the live dashboard he built himself: pulling data from Google Analytics, Mailchimp and his booking system into a single view, so he can see at a glance his average nightly rate, year-on-year performance, which marketing channels are actually generating bookings (not just traffic) and where his guests are coming from. He shares the moment he realised Facebook ads were consuming budget without producing results and how redirecting that spend towards a social media manager and a professional website transformed both his brand and his bookings. He also covers the pricing shift that happened once he truly understood his costs and his demand, from discounting to stay competitive on OTAs, to confidently raising his rates because the data showed he could. The headline numbers tell the story: when Joe started, he was 80% OTA-dependent and 20% direct. Today he’s 80% direct bookings, has switched off Booking.com entirely, and has Airbnb on standby for the occasional cancellation gap. For two consecutive months he hasn’t needed to enter a single Airbnb booking into his accounting software. Joe’s top tip for any host who doesn’t yet know their numbers: start small, go on Google Analytics weekly, ask one question each time and use AI to help make sense of what you’re seeing. The data stops feeling like gobbledygook faster than you’d think and once you know your numbers, the stress of running a hospitality business starts to ease significantly. --- Key Takeaways Going from 80% OTA to 80%+ direct bookings at 90-96% occupancy didn’t happen by accident: it happened because Joe committed to understanding his business data and making every marketing decision from insight rather than guesswork. Know where your bookings actually come from before deciding where to spend your time. Most hosts spend the majority of their marketing effort on social media but data consistently shows Google and other sources can drive far more bookings. Track your sources and allocate your energy accordingly. If you’re spending marketing budget on a channel and you can’t tell whether it’s working, stop. Joe ditched Facebook ads that weren’t converting and redirected that budget into a social media manager and a professional website: both of which made an immediate difference. Average nightly rate across the whole year matters more than peak-season highs. Once a date is sold, it’s sold: understanding your true average rate helps you price with confidence and raise rates when demand justifies it, rather than discounting out of fear. Know your full cost per stay before you price anything. Include cleaning, laundry, consumables, utilities….everything. Hosts who skip this step often discover they’re discounting below their own cost of delivery. If Google Analytics feels like gobbledygook, use AI to help decode it. Screenshot what you’re looking at and ask AI to explain it. Go on weekly, ask one question at a time, and build the habit gradually: it gets easier, and the insights it unlocks are worth it. --- Find out more about Prospect House Farm Website Facebook Instagram --- Want more support on your marketing insights & direct bookings? Check out THE FULLY BOOKED BUSINESS CLUB here. --- Do you have a marketing roadmap for your business? No more winging it and feeling like you are in constant marketing chaos! Create your easy-to-follow marketing roadmap for the year ahead. My Direct Bookings Bootcamp is now available ON DEMAND! Let’s make this the best year yet for direct bookings! Head to my website for more info. --- Are you currently rely on Airbnb or another online agent (OTA)? Take Sarah's FREE quiz here - it's time to give them the boot! --- Connect with Sarah: Website Instagram Facebook LinkedIn ---