Your property. Your website. Your bookings.

Asha Stoddard great question! I've been working on this across my own businesses, and there's quite a bit you can accomplish yourself with ChatGPT. For accommodation owners, I'd start with a simple, mobile-friendly website that showcases your property, amenities, photos, availability, and nearby attractions. I personally prefer Astro for building fast websites, Cloudflare for hosting, and GitHub for managing updates. They work well together without requiring expensive infrastructure. For visibility, I'd focus on Google Business Profile, Google Maps, Search Console, and useful information about your surrounding area. For example, pages about nearby beaches, restaurants, transportation, and local attractions can help travelers discover your property while researching their trip. I'd also make sure the website is easy to navigate on a phone, with readable fonts, clear photographs, straightforward reservation information, and useful answers to common guest questions. As your accommodation business grows, you can add a customer management system to organize inquiries, keep guest records, manage reservations, and handle confirmations and reminders. You can eventually connect your calendar, payments, and guest communications so everything works together rather than managing several separate systems. You don't need a complicated setup or dozens of services. Start with a good website, accurate local information, and a simple reservation process. One thing worth considering is that running your own website isn't entirely free. Hosting, software, payment processing, and other operating expenses can add up, sometimes approaching 10–15% depending on how you operate. For me, the biggest benefit is having greater control over your property information, guest relationships, and long-term online presence rather than relying entirely on third-party accommodation platforms. ChatGPT can help you plan and build much of this, even if you're starting with limited technical experience.