The listing platforms didn't build Grand Get-Togethers.
They helped, early on. They do what listing platforms do - they fill calendars, they reach people who wouldn't have found you otherwise, and they take their cut for doing it. For most holiday let businesses, the OTAs are the oxygen. You can't afford not to be on them.
Molly Sadler built something that changed that equation. Not overnight. Not through a rebrand or a campaign or a viral moment. Through nearly two decades of converting redundant Yorkshire farm buildings into something genuinely exceptional - and building a digital presence that could finally do justice to what she'd created.
Grand Get-Togethers now has four luxury properties sleeping between 14 and 22 guests across Sherburn and Ganton in North Yorkshire. Every property has en-suite bedrooms, hot tubs or swim spas, fully equipped kitchens, EV charging, and the kind of attention to detail that guests notice - homemade welcome cakes, thoughtful touches, a team who fix things rather than apologise for them.
The reviews reflect it. "Exceeded all expectations and worth every penny." "The sales blurb is matched by the reality - which is often not the case in today's world." "Best house we have stayed in."
Molly and her mother Joan, fourth-generation Yorkshire farmers, didn't build this by accident. But for a long time, the website wasn't keeping pace with what they'd created.
The Gap Between the Property and the Platform
There's a version of this story that most holiday let owners will recognise.
The property is exceptional. The guests who come leave five-star reviews. The word-of-mouth is strong. But the digital presence - the website, the listing profile, the online impression - isn't quite matching the reality of what's on offer.
So you rely on the platforms. Not because they're perfect, but because they're there, they're trusted, and they're doing the work the website isn't quite doing yet.
The commission adds up. The dependency builds. And the guests who find you through a listing platform experience your property through someone else's interface before they ever encounter yours.
Molly was in that position. She was working with listing agencies in the early years - they were filling the calendar, and they were taking 18–25% for the privilege. The website existed, but it wasn't the engine.
That's what changed.
Building the Engine - One Question at a Time
The approach wasn't complicated. It was just consistent.
"Every time someone starts asking me more questions about something, I have been addressing it - saying, can we add that to the website - because if I've been asked the question a couple of times, I'll get asked the question a couple more times."
Every repeated enquiry became a gap to close. Every gap that got closed meant one fewer email to answer, one fewer person being sent somewhere else to find the answer, one fewer reason to hesitate before booking.
"I definitely don't have to respond to as many silly questions, because they find it there."
This is how a website becomes an asset rather than a brochure. Not through a single redesign, but through years of proactive iteration - adding information, adding functionality, updating photos, reflecting the business as it actually is rather than as it was when the site was last rebuilt.
Flowe Media have been part of that process for around eight to nine years. The website hasn't been torn down and rebuilt every couple of years, the way so many business websites are. It's been built in stages, with thought applied at each one.
"A brilliant web design company that has absolutely got our business really flying... we love working with them to drive our direct bookings." - Orchard Lodge, another Flowe Media client in the holiday let space.
What Happened When the Website Started Working
Molly pulled back from the OTAs. Not dramatically, not all at once - but significantly enough that for several years the platforms were largely unnecessary.
"Yeah, it's where I send everyone to find the information."
That's not a small thing. For a luxury holiday let business, OTA commission at 18–25% per booking across a property portfolio of Molly's scale represents significant money. Walking away from that dependency isn't a gamble - it's the result of having a direct booking engine that's good enough to replace them.
She's back on a handful of platforms now. But as overflow - not as the primary channel. The business scaled to the point where it needed them as a top-up, not as a lifeline.
The brand has evolved alongside the bookings. Grand Get-Togethers started with one property. The weddings arm - originally a page inside the main site under the name Parkland Parties - grew until it needed its own website and its own identity: Westfield Farm Weddings. The corporate retreat market followed. Now wellness.