Vacation Rental Marketing Tips to Increase Bookings
by Abdul Aziz Mondal Marketing Published on: 14 April 2018 Last Updated on: 25 September 2024
There could be other vocational rental properties that are similar or even better than yours? Some of them could be getting higher bookings than yours. It can be quite discouraging when the calendar of your competitors is busy while you are struggling to get even a single booking. You could have done your level best but you are still struggling to secure the required number of bookings.
There are so many people who are generating a solid secondary income from renting their homes for vocational purposes. At Lodgify, the idea behind the business is to help vacation rental businesses get more direct bookings. You can be sure that there are no credit card details required initially, no setup fees, and no obligation. You are free to try Lodgify for a free period of seven days. In the meantime, let us explore more vacation rental marketing tips to increase bookings.
You can use the Lodgify vacation rental software to promote your vacation rental, hotel, home Stay or bed, and breakfast. Just by following the guidelines below and using a Lodgify website, you could increase your vacation rental bookings substantially.
Provide Great Photos :
Photos are very effective when it comes to marketing your vacation rental home. Travellers are unlikely not be comfortable with booking your listing if it appears to be low quality or has a very small number of photos. The kind of photos you upload will tell the travellers your level of commitment to the vacation rental business. You can easily discourage potential guests by providing blurry images of living spaces that are messy. Therefore, you have to pay close attention to both the quality and quantity of your photos. However, don’t provide fake photos because they will give you a negative reputation online. You need to give your clients a clear picture of what they expect to get once they get into the house.
Provide Immediate Responses :
You need to begin by putting yourself in the shoes of a prospective traveller. How will you feel when you rent a property and try to contact the owner who takes two to three days to respond to you. The truth of the matter is that you will not be comfortable to rent a house from a host who is non-attentive. A good homeowner should take one or two hours to respond to prospective guests. In addition to this, you will get more bookings and better reviews when you respond to inquiries in an acceptable and timely manner. A good rule of thumb would be to make sure you don’t take more than 24 hours before you respond to any queries.
Request for Reviews :
Reviews are important because they create investor confidence. It is not a bad idea to prompt your guests to leave a review about the property before signing out. Potential guests like getting the objective views of people who have stayed on your property before they can make the booking. Positive experiences will result in positive reviews and vice versa. Therefore, make sure you offer the best vacation experience before you can go ahead to request reviews from your guests.
Maintain Calendars and Rates :
Visitors can be so much frustrated when they get a great listing that does not have up to date calendars and rates. Double bookings, inaccurate rates, and upcharges won’t encourage excellent reviews from guests. Make sure you update your listings regularly to avoid penalties from search results. The listing should have valid rates for the entire year that are seasonal if needs are, It’s wise to utilize professional dynamic pricing and take into account variables like slower seasons and holidays. You also have to keep in mind the prevailing market fluctuations.
Enhance the Description of Your Property :
As a homeowner, you need to understand that the length and quality of your property description has a huge impact on the performance of your bookings. Make professional descriptions and you will discover that the performance of your vacation homes will double. The description should take the potential traveller through a journey of your home. They will begin to see themselves in that house either preparing a meal or watching a movie. As a result, it is fair to say that travellers will feel more comfortable when they are booking a home that has a great description.
Accept Online Bookings :
E-commerce has become the order of the day and the vacation rental industry has not been left behind. You will significantly increase the number of bookings when you accept online bookings. Travellers should be able to book instantly and securely using their credit cards. After all, no one wants to waste a lot of time when trying to book your property.
Summary :
All these tips will help you to take your vacation rental marketing to the next level. There is no need to have a vocational home that stays vacant for the better part of the year while your neighbors are generating thousands of dollars for their property.
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