Are you a vacation rental owner or vacation home renter? Then, stay tuned because we are bringing 12 actionable vacation rental tips! We have listed the most important strategies for vacation rental marketing.
It is vacation rental but still a product.
Indeed, it might sound relaxed – “vacation rental”… But you still shouldn’t get a vacation from efforts to market your property. It is still a product on a huge real estate market and competition is high. So, let’s do some work in the right order.
Let’s dive into the vacation rental tips
1. Find a Niche
First, it is important to describe your market and find a niche. Then, it will make your work much easier afterward because it will help you to lead your other actions. Consider the location of your property, services and tourist points, size, special conditions, and interesting characteristics.
Do you want to create a vacation spot for nomads, gastronomic tourists, vegans, eco-friendly, alternative people, families or pet lovers? Or is your vacation rental for old people, people with special needs, or for those who are searching for adventures, for sports, for relaxation? Choose a specific group and focus your effort to stand-out!
2. Invest in staging and interior design
Before we move to the online marketing strategy and tips, we would like to encourage you to think about the attractiveness of the property itself. Customers nowadays have unlimited options, they can choose between better looking, stylish and cozy rentals. Well, your listing should be the one for your future visitors. But how? The good news is that with staging you don’t need substantial investments to the interior design. One extra tip is to create an atmospheric interior using some retro furniture or DIY objects.
3. DIY and simple makeovers
The biggest difference can be made by wall colors, curtains, and simple decorations. Check their makeover projects for your inspiration. It seems to be easier to create a minimalist and cozy look with just white wall color and few original decorations.
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Photo by Chastity Cortijo on Unsplash.
Start your own rental websites for vacation
4. Create a catchy presentation to your website/listing
Take your time to decide whether you want to invest in a professional website or you want to create it by yourself.
Either way, an excellent presentation is important. Good looking websites add relevance to your offer and will catch more attention. It doesn’t mean that it has to be full of content. Simplicity is also welcomed. Just make sure that you will include catchy photos and descriptions and all-important sections.
5. Select a specific name, logo, and description
Based on the niche you can create a specific name, logo and describe your offer in the way in which customers want to listen. The structure of the website should include basic information about the property or reasons why travelers should visit. These should be visible on the top. Do not forget to include your story, contact, social media websites, map, reviews, pricing, terms and conditions and also professional photos.
6. Improve your SEO
Additionally, we want to remind you about SEO. As people are gonna search for their vacation destinations there is a high competition for the best rankings in search engines. To be successful you need to be visible in the first place. So study more about keywords and optimization of your text.
7. Professional photos and floor plans
Professional real estate photography can definitely make your holiday rental listings stand out. Bright, sharp and high-quality picture attracts and helps to bring more bookings. Thus consider hiring a professional RE photographer based on proximity and provided add-on services. Real estate photographers usually offer a wide range of add-ons to choose from: Twilight shots, 360 images, 2D floor plans, property videos, drone photography and aerial shots.
According to Zillow, floor plans are the 2nd most important feature on a listing and correlates highly with capturing potential leads. The best part: it takes only 5 minutes of your time and you only need a smartphone. Create easily professional floor plan for your vacation rental with CubiCasa App.
8. Elevate reality with mesmerizing 3D Video Renders
In order to truly stand out and potentially gain viral attention, you should consider doing something unconventional and innovative. Take, for instance, the example of the Airbnb Dreamhouse in Malibu amid the Barbie premiere. Have you thought about creating a video render walkthrough that highlights the main rooms and key features of the property? A study conducted by NAR Realtor concluded that listings with videos generate 403% more inquiries.
The great news is that creating one is remarkably simple. Here’s a step-by-step guide on how a 5-minute scanning app can assist you in producing a 3D video walkthrough render and obtaining a complimentary 2D floor plan from the same scan. An example of a video generated by CubiCasa is provided below:
9. Social media management
To be closer to customers present your vacation rental on social media. Platforms to share photos, reviews, news and stories Facebook and Instagram are going to be a great starter duo.
Facebook is more popular among the generation between 30 – 50 years old people and Instagram is the best channel for Millennials. In case you are targeting Gen Z: consider starting a tiktok account showcasing the holiday properties and breathtaking views. While creating social media content and strategy think about your target audience.
10. Build engagement with communities
Through social media, you can create a community and build engagement with your satisfied customers. Don’t forget to ask them for review after their experience and reshare their photos. That will help you to gain more attention to your online pages.
Those were important inner vacation rental tips, now let’s discover other tools that will help you to increase your visibility.
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Photo by Justin Kauffman on Unsplash.
Get more bookings through another listing service
11. Airbnb, VRBO, and HomeAway
Use the opportunity to increase your visibility and add your property to different successful listings. According to Global Alexa Ranking, the most popular are Booking.com, Airbnb and VRBO. Airbnb is a unique service because it has a low service fee (around 3%) and also insurance service (up to 1 000 000 USD), so hosts don’t need to be afraid about their property conditions. Sign up process is easy and it opens the doors to your vacation rental may appear on the screens of billion tourists. Do not post to many more listings, because you would shatter your focus and it could be difficult to keep a high standard and get many reviews on one page.
According to Porch, if you intend to utilize vacation rental platforms such as Airbnb, Vrbo, or Booking.com, take into account the related costs and fees to ensure profitability. Additionally, they advise making use of customer reviews to highlight guest experiences.
12. Fulfill high expectations of customers
Customers are more sensitive to details and services nowadays. It is caused by the great opportunity of the international market. Everybody can easily compare offers, get more information and learn from other’s experiences. For this reason, it is necessary to put special attention to your services. It starts with a clean bathroom through a tourist map on the bedside table to the quick reaction when the cooker is not working.
TIP! Do not promise what you can’t fulfill, do not advertise photos that are not realistic.
13. Save your energy for lucrative months
Even though this is the last paragraph, the following words are still one of the most important from this vacation rental tips. People usually start to plan their vacation at the beginning of the new year. So January, February, and March are the most important months when your vacation rental listings should be visible. Make sure that until these months your website and social media presence are on point. And get ready to communicate with future customers.
We wish you to have your booking list always filled with many excited visitors!
Summary: Top 12 actionable vacation rental tips for owners
- The niche
- Staging and interior design
- DIY and simple makeovers
- An excellent presentation
- Specific name, logo, and description
- SEO
- Professional photos and floor plans
- 3D video walkthrough renders
- Social media management
- Engagement building
- Airbnb, VRBO, and HomeAway
- High expectations of the customer
- Energy for lucrative months
Conclusion
Preparing and marketing a vacation rental property is by no means a simple task, though by following the tips laid out in this guide, property owners should be well-positioned to succeed in even the most competitive markets. Begin by selecting a niche to help you to focus your efforts, then design and stage your property in keeping with the wants of your target market.
Extend this design standard to your digital marketing endeavors, making sure to utilize social media platforms and applications to widen your reach amongst suitable clients. Remember, your work isn’t done once bookings are made, so consider using rental property accounting software or similar management tools to keep track of your trade. With these factors in mind, you should be well on your way to running a successful vacation rental property business.
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