Vacation rentals are becoming more popular but competition is also higher than ever before. To win over guests, there are a few essentials property managers should know.
If you work in the vacation rental industry, you know better than anyone the importance of “location, location, location”. Most guests search first for rentals based on the location they are traveling. Although that narrows the search a little, there’s still a lot of competition in the marketplace.
At BookingTeam.com, we work with clients on several aspects of property management, including strategies to increase bookings. Attract guests and stand out from your competitors by becoming the number one vacation rental in your area. Here’s what it takes:
1. Operate like a local.
A more personalized experience is one of the major benefits guests see in booking vacation rentals over hotels and other lodging options. Also, many travelers today are interested in more than just visiting the tourist traps. They want to experience the culture and local hot spots where they stay.
As a host, it is a huge plus to have extensive knowledge of the area. This way, you can share fun things to do, hidden gems, directions and other insider information with guests. This doesn’t mean that if you have properties in other cities or countries, that they won’t perform well. However, there is value in thinking globally and acting locally. Having someone or a team of people that know the local area and can answer any questions your guests may have gives you a competitive advantage.
2. Partner with local businesses.
Local knowledge is a big advantage for hosts, but partnering with local businesses can make your property even more attractive. For instance, what if you could recommend guests to the best restaurants in town, and offer them a discount because they are staying with you?
Instead of just suggesting things to do, you could partner with a local tour company and shuttle guests straight from your door. Partnering with local businesses can give your guests access to exclusive deals, events, and experiences that they wouldn’t get with another property
3. Have a unique personality.
You can’t be everything to everyone. Whether it is in the design of your vacation rental, how you welcome and treat guests or a combination of different factors, find what makes your property stand out and use it to your advantage.
4. Increase your ranking on rental sites.
People search for and book accommodations online, so it is critical to optimize your online ranking. This is one of the key tasks that BookingTeam.com manages for hosts. To increase the visibility of your properties, you need to have up-to-date listings on the most popular vacation rental sites. As you likely already know though, attracting guests is a little more complex than that.
Like search engine rankings, people often only view the first few pages of results on a vacation rental site. To increase your listing position, you need to have lots of positive reviews, high-quality images and a history of reliability and responsiveness. Most important of all, you need consistently exceptional guest experiences. Learn more about how to improve your listing rankings and discover our proven formula here.
A guest’s travel destination often narrows down where they will be staying. However, you still need to outshine the local competition that to get their attention. BookingTeam.com helps hosts manage their vacation rental properties. We handle everything from listing management to scheduling house maintenance, so you can focus on forming strong relationships and experiences with guests.
Totally agree with your advice. Partnership can be big boost for rental business. And of course, people always should consider to show their offer on more than one site. One is never enough to reach full potential of our place. So your services are really helpful for rental business owners. Thanks for post @bookingteam.com :)
Thanks again for an informative article @bookingteam.com
@bookingteam.com
You've made a right point here. That's true and I would like to add my personal experience to make it more valid here.
Last month during my vacation trip to Kerala, India which called as "God's own country"
My plan was to have a houseboat stay for one night on backwaters with family at Alappuzha. As I am new to knew the place and also language. My host himself understood my requirement and he talked to his friends (local partner). He arranged us a beautiful houseboat to stay at very reasonable price $125/day. The boat is very near to our hotel a 2 mins walk.
Here is the same identical house boat of ours travelling beside to us (unable to get a full shot of our boat as we stayed in it).
That's a warm feeling I had experienced with my host. I would definitely visit again him and recommend him to others too.
As said above in this article, having some links with partners local area adds a great advantage and can create more happy customers. Just like my host made me to his list.
Yeah, this is good advice, we try to do as much as possible for guests. This includes obvious things such as taxi services but it also helps to build a relationship with guests if you're willing to go the extra mile, like booking a boat trip or a restaurant for your guests. We often even organise a barbeque for our guests. It's very unlikely that you'll get a bad review once you've socialised with guests.
Of course some guests also prefer their space, so it's also important to be sensitive to everyone's needs.
nice pictere
flow me and i flow you
togheter we secsess
@elad1982
nice post, thanks
