Have you recently decided to rent out a room, second home, or investment property for short-term stays? If so, you know your vacation rental has the potential to generate sizable income. You should also know that there are multiple aspects to reaping the benefits of your investment. Although you must analyze and plan for all parts, one of the most essential factors is marketing.
If you haven’t noticed, owning vacation rentals is trending. If you’re going to turn a profit, you must find ways to separate yourself from the competition and attract your target audience. It is also a bright idea to use a property management company if you own a lot of rental units or properties. If you have a lot of rental units, let them handle prospective tenants and prospective clients directly. Your time and worry will be spared from marketing your rentals, collecting rent, making repairs, responding to complaints, and pursuing evictions. While it may seem like an impossible or intimidating task, there are practical solutions to make marketing your vacation rental more manageable. Continue reading for advice.
Get The Pricing Right
One of the first things consumers look for when hunting for vacation rentals is affordability. They want something that’s accommodating but also easy on their budgets. If you price your rental too high, you risk deterring potential guests from booking a stay. However, charging too little reduces your profit.
How do you find balance? Tap into revenue management tools like Wheelhouse, Beyond Pricing, and Pricelabs to assist you in setting rates. These platforms pull current market data that enables you to price your vacation rental competitively. As each tool is different, you’ll want to research topics like Beyond Pricing vs Pricelabs to ensure you choose a digital platform best suited for your needs.
Highlight The Positives
When creating a description to advertise your vacation rental, the objective is to separate your property from others in the area. The most efficient way to do this is to highlight any positive aspects of the residence.
A vacation rental with multiple bathrooms, newly renovated kitchens, a swimming pool, or a hot tub is more attractive than a basic apartment with one restroom and no additional features. Anything that would encourage someone to select your property should be included in the description.
Go beyond the property when writing a description. For instance, if your vacation rental is close to beaches, museums, center city, event venues, or public transportation, these details can encourage your target audience to book their stay. Review descriptions from similar rentals to get ideas on what to add to your post.
Upload Quality Images
Photos help to bring your vacation rental to life for your target audience. It gives them a glimpse of what it might be like to stay for a few days, weeks, or months. When you don’t include images or add photos that are poor quality, you give potential tenants doubts, causing them to look at other options.
Take as many photos as you can of your vacation rental. At the very least, take one photo per room. Ensure that you use a quality camera with proper lighting to get the best images. If you’re up for it, you can even record and upload a video that gives guests a virtual tour of the space.
Use Multiple Marketing Platforms
You can’t expect to attract renters to your vacation property if they don’t know it exists. That’s why you must work hard to expand your reach. Don’t stick to one vacation rental listing site. Advertise your house or apartment in multiple locations.
Social media is another resource for spreading the word about your rental. You can post flyers, links to websites, images, and videos and share them in real-time with friends, family, and followers that match your target audience.
Finally, don’t overlook blogs. Writing posts for reputable travel bloggers, magazines, and other publications can expose you to new audiences, increasing your chances of getting inquiries about your rental.
Turning a profit on your vacation rental depends on a lot of factors. However, marketing is one of the most significant. If you’re going to attract guests to reserve a stay on your property, you have to find ways to separate yourself from the competition. Implementing marketing strategies like those listed above will increase those odds and give you the best advantage to accomplish your goals.
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