How To Market Your Vacation Rental To Business Travelers

Vacation rentals are all the rage at the moment, and many people are starting to opt for them instead of hotels. They offer a more home-like feeling to visitors, and often there is a lot more space than just a singular room. However, you often need a niche audience you want to target for your rental, and business travelers are a great demographic if you have what they are looking for. 

But how do you ensure you have what business travelers want, and how do you ensure that business travelers will want to stay in your rental? Luckily, there are many things they look for in a vacation rental, and if you include most of them, you are giving yourself a good chance of increasing your bookings. 

Continue reading to find the best ways to secure bookings from business travelers and start introducing them to your own vacation rental. 

The 6 best ways to attract business travelers

Offer great high-speed WiFi

After the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, people were hit with a travel ban. They also weren’t able to go into their offices and were forced to start working from home. Virtual meetings became the norm, so people were required to have a fast and high-quality WiFi speed so they could stay up to date on their tasks and help their businesses grow. 

During this time, many new pieces of innovative software that host virtual meetings and task managers were created to help, and working from home became even more popular. Now that the pandemic looks like it's coming to an end and we are finally getting in the clear, organizations are still opting to use this software and work from home. It saves money on renting offices and actually increases productivity. 

Due to this, people can travel a lot more on business now, and because of this, they require rentals that have fast and steady internet access. If you are looking to particularly target business travelers, they will mention in your reviews how good your WiFi is because it is one of the main things they will look for. This will no doubt help you reel in even more business travelers. 

Highlight wellness options

Business trips aren’t all about sitting at a desk in your vacation rental and working the entire time. Even corporate travelers need to take breaks to work on themselves and find the best ways to unwind and relax after a stressful day. That’s why alongside all the work-related amenities in your vacation rental, you also need to focus on highlighting any wellness options that are part of the property, or at least in the area. 

The most popular wellness option that business travelers look for is a gym or somewhere for them to get some exercise. Some vacation rentals come with their own personal gyms, including weights, machines, and even some yoga equipment. However, if this isn’t possible for your own property, you may want to include a complimentary gym membership while they stay with you at a gym in close proximity to the rental. 

But exercise and gyms aren’t the only wellness options for you to advertise in your rental listing. You can also suggest things such as discounts for healthy food or meal prep delivery services, a free massage at the end of your trip, or a hot tub where people can unwind after a long day at work. 

Offer a workspace optimized for corporate travelers

So, you already know that you have to offer high-speed and stable WiFi for business travelers, enabling them to work virtually in the vacation rental. However, how can they use this WiFi if they don’t have an optimized workspace? While many rentals come with a desk in at least one room, that isn’t all you can offer when you want to beat out the competition. Instead, you need to include other amenities that will make their space more comfortable and productive.

Of course, you still need to have a desk, but you need to do something that will attract the interest of corporate travelers. A comfortable office chair is one of the first steps because you don’t want your guests complaining of a sore back after they have left. You also want to ensure you have placed the desk and chair in a space with plenty of electric sockets where they can plug in their laptop and other devices. Office supplies, coffee pods, and organizers are also some other great items to add to the workspace. 

While a workspace is one of the main attractions for a corporate traveler, you can go one step further by also providing them with an area where they can get ready for their meetings each day. Maybe provide a special area where they can hang up their suits, an iron and ironing board, and possibly even a mirror and hair products to complete the look.

Provide a personalized experience

Guests love being cared for when they stay at a vacation rental, which is no different for business travelers. When someone feels like they’ve been catered for personally, they are more likely to return in the future and recommend your property to other employees and friends they know in the industry. But how do you provide a personalized experience when you haven’t met the guest before? All you have to do is ask them. 

When a guest first makes a booking with your vacation rental, you are going to want to ask them what you can do to make their stay better. Sometimes this question can be too general, and some guests may not be able to think of an answer, so depending on what you usually offer, you can make them more specific. For example, if you offer a coffee machine with your rental, ask what their favorite kind is and supply it for them. 

Another way you can offer a great experience is by being flexible with your bookings. This could be by allowing guests to choose their own check-in and check-out times or providing detailed instructions on how to use everything on the property. Also, ensure they can easily contact you if they need any help during their stay. 

Easy access to transportation and parking

If you don’t have parking available with your property, that is already going to reduce the number of guests you receive drastically. You may not think it is important, as many of your business travelers may be far from home. However, some decide to drive their cars over if they are traveling within the same country, and many others decide to hire one. Therefore, if you don’t have a dedicated parking space with your property, you may want to consider hiring one elsewhere and providing it to your guests. 

For those guests who turn up without their cars, you also want to ensure that they have easy access to public transportation. This could be anything from trains to buses or even taxis if the distance isn’t too far. Of course, they have probably already chosen your property because it is close to any offices or meetings they need to get to, but they will want to find the most efficient way to get there. Ensure you highlight the most accessible transportation and provide clear instructions on how they can use them.

Value over budget prices

Many vacation rental landlords and managers want to attract business travelers to stay in their properties because they often don’t search for the cheapest option. Instead, they want to find somewhere that offers everything they’re looking for and that is closest to any offices or meeting areas they need to get to. That’s why you should focus on providing the most value to your guests over your competitors instead of focusing on who can offer the lowest price. 

Of course, we have already mentioned many of the extra things you can add for your guests, such as wellness options, fast WiFi, and a personalized workspace. But there are a ton of other things you can introduce into your property and listing to attract more business travelers. Some other things may be a dry-cleaning service, airport pick-up, or daily housekeeping to ensure your guests feel comfortable from start to finish. 

These extras will mean you have to spend a little extra, but that is okay because it will be reflected in the price. Sometimes you may even offer optional add-ons that the business traveler can pay for themselves. You will receive higher annual revenues, and your guests will feel happy enough that they will leave good reviews and recommend your rental to others. 

Final thoughts

Getting into the vacation rental market for business travelers isn’t easy, especially since it is so competitive. However, when you know the right things to include in your property, you are already putting yourself one step ahead of your competitors. Add a number of the suggestions we have provided to you, and you will no doubt attract more corporate travelers than before.