How To Create A Vacation Rental Marketing Plan

If you own a vacation rental property, one of the most critical aspects of the business is ensuring you don’t have long vacancy periods. An effective marketing strategy is one of the best ways to ensure your property gains exposure and is appealing to those looking for vacation accommodation. 

To execute a great marketing campaign, you must start by building a good vacation rental marketing plan. In this post, we’ll take you through how to start planning a good marketing campaign for your rental property and how property management software like Hospiria’s can help in carrying out these campaigns.

Why is vacation rental marketing important?

An effective vacation rental marketing campaign will help to ensure you optimize the number of bookings you get throughout the year. The more visible your property is on relevant platforms, the more likely it is you’ll attract guests who want to stay in your property. 

Good marketing campaigns also boost your credibility as a home and business owner. When you become more established in the vacation rental industry, your reputation will help market your property too. It will also help you to form business relationships with others in the vacation rental space, creating opportunities like referrals and advanced bookings. 

There is more to a good marketing campaign than simply creating adverts and social media posts to showcase your property. You also have to understand what makes your property special, and the audiences to which your property would most appeal. 

Selling points can include your property’s facilities, the property’s location, and nearby attractions. The more people know about your property and what makes it so great, the more likely they are to make a booking to stay. 

To get the most out of your vacation rental marketing campaign, try using some of these helpful tips and tricks as you get started.

The 9 best vacation rental marketing tips

By following these simple yet effective marketing tips, you’ll be able to build a marketing campaign for your vacation rental property. These tips will help your property be seen, particularly online, and help to generate bookings. 

Make your listing eye-catching

The first thing to do is to create good media that shows off your property in the best possible light. Make sure all the media you create for your property represents your vacation rental accurately, as false advertising will have detrimental effects on your business in the long term. 

Create a catchy title

The title of your rental listing is often the first piece of information people get about your vacation rental property. For this reason, it’s important to make it as eye-catching as possible. Try to create a title that describes your property in a way that sounds idyllic to prospective readers.

Include professional photography

Getting a professional photographer to take pictures of your property is a great way to make sure you capture all of the best selling points your property has to offer. Professionals will know how to adjust the lighting and perspectives to get the best possible shots of your vacation rental. 

It is also reassuring for people who come across your listing to see properties with professional photos. Taking the time to have a photoshoot done shows that you take your business seriously, giving you credibility. 
 

Write a good description

Your property’s description is another way to make your listing more appealing to holidaymakers. The property description is where you can use enticing language and showcase your property’s best amenities. Make sure you include the benefits of the property’s location and nearby attractions here. 

Start by advertising online

Using accommodation booking platforms is a great way to make your property visible in the vacation property rental space. Platforms like booking.com and Airbnb can be very useful, given their large user bases and advertising power. They are also easy for property owners to use and can help with administrative tasks associated with bookings including payment management and review management. 

Implement a review system

When you give people the opportunity to leave a review of your property, you’ll be able to showcase the positive experiences they’ve had in your vacation rental. Good reviews build your business’s reputation and credibility. The more reviews you have about people’s great experiences at your property, the more it will encourage others to make bookings in the future. 

Build your own business website

Having your property listed on booking sites is great for exposure, but it can cost you when people make bookings through these platforms. One of the best ways to make sure you get the most out of your vacation rental property is to have your own website and booking system that people can use to make payments. A professional-looking site for your property also makes your property more appealing to guests. 

Use SEO 

Search engine optimization is also a great technique you can use to increase your property’s online visibility. Start by researching the keywords people typically use to search for properties similar to yours. Incorporating SEO strategies will help your website and property rank higher on the likes of Google, Yahoo, and Bing, therefore driving organic traffic to your property listing. 

Create discounts and offers for your property

When there are discounts or special offers available to people who book your property, you must advertise them. Many property owners offer their rentals at reduced rates during off-peak seasons to encourage people to make bookings. Many holidaymakers also wait until there are discounted offers available during quieter periods before making bookings. You don’t need to discount your rates too drastically. Even a slight discount is appealing to guests.

Utilize Social media

Social media is a great way to boost your property’s online presence. It not only creates additional space for you to advertise your property but also provides your possible customers with additional means of contacting you for inquiries surrounding your vacation rental. 

You can also advertise any special offers and discounts through social media, and post about events happening in the area or new facilities at your vacation rental property.

Use property management software to free up time for your marketing efforts

Many people make the mistake of thinking that running a vacation rental property is an easy way to make a quick buck. However, well-run properties take time and effort to maintain and should be run more like a business. For this reason, there can be a lot of tedious administrative tasks associated with running a vacation rental home. Luckily, with property management tools like Hospira’s, there is plenty of opportunity to automate these tasks which will free up more of your time when implementing your vacation rental marketing campaign.

Pre-check-in forms

One of the best things you can do as a vacation rental property manager is to make your guests feel as welcome as possible. Having a pre-check-in form available as part of the booking process will allow you to make additional arrangements for your guests. A little extra effort goes a long way in the vacation rental world, and understanding your guest’s needs is an incredibly useful tool for ensuring they have a great experience at your property. When guests feel as though their wishes have been considered, it will increase the chances of them recommending your property to others and making repeat bookings.

Automating email marketing

When you automate your marketing communications surrounding your property, it saves you from having to contact individuals to make them aware of any news about your property. With good property management software, people will be able to opt-in to receive communications from you. Automating this process means your contact list can be generated, leaving you to simply create email content and hit send. 

When it comes to email marketing you must keep your contact base up to date, especially if people decide to opt out of email comms. With an automated process, property management software can help you with this too. 

Automate administrative tasks

Managing the property’s finances can be very time-consuming especially when it comes to invoicing guests and collecting payments. Using property management software is a great way to automate the invoicing process. 

Hospiria’s user-friendly interface allows you to track bookings across all the platforms where your property is listed and collect payment accordingly. When you manage a property you will also be in charge of organizing cleaning and maintenance services and paying for these too. Having a space where you can automate outgoing payments too will also give you more time to spend on marketing your property.

Scheduling automation

Managing your property’s availability when it’s listed on more than one platform can be challenging, and increases the risk of making double bookings. When you use property management software to automate bookings and schedules for cleaning, it frees up a lot of your time. It also helps property owners to be better organized which is particularly important for busy holiday seasons. Good organization drives professionalism within the vacation rental space which in turn builds a good reputation with guests and others in the business.