7 Tips for Booking More Guests for Your Personal Vacation Rental

Book More Guests for Your Personal Vacation Rental

January 27, 2021 8:30am Robyn Rivera

The COVID pandemic has changed the way we do a lot of things, including travel. Fewer people are traveling abroad or heading to luxurious beach resorts, and far more are choosing to take road trips or even have a staycation at home.

COVID has hurt the travel industry in a lot of ways, but with more mini-vacations and road trips, personal vacation rentals have a golden opportunity to increase bookings.

A survey about American travel during COVID found that 64% of Americans say they don’t feel safe flying on a commercial plane. Furthermore, 52% of respondents said that they opted for a road trip and a stay at a vacation home or a short-term rental instead of traveling abroad.

But even with increased opportunity, bookings don’t just happen on their own. You have to take the right steps to set your personal vacation rental up for success. Here’s how.

7 tips for booking more guests for your personal vacation rental

#1. Have a personal vacation rental website

Your personal vacation rental should be listed on several different places on the web, but it’s also important to have a home base for your rental online.

Having a website gives you more control over your personal vacation rental. With your own website, there’s no limit on the number of photos you include or what you say about your rental. You’ll also save a lot of money by accepting reservations on your website instead of just on listing sites.

Personal vacation rental listing sites will require you to pay a commission to their distribution partners. Plus, you won’t have any control over the terms of the transaction.

When you have your own website, it helps you to set your personal vacation rental apart from the many others out there. Best of all, it’s easy to build a personal vacation rental website yourself when you have the right website builder on your side.

Build a personal vacation rental website with a beautiful gallery where guests can check out the space, and make sure that it has a scheduling option, where guests can book their stay right from your website.

#2. Accept online bookings

Part of the reason why so many people turn to sites like Airbnb and Vrbo is that they make it so easy and convenient to book a stay. No one even has to pick up the phone! With the right functionality on your website, you can offer the same convenience on your own personal vacation rental website.

Marketing 360® Scheduling allows your guests to book your vacation rental right from your website by filling out a simple form that feeds directly into the CRM. You can add details about each room or space available, like dates available, pet policy, etc.

Online scheduling helps to increase bookings by giving your customers more choice in the matter. Whether they prefer to call or book a stay from your website, you’re allowing them to choose the best option for them.

#3. Use high-quality images

Guests might be looking to stay at your personal vacation home for many reasons. Maybe they’re going to a nearby family reunion, they’re on a business trip or they’re celebrating an anniversary. No matter the reason, though, most people want to know they have a nice place to stay.

Having professional, high-quality images is incredibly important for personal vacation rentals, as it’s the best way to show potential guests what you have to offer. You should never settle for low-quality images, or even worse, stock photography or no images at all.

Hire a photographer, even if they’re an amateur photographer with a good eye, to take professional shots of your space. And, use your professional images on your website, on social media, in your ads and beyond.

#4. Manage your reputation

There’s a lot of risk that goes into booking a short-term vacation rental. When a guest books their stay, there’s a risk that the space might not be clean or up to their standards. There’s a risk the space might not be safe or that it won’t have all of the amenities it claims to.

Because there’s risk involved with booking a stay at your personal vacation rental, it’s imperative that you work hard to establish trust. One of the best ways to do this is by actively managing your online reputation.

Make it a point to ask for feedback and reviews after a guest has stayed with you. And, when you do get reviews, respond to them, especially if they’re negative reviews. When you’re able to resolve complaints, many reviewers will be happy to adjust their rating.

Marketing 360 Reputation offers an all-in-one solution for managing and monitoring your reputation from across the web, including Google, Yelp, Facebook, Top Rated Local® and beyond.

#5. Build a presence on social media

Social media is a great place to get your personal vacation rental in front of more potential guests, as well as to stay in contact with your previous guests. Best of all, organic social media management is totally free!

You don’t need to spend a lot of money to build awareness of your personal vacation rental on social media. All it takes is your time, and with the right social media scheduling tool, like Marketing 360 Social, you’ll save a lot more time, too.

Not only is social media ideal for extending your organic reach, but it’s also extremely valuable for paid advertising. With Facebook, you can maximize your ROI by specifically targeting people who are already interested in booking a personal vacation rental like yours.

#6. Stay connected with past guests

Guests who have previously stayed with you are more likely to book another stay in the future (as long as you provided them with a decent experience) than someone who has found your personal vacation rental for the first time. And, it pays to stay connected with them.

When someone books a stay at your personal vacation rental, ask for them to opt-in to email or text messages. Email and text message marketing is automated, making it fast and easy, and it’s a great way to get guests back in the door.

Marketing 360 Nurture is an email and text message marketing app that allows you to create beautiful, professional emails and texts sent at just the right time.

#7. Monitor your performance

Even with the best tools, marketing your personal vacation rental takes time and money. And, inevitably, some digital marketing channels are going to work better and be more worth your efforts than others.

Smart marketing is about maximizing your ROI by doing more of what’s working for your personal vacation rental and less of what’s not. But, in order to do that, you need the data on your side.

Keeping a close eye on what’s working and what’s not for your personal vacation rental will help you make more informed decisions about how you should be spending your time and marketing budget.

Marketing 360 Intelligence offers easy-to-understand monitoring tools to help you keep a close eye on everything from the performance of your ads to website analytics.

Booking more guests for your personal vacation rental starts with having the right website. Build yours with Websites 360® today.