Tips for Marketing Your Vacation Rental

In the last decade, vacation rental, or short-term lodging, has seen a significant surge. With the help of tech companies like Airbnb and VRBO, homeowners are not only offering up their rooms and homes for travelers, but they are also starting to invest in additional properties to rent them out. It practically pays for the house and the improvements, creating an attractive incentive for homeowners.

Airbnb growth statistics project more than 45 million users by 2020, even with the COVID-19 pandemic, showing continued growth in the market and interest in traveling and hosting alike.

With all the advances in the travel and information industries, which bring together tech and housing, it’s becoming essential to adapt to the marketplace to make sure that your property is getting the kind of reach you want. To do that, we’ve gathered some great vacation rental marketing tips to use.

Get on a Listing Channel

One of the first things you can do is to get your vacation rental on a listing site. Another early step in the entire process is to invest in property owner’s insurance to protect your rental. There are hundreds of listing websites that you can choose. They range from major conglomerates to smaller sites and online classified sections, such as Craigslist. For example, there are some niche marketplaces, such as Domio, which brings together open hotel rooms and apartments to rent.

Here are a few listing sites to consider:

• Airbnb
• HomeAway
• Vacasa
• com
• Wimdu
• FlipKey
• VRBO

There are many more to choose from that tailor to specific kinds of vacation rental homes, so it’s always important to list on channels that will have the kind of guests that are looking for your kind of property. Throughout the industry, the average vacation rental owner is featured on at least three of these sites. The more visibility you have, the more bookings you can get.

Create a Website and a Following

Another way to reach even more potential guests is to invest in your website and social media strategy. It’s still important to be featured on the sites listed above and drive bookings through them. But it’s still important to separate yourself as an independent business and personality within the saturated vacation rental market.

You can even add a booking engine on your website and adjust the prices to make sure they’re updated and change depending on the season or event. You should also use high-quality media, such as photos, videos, and tours of your property and the surrounding area to generate more interest.

Your site can also be supplemented by a social media presence. Utilizing the power of Instagram or Snapchat can draw in potential renters in ways other sites can’t. These app-based platforms open up the potential to be more interactive and creative and connect renters to you and your property more readily.

But be sure to keep your content high caliber. If your content initiatives don’t include high definition images, videos, and even stories, you may not see the return on your efforts for a while. So, the time spent coming up with your social media content can be for naught to a certain degree.

Also, something as simple as adding a Yelp list of your favorite places to go nearby can help show potential guests what some of the best things they can check out when renting your vacation rental. Adding these touches to your site and social media presence will surely garner the interests of new guests, and improve the odds of landing more bookings.

However you choose to pursue getting your vacation rental online, just know there are many different routes to take. It’s essential to start with a good base of quality images and listings on reputable sites, then experiment with social media strategy and marketing.

About Byrnes Agency

At Byrnes Agency, we offer insurance solutions that can be tailored to meet your specific needs. Whether you’re looking for personal policies or commercial coverage, we have the right coverage for you. To learn more about our products, contact us today at one of our two locations.

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