Tips for Marketing & Building Your Vacation Rental Business 

Just like most marketplaces, the vacation rental marketplace is a competitive one. And, truth be told, it won’t get any less competitive. Fortunately, though, there are some tactics you can employ that can drive business your way.

In today’s blog, we’re going to look at 4 tips for marketing and building your vacation rental business. So, whether you are just getting started or have been renting homes for years, these tips should help you adapt to the current market.

Tip #1: List your property on top rental listing channels.

The trends show that more visibility leads to more bookings. As such, listing your property on top rental listing sites should help in this regard.

You can list your property in dozens, if not hundreds, of listing channels. These range from major bigwigs like HomeAway, or classifieds similar to the likes of Kijiji and Craigslist. Then there are the hyper-targeted marketplaces like SmokyMountains.com.  

If you have the time to do the listing yourself, great! However, if you don’t have the time or are simply inexperienced in this sought of stuff, then hiring a channel manager would be the best option.

The following are some examples of common listing sites: 

• com
• com
• com
• com
• HomeAway

Since there are many of these sites available, only choose those that cater to the kind of guests you’re looking for.

Tip #2:  Invest in a professionally designed website.

If you want to compete in today’s growing market, designing a professional property management website is absolutely necessary. Sure, done right, getting featured on some of the top listing channels will help your rental business get the exposure it needs.

However, a great website can help you differentiate yourself from the smorgasbord of other options out there.  

You have two options when it comes to owning a website. One, to hire a website designer to create it for you from scratch. If you have the budget, then this is the best route to take. Two, you can opt to use a website creator like Weebly, Wix, or Futurestay. This is a good option if you’re starting on a rather tight budget. 

Whichever you choose, though, make sure to make it as professional as possible. Needless to say, the more professional it looks, the higher you should expect the bookings and conversion rates to be.

That said, owning a website is only half the battle. To win the other half of the battle, you need to let potential guests know you have one. This is where online marketing comes in. For you to succeed here, you need effort, time, and money. This is because you may need to do some social media promotion, e-mail marketing, and search engine marketing.  

Done properly, the visibility your property will get from these strategies should help drive traffic to your website and, more importantly, drive bookings.

So, how exactly do you go about utilizing social media to market your vacation rental business?  

You can go about social media marketing in two ways: running ads and creating engaging content. Both have their own fair share of strengths and shortcomings, but it’s the balance you should be aiming for.

• Ad Creation: When starting out, you may need to do a lot of trial and error, as you may have difficulties finding the perfect demographic to target. Ideally, start out with a small budget and make adjustments depending on the results. 
• Content Creation: It may sound cliché, but content is king! If you churn out low-quality content or use poor images or videos, you may not be able to see any return on your investment.

If you have challenges with coming with high-quality and engaging content, then consider hiring a content manager.

Tip #3: Make your vacation rental business a brand.

Now that you’re giving your property the exposure it needs; the next step is to make your property a brand.

Fortunately, this doesn’t require much time investment from your part. Something as simple as adding a Yelp list of fun things to do nearby can do wonders in helping you drive potential guests to your property.

Tip #4: Consider hiring a property management company.

Do you have experience screening guests? Are you knowledgeable on the many federal, state and local laws governing the vacation rental industry? Do you have the time to respond to your guests’ maintenance requests?

These are just some of the questions you need to answer before deciding to manage your vacation rental property. If you have little to no experience in these, then consider hiring a professional property manager.

Shop around your local area for one that suits your individual circumstances and requirements. 

There you have it. 4 tips on how to market and build your vacation rental business. Executed properly, these tips should help your vacation rental property get maximum exposure, and consequently, more bookings.