How to Market Your Vacation Rental

It is just about summer travel season, and you still have vacancies for your vacation rental. This looks to be a better year for renting your property, but it may not be a robust year in some areas. The cost of gas looks like it will take its annual hike to hit vacation travel budgets. That may be good for your business depending upon where your vacation property is located. Folks staying closer to home may be willing to try something new this year- renting a home for the week. Knowing how to market your vacation rental property will be a priority.

There are several different ways to go in changing your marketing strategy. If you have never used a web based vacation rental site, this may be the year to try one. There are several good sites out there, and while I am not endorsing any sites, here are two good ones to consider.

HomeAway has 185,000 vacation rentals listed and a world wide area to choose from. The cost for a full years listing is $329 or you might just want to do a monthly listing if you have a very seasonal property. The yearly fee includes 12 photos and a free VRBO listing. CyberRentals is now part of HomeAway too. The site is very easy to navigate, you don’t have to be tech savvy, just click on the state or country and you are on your way.

VRBO has 130,000 listings for vacation rentals world wide. A one year listing costs $279.00 and a partial listing of services includes 5 photos, an on line guest book and calendar, and 2 web links per listing. The graphics are easy to understand, and selecting a vacation property is easy. As a visitor to the site pulls up the specific area they want to stay, the properties with the most photos are at the top of the list.

You can buy more photos than the standard package if you wish. It really depends upon the market in which you are competing. If you have very little competition, more photos will probably not be needed. On the other hand, it may well be worth the money in a robust market. In addition to great pictures of the bedrooms and living areas, include pictures of the extras. For instance the ocean views, the playground, the pool, or beautiful landscaping. Show the selling points that made you buy the vacation house.

When you list your property, make sure you are honest with your descriptions. Always give the vacationer more than they expected when they arrive. Don’t however; short change your description. For instance, if you have a balcony or lani that offers a spectacular view of the sunset, play that up. If you’re marketing to couples say something like “enjoy a romantic dinner on the balcony watching the sunset.” Your future guests don’t need to know that your last romantic dinner there was a can of Vienna sausages and a handful of crackers washed down with a soda because you were leaving the next day and had already cleaned out the fridge. It could just as easily been a nicely grilled beef or tuna steak with a great glass of wine, candles and soft music playing.

Posted by Ray Province, M.A. on May 9th, 2010 and filed under Advertising & Networking, Online Marketing. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0. You can leave a response by filling following comment form or trackback to this entry from your site

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