New Vacation Rental Marketing Guide: Expert Toolkit for Hosts

Vacation rental marketing refers to the business activities aimed at promoting short-term rental properties, which is crucial for attracting more guests and maximizing profits. In fact, vacation rental marketing has become just as important as preparing your properties!

The competition is continuously increasing, yet countless hosts lack confidence when it comes to creating marketing strategies for vacation rentals. In fact, 94% of hosts confess that they could be doing more to promote their properties. Therefore, the iGMS team has created a comprehensive guide dedicated just to vacation rental marketing. It will help you to increase your revenue simply by implementing the 4Ps strategy that concentrates on the product, pricing, promotion, and place.

Keen to make your vacation rental stand out and attract more eyes of Airbnb travelers? See how the 4Ps marketing mix can be implemented for your vacation rental.
 

To get you started, here’s a brief summary of this foolproof formula.

Product: Make Your Listing Stand Out

The first step for each Airbnb host who wants to enhance his/her vacation rental marketing strategy is to make sure that his/her Airbnb listings are complete and showcase nice-looking photos. Though, even when you already have listings which are completely set up, there is always room for improvement. With the help of the simple tips included in the guide, you can take your listing from mediocre to marvelous.

To help you arouse interest in your Airbnb listing right away and boost your ranking in the search results, you should make sure that each photo you provide in the listing showcases your vacation rental from the best perspective.

Your Airbnb photos should:

• Be of high quality and look professional.
• Highlight the key selling points your property has. A good idea is to include shots with special amenities that are important to your target guests.
• Showcase the personality of your property.
• Encourage users to view your property listing.

The next step is to polish your Airbnb title. Your title should:

• Emphasize the best features of your place.
• Use all the characters that are available. Every word that you include should motivate potential guests to browse your listing.
• Use one or two abbreviations or symbols (this will help you to get more bang for your character limit).

Take your time and check your Airbnb description. Does it sound enticing enough for your guests? Does it create a full picture of your property rental? Your property description should:

• Use the adjectives that convey real meaning and actually help potential guests to conjure up a desirable picture of your place.
• Be as specific as possible so that you cannot be accused of dishonesty.

And finally, remember you are not only promoting your property but also promoting yourself. Make sure to fill in your host profile so that guests know you are a real and trustworthy person. Your host profile should:

• Include a clear, high-quality professional profile photo and description of who you are.
• If you do not have any reviews yet, be sure to include a couple of references.

Pricing: Set the Property Pricing Right

One of the most important activities of vacation rental marketing is to research your competition. By using a dedicated tool or simply browsing other vacation rental websites, you will be able to gather valuable data about the average income and occupancy rate.

If you are only starting out, you will want to set your price lower than similar listings. Rest assured, you only have to undercut your competition till you have received your first five reviews. Once you have achieved this milestone, you are all set to start increasing your price gradually. That being said, you do not want to have an all-year fixed fee.

The solution is to implement dynamic pricing. In short, this means:

• You will have to double-check that your price is competitive.
• Change your price regularly so that it matches the demand.
• You will, for example, want to lower your price for weekdays and increase it over the weekend.

At the end of the day, you might not be able to change your listing’s location, but you can boost its appeal by offering something extra that your competition does not boast. You can, for instance, invest in a swimming pool which will empower you to increase your price.

In addition to getting to know your competition, another vacation rental marketing secret is also to gain insight into your target audience. This brings us to our next “P” of our vacation rental marketing guide…

Promotion: Reach Your Target Guests

Once you have checked your pricing, it is time to find the proper ways to reach your prospective guests. While setting the right pricing for your property, you might already have gained a better understanding of the needs and interests of your target audience. Equipped with this knowledge, you can turn to forums, social media platforms (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube) and perhaps even your very own personal website to reach your potential guests.

Though, it can be a bit overwhelming to know where you should start. Therefore, our vacation rental marketing guide also concentrates on finding the best platform and how to make the most of it.

Place: Find the Best Platform for Your Vacation Rental

Thanks to the wide selection of vacation rental websites available, there are several rental property marketing ideas that you can explore. Though, there is no conclusive answer as to which platform is the best as that is contingent on your needs.

The ideal solution would be to put a couple of platforms to the test to determine which ones will boost your occupancy rate the most. If this is not possible, the next best course of action will be to select the platform that will work the best for your listing.

Last Points to Ponder About Vacation Rental Marketing

With the right vacation rental marketing plan in place, you can take your listing to new heights. Not only will it help you to rank better in the vacation rental search results, but it will also help you to maximize your occupancy rate and boost your income. Our 2019-2020 Guide to Vacation Rental Marketing explains this 4Ps strategy in detail with the help of many practical tips and hacks.