If you market your vacation rental correctly you can get a steady flow of bookings, which means more money from your rental.
Here are some tips to market your short-term rental and entice people to choose your property.
Starts with the pictures
It is obvious that the pictures will say more than you can describe, but you can’t just take any picture, you have to include quality, lighting, angles, and more.
You can even hire a professional photographer to help you, but in case you want to do it yourself take these things into consideration.
- Remove or avoid photos with pets or any items related to pets (bowls, toys, etc.) since renters could be deterred thinking your property smells or even just allergy issues.
- It is important to take pictures of the exterior as well, not only interior, not just to familiarize your possible renters, but to complete the look and feel of your property.
- Remove any old pictures on your listing, make sure that all pictures are up to date. It’s never good for a customer to arrive and see things differently from the pictures, they will feel cheated.
- Make sure your rooms are well lit. Dark pictures will never be inviting and they won’t work to entice people to rent your place. So take advantage of natural lighting and if you can’t just try some artificial lights to make your place warmer.
- Take pictures of all the rooms and also of all the amenities that your property offers, so people get an idea of what to expect and start to plan accordingly.
Next step, your description
Now that you have some awesome photos of your place, the next natural step is to add some extra details to the description.
Your pictures can describe the view or feel of your place but your description can capture what the picture can’t. You can even get a bit poetic about it and describe the experience they can have with the breathtaking views you offer or the convenient stores or bars near your place.
You can highlight the best thing about your rental, is it convenient because it’s centric to everything? Is it calm and relaxing because of the view or because it’s far away from traffic? Is it quaint, modern, rustic?
Besides the poetic justice you want to write about your place, also remember to be descriptive about what your place offers, maybe in the pictures, to the untrained eye, they will just see 2 rooms, because they look similar, but in reality, you have 3, and you have a dishwasher as well that the picture doesn’t capture. Also detailed instructions of where you’re located or how to access or enter your property.
Competitive Rates
You don’t want to overprice or underprice your place, make sure you check other similar listings that offer what you offer and try to base your rate around those listings you find, that would be a general rate since low and high seasons should change your prices just to remain competitive.
You should be aware of what is happening in your city, maybe some sporting events or music festivals, some conferences, or any events that can drive the demand for rentals near your place.
