Attracting Hosts And Guests To Your Vacation Rental Business

Wondering how to get more property owners to list your rental business and make your accommodations stand out to guests?

Well, you're not alone! With tonnes of similar businesses popping up to provide new and unique services to hosts and guests, it's tough to stand out in the rental industry. So we're here to help you with that.

In this blog, we'll share some strategies and tips that might help. From improving communication to offering special perks, we'll explore ways to make your rental business more appealing.

Although success isn't guaranteed overnight, these suggestions could be the key to growing your business and attracting more guests and property owners. Let's dive in and see how you can make your rental business thrive in today's competitive industry!

Tips To Attract Property Owners To Your Rental Businesses

If you want more property owners to list your rental business, you have to show them why picking your business is far better than leaving their place unused or choosing some other business.

First off, you need to let them know you're all about adding value to their property. Start by covering the basics: be a top-notch communicator, keep an excellent reputation, build an online rental business platform and offer fair prices.

When you focus on property owners, you can consider some of the common challenges that hosts from different rental businesses commonly face, such as dealing with loud guests, property damage, and miscommunication.

Then, you can come up with ways to effectively address these issues so that your hosts won't have to face the same challenges.

To address such issues, you can set up strict policies for guests, like guidelines regarding performing loud activities or collecting refundable interest-free security deposits from guests to prevent property damage.

By addressing overlooked issues like these, you show that you value your hosts' properties. This will make property owners choose you over other rental businesses.

But don't stop there! Show off your expertise and the perks of listing with your business. Maybe hook them up with professional photography for their place or assist with property maintenance. Or, amp up your online presence so you attract more guests.

Remember, it's all about building a solid base and throwing in these extra perks that help you stand out from the crowd. This can make property owners want to partner with you.

Once you have them, keep them satisfied by delivering on your commitments.
Ready for action?

Here are three things you can do to get those property owners to list with your business:

• Give them the lowdown on hospitality with training and support.
• Provide some nice extras to make their property shine.
• Start a referral programme to spread the word and grow your business.

1. Provide Training and Support in Hospitality for Property Owners

Think about giving property owners a helping hand. Lots of property owners are diving into the rental industry for the first time. Many of them might need a bit of guidance on how they can be better hosts. That's where you come in!

If you offer to provide training and support to property owners, they'll be very intrigued by your business. You can instruct them on things like communication tricks, hospitality hacks, and keeping guests pleased and satisfied.

Also, think about hosting workshops or webinars where property owners can learn the essentials about managing properties, get useful marketing tips, and stay in the loop with the latest rental trends.

By teaming up with property owners and helping them level up their hosting skills, you're not just attracting them to your business—you're becoming a helpful partner in their success.

This way, you build trust and create a solid bond with the property owners.

2. Offer Value-Added Services for Property Owners

If you want more property owners to notice you, try going the extra mile. Offer more than just basic listing and booking services, and get creative with complimentary offerings.

As we spoke of earlier, you can consider providing free professional photoshoots for their property and doing some virtual staging to make their property look fantastic. You can even offer personalised marketing tips to boost their listing.

Why does it matter? Well, things like great photos and personalised marketing tips can help property owners catch the eye of potential guests. Properties with awesome pictures are more likely to get booked compared to those with not-so-great ones.

So when you offer these extra services, you give property owners a better chance of getting booked, which makes more property owners want to partner with your business.

3. Starting a Host Referral Rewards Program

Set up a referral programme for property owners where they can earn rewards or discounts by referring other property owners to list with your business.

This means if they tell someone else about your rental service and that person lists their property with you, the referrer gets a bonus.

It's like saying, "Hey, if you like our service, tell your friends! And if they join us too, you'll get a little something extra."

This way, the property owners become your cheerleaders and spread the word about your rental business.

This type of promotion helps you constantly grow the property portfolio of your business through happy property owners.

Tips To Attract Guests To Your Rental Business

To draw more guests to your rental business, you need to focus on two things.

First, you have to nail the basics, like having a solid brand reputation to build trust among potential customers and having a user-friendly online platform that makes the booking process easy to enhance customer satisfaction.

The basics also involve having a wide range of property listings so that your guests have a large variety to choose from and also providing quality customer service to fix any hiccup in their experience with your business and providing fair prices.

Speaking of prices, don't forget about the conventional yet highly effective strategy of attracting consumers to a business: discounts and offers!
Discounts and offers are great for bringing in new consumers. Things like first-time discounts or referral rewards encourage people to give your business a try.

Also, when it comes to competition, guests are more likely to choose a business when they receive more value for their money in return. So you can offer these discounts to attract at least the initial customers.

Once they see how good your business is, they might keep coming back for more!

After you cover these basics, you can start focusing on adding a bit of spark to the services with your creative and personalised touches. This is mainly to set yourself apart from other rental businesses that provide similar services. You can do this in different ways on different scales.

For example, you can focus on and cater to a particular niche of guests (families, business travellers, etc.), or you can offer bundle packages (stay + sightseeing, golf rink, etc).

Providing services like these helps you attract quality guests while being consistent with quantity.

Here are some strategies that can help you attract more guests to your rental business:

• Having properties that come with personalised experiences
• Providing value-added services to your guests
• Promoting social responsibility and sustainability in your business

1. Encouraging Hosts to Provide Their Guests with a Personalised Experience

Think about what makes a guest want to choose a rental business over staying at a hotel in the first place. Why are more and more people favouring rentals over hotels these days?

To have unique and personal experiences during their travel. To experience the local culture on a personal level which they cannot achieve by staying at a hotel.

So by thinking along that line, you can come up with different ways to provide a personalized experience to your guests.

Usually, rental business owners do not have a direct hand in shaping their guests' experiences since the guests are accommodated by the property owners. However, as the rental business owner, you can still make sure the guest has a personalised experience in different ways.

How? By teaming up closely with property owners, setting clear policies, and providing certain services across all properties. It's all about working together to make sure every guest feels special, no matter where they stay.

Here are some things you can do to offer personalised experiences to your guests:

1. Communicate with them before they arrive to get things just right.
2. Tailor their stay based on why they're visiting.
3. Offer up personalised recommendations to make their trip unforgettable

Facilitating Pre-arrival Communication

Try to make the guest's stay special right from the start. Before the guests arrive, they could communicate with their hosts about their preferences, whether it's their dietary restrictions, any special occasions surrounding their stay, or any other specific requests they may have.

Knowing this information can help the host provide a personalised experience for the guest.

Example: Imagine a solo traveller staying at a rental in Seoul during the holidays, and they happen to celebrate their birthday during their stay.
The host finds out this information when they speak to the traveller, so on that day, the host greets the guest in the morning with a special breakfast of miyeok-gook (seaweed soup), which is a traditional Korean dish that the locals consume on their birthdays.

Simple gestures like this make it truly personal for the guests, as they also get to experience the local culture with a personal touch. This can make them feel like a part of the community.

Focusing on The Purpose of Stay

The host can also focus on the purpose of the trip to provide them with amenities that could aid them with their purpose, like speedy Wi-Fi or soundproofed work spaces for business travellers on a work trip.

Providing amenities like these will help the guest recognise that you value the purpose of their stay and your commitment to enhancing their overall experience.

Providing Personalised Recommendations

The host can also suggest or plan cool activities for the guests during their stay, specifically based on the interests of the guests.

For example, if a guest staying at a rental in Edinburgh happens to be a fan of the Harry Potter franchise, the host can suggest they visit the popular local sites that resemble the locations from the franchise, like Victoria Street, which resembles Diagon Alley, or Tom Riddle''s grave found in Greyfriars Kirkyard. Maybe they can even offer to give the guests a ride to the spots if they can.

With little touches like these, the host can make the guest's stay uniquely theirs and ensure that they have a great time.

2. Providing Value-Added Services

Besides giving guests a comfortable stay, the host can also offer extra services that can make your rental business stand out.

Think about pet owners; they'll love it if the host provides things like cosy beds for their pets, food bowls, and yummy treats. They can even plan fun things the guest can do with their pets in the area.

No one is forcing you to stop with just the standard services, so get creative! Work with property owners to come up with more ideas to make guests' stays unforgettable.

Maybe they could offer bike rentals, set up local tours, or help with dinner reservations. There are tonnes of ways to make the guest’s stay extra awesome.

By going above and beyond to think about what guests want, you'll make your rental stand out from the rest and create memories that keep guests coming back.

3. Promoting Social Responsibility and Sustainability

In addition to offering personalized experiences, there's another aspect that grabs the attention of people today: promoting sustainability and eco-friendliness.

As more people become aware of environmental issues, many are embracing the idea of being environmentally conscious. This is a chance for your business to make a positive impact while attracting environmentally conscious travellers.

Encourage property owners to take on green initiatives. This might involve installing solar panels, setting up rainwater harvesting systems, or using energy-efficient appliances.

These steps not only help reduce their environmental footprint but also help the owners save money in the long run.

When you promote sustainability, you're not just helping the environment; you're also appealing to eco-conscious consumers who seek out eco-friendly accommodations.

These people may support your business by booking your rentals for themselves or recommending them to friends and family. It's a win-win for everyone!

Concluding,

Congratulations on making it to the end of the blog! We hope that you now have some idea of what you can do to make your rental business more appealing to property owners and guests alike.

Now, after you implement the tactics we discussed in the blog, you will need a channel to popularise your unique initiatives and services among potential hosts and prospective guests.

This is where you move forward with marketing!

Start practising certain digital marketing strategies to promote your business so that your initiatives reach the eyes and ears of their intended audience.

While it might take some time to see big results in the rental industry, you need to keep in mind that creativity is your key to attracting more people to your business, so you must continuously keep thinking outside the box to stand out in the rental market.