Holiday Homes and Vacation Rentals – How to Get Valuable Bookings Through Advertising Online

by: Nick Hargreaves


So you have purchased your property and have prepared almost everything to make it a successful vacation rental – the only problem you are left with is getting the word out so prospective renters know you have a holiday home to offer! The world of marketing comes in to play here and this is all about helping people find what they are searching for – in this case your Vacation Home!

Planning and good research into your local area are two of the most important factors for homeowners wishing to successfully rent their properties. The more information you can provide potential renters on your locality the better – this really is an important part of marketing – both for yourself and the property. Putting yourself in the shoes of your potential guests gives you the best insight into what they may be looking for and where they might be looking. Be prepared for questions on anything from local pizza restaurants through historic attractions to medical facilities, doctors and childcare. The questions may not all come from the same person, but they will crop up at some point.

But how do prospective renters find out about your home? As a homeowner, you will probably need to spend some money in order to devise and implement a marketing plan. Budgeting is an important factor and it is important to set your annual spend relative to your expected returns.

Be aware of what you can realistically expect as a return. Join Internet forums and local area groups and find out from other owners about the amount of time they are able to fill their property in a year and the amount they charge. If the area is seasonal it is unlikely that you will fill the property for the entire year, at least at premium rates.

Advertising tends to be the backbone of a successful marketing campaign, at least in the early years. The Internet is generally viewed as a cost effective place to advertise. With millions of vacationers and holidaymakers going online every day, the Internet is a marketing tool that allows you to advertise to a worldwide audience from the comfort of your own home and at very affordable rates.

Rental listing sites can provide value for money because they do the work of exposing your property to thousands of vacation goers continually, so your property is seen in quantity over time, compared to printed adverts and other one off marketing strategies.

You can also create your own website. This may sound a bit difficult at first but investing in this kind of marketing could help boost your earnings. Setting up your own website can be quite expensive if you decide to get a big, glitzy site, but there are also many cheap ways of doing it now, to suit most budgets. Your new site will have to compete with thousands of others to attract visitors – so it simply may not be worth it for some on this basis alone. But whilst you most likely will not be able to compete with the main players in terms of search engine rankings, personal websites do add confidence and professionalism in the eyes of renters and you can put your own URL on any business cards or other adverts you may take out. Most of the main listing sites should allow a link from your listing to your own website too. It could take a lot of time and expertise to get your site noticed by the main search engines on its own merit and the great thing about rental listing sites is that they do this work for you – however if you have the time, money and inclination, your own website will always help and is a definite bonus in terms of marketing your property.

Advertising on one or more of the established rental listing sites is an easy way of getting a greater number of people to your advert and you don’t need any knowledge of web design to get set up. Look for the best deals in terms of price, traffic etc.

Know your limitations when spending money for your advertisements. Prices per year for the established rental websites tend to be around the ?150 – ?200 area. Advertising on more than one is quite popular but do your research. There has been a fair amount of consolidation in the market and one company owns a lot of the big sites. Look who owns the sites and decide accordingly – different sites may derive traffic from different places.

When you are planning your advertising you need to think about realistic time scales. Don’t wait until the last minute. Get your listings and advertising in place in advance of your first available date. This will give you a chance to generate interest and so bookings. Setting up an online advert in advance of the first available date is a sensible idea to maximize the interest you get.

Finally, remember that detail and first impressions matter. People are looking for the ideal vacation rental to spend their hard earned money and well earned vacation time. Make sure your photos show off the property at its best. Make sure that it is clean, fresh and properly decorated. Make sure the utilities are in order and that any extra comforts you can add such as DVD’s etc are in place. Remember that when marketing word of mouth and repeat business are the cheapest forms of filling your property. If you put the time and effort in now, then it will pay dividends in future years.