Vacation Rental Marketing Ideas

Posted by Michelle Harrington on Aug 17th, 2008

The changes in County policies governing and taxing vacation rentals and the low visitor numbers this summer are having a serious impact on many vacation rental owners. The following measures may help you keep a competitive edge and keep your vacation rental profitable in these lean economic times.

1) Offer Specials & Added Value

The Pacific Business News printed an article on June 27, 2008 called “Time for Hawaii to bust out the red-tag special”. It explains that people love Hawaii and want to come here, but most families can’t or don’t want to spend $4,000 in airfare to get here. The article suggests that if Hawaii as a whole doesn’t start marketing itself in a way that helps to offset the huge expense of getting here, we could see fewer travelers being able to afford a Hawaii vacation.

By promoting and offering a discount or added value online, you will have a better chance of increased occupancy. Hotels and resorts throughout the islands are offering special deals and discounts, which can work for vacation rentals too. You can also consider creating an added value that is unique to your rental and/or area that will be perceived as valuable and attractive to your potential customers. What about offering a vacation rental and car package for your guests? Or adding a special island activity (boat ride, kayak trip, zipline experience) with your weekly rate. Or offer a gift certificate for dinner for 2 at a well known restaurant. Working with other local vendors and tour operators who are also experiencing the slow down and are eager to make deals is a great way to support each others’ businesses for a win/win for everyone.

2) Photos Sell!

If you don’t have recent, high resolution, professional photography of your vacation rental, now is the perfect time to invest in some. Provide high quality photographs of the interior and exterior of your vacation rental, with plenty of photos highlighting special features and amenities. Clearly label/caption your photos for clarity sake. Also provide scenic area photos with appropriate descriptions. The Hawaii vacation rental market is very competitive, visitors have a “ton” of choices within the state and within your specific area. Most visitors will scan photos first and then read the details later, so make sure your vacation rentals’ first impression is a good one!

3) Online Booking Capability

Although it’s great to be able to screen and talk with potential vacationers on the phone, most travelers today want and expect to check availability online and book accommodations online. Filling out an email inquiry form on your website (and waiting for you to reply by email) is NOT consider booking online. This requires more time (and patience) than most travelers have – especially if they are booking a trip last minute. I have seen the data of many website who offer great photos, descriptions and selection of properties but when the visitors are presented with the email inquiry form on the “reservations” page, they “bail” and presumably go looking for another property that they can book online.

There are a variety of vacation rental booking engines/softwares that can be used for this purpose as well as free online availability calendars.

4) List your vacation rental with other websites & directories!

Creating a website and marketing it to your target audience online is crucial for vacation rental success, however building links TO your website is also very important. The following websites are some of the major players in the vacation rental industry and I suggest that all vacation rental owners promote their rentals through these websites:

• Hawaii Visitors Bureau - $500 investment, a listing on both websites (KauaiDiscovery.com & GoHawaii.com)
• VRBO.com – $175 Investment, regional listing, the more photos you add, the higher your rental is placed in the results.
• Craig’s List - FREE! Great source of regional listings, can update your ad/offering on a regular basis
• Kauai-Hawaii.com – the Kauai County website offers FREE vacation directory listings in a variety of categories, includes website link, description and photo.
• KauaiVacationResorts.com – $175 Investment, High-ranking source of Kauai vacation rentals.

There are a ton more vacation rental directories and listing websites but these have proven to be some of the more successful sites in terms of the traffic and bookings they generate for vacation rental owners.

5) Pay Per Click Advertising

If you are desperate to fill some space for a specific time frame or have a special offer you want to promote to a specific target audience, then I would recommend a pay per click campaign in Google. This is where you set a daily budget of what you want to spend, select the keywords you want your ads to show up for and create a targeted ad. The results are immediate and you can evaluate the effectiveness by reviewing your analytics data and making tweaks and adjustments to your campaigns along the way.

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Author | Michelle Harrington of Emagine Web Marketing
Michelle is a web development and internet marketing professional dedicated to helping small businesses in Hawaii achieve success online. Michelle provides free advice, tips and how to's on the Small Business Internet Marketing Blog.

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