4 Vacation Rental Strategies to Increase Occupancy
Up Your Occupancy with these Vacation Rental Strategies
Occupancy rates are a topic that are often on vacation rental owner’s minds, and for good reason: when your vacation rental is forced to sit empty, you’re losing out on needed revenue to keep your business afloat. It can seem almost too overwhelming to take on the task of trying to raise your occupancy rate, but thankfully we have some effective strategies to share with you today to maximize your occupancy without spending an extra cent.
In this blog, we’ll dive into 4 proven strategies to help you maximize occupancy while balancing an excellent guest experience. Between offering lower rates, upgrading your guest experience, utilizing direct bookings, and implementing a multi-platform strategy, there are plenty of ways to ensure your rental is fully booked.
Strategy 1: Offer Lower Introductory Rates
Our first strategy typically works well for new properties, but even if you have a property that’s been on listing sites for some time, this method can give your occupancy rate a fast refresh. When establishing your rental on listing sites like Airbnb and Vrbo, guests will often be skeptical if you have too few reviews. To combat this and give your occupancy a quick boost, offer lower introductory rates, perhaps 5-10% cheaper than your closest competitors.
The thought behind this strategy is twofold: first, frugal travelers are willing to take a risk on your vacation rental if they know they’re getting a good deal, and second, those types of travelers will typically not have sky-high expectations, leading to better reviews. Positive reviews often accompany better occupancy rates, because many listing sites will give listings with high reviews a boost in their search rankings. Appearing first on a listing search is the ultimate goal, as this can truly help to lift your occupancy rate to higher levels.
Strategy 2: Level Up Your Guest Experience for Better Reviews
As we mentioned before, positive reviews often lead to better occupancy rates, and another strategy we recommend is to improve your guest experience to gain those good reviews.
A good guest experience starts and ends with excellent communication, so it’s vital that you respond to all inquiries in a timely fashion and address any guest concerns quickly and efficiently. In addition, it’s also essential to pay attention to guest feedback: if the same issue keeps popping up over and over again, for instance, it’s time to tackle it so it doesn’t happen again. Finally, keep expectations realistic for your guests and don’t over exaggerate about amenities–if your hot tub is often on the fritz, it might not be a good idea to include it in your listing.
Strategy 3: Utilize Direct Booking
It’s no secret that losing money on Airbnb and Vrbo platform fees can be painful for your bottom line. However, one way to add a fee-free revenue stream to your vacation rental strategy and maximize your occupancy at the same time is to utilize a direct booking site.
There are quite a few advantages to implementing a direct booking strategy for your vacation rental, but chief among them is the ability to offer your guests a better deal on a rental. Because you won’t have to include platform fees in your rate, you can also offer incredible last-minute sales to those on your email list.
Plus, it’s easier than ever to capture contact information when you’re using a direct booking site–guests will have to reserve using an email address, which gives you the ability to contact them later on for those last-minute openings. This ensures that your rental won’t have to stay empty, and guests will be thrilled at the deals that they are able to get through your own platform.
Strategy 4: Implement a Multi-Platform Strategy to Maximize Bookings
Our final tip for maximizing your occupancy is to not just rely on one booking platform for your reservations. There are tons of listing sites out there that could help to fill your calendar, but most people only list their vacation rental on one or two sites. Because it can be so difficult to keep your calendar updated when you list on multiple vacation rental distribution sites, most owners would rather keep things simple. Yet, this means you might be leaving money on the table.
Instead of just listing on one site, spread yourself as much as you can across these booking sites. Utilize the same listing description and photos to save time, and spend some time on each of these once a day to answer guest inquiries and concerns. You’ll see your calendar fill up quite a bit more, and you’ll have even more guests to add to your email list (like we mentioned above).
Allow LocalVR To Maximize Your Occupancy
A high occupancy rate is always the goal of a vacation rental, especially one with competitive rates. It might not be easy to maintain, but if you utilize the above strategies, you’ll have a leg up over the competition and you’ll be able to make even more revenue than before.
Not sure you have time to implement all of these strategies yourself? Contact LocalVR to be connected with local experts who can take it all off of your hands and provide you with turnkey vacation rental property management services.