Splash into Summer With These Vacation Rental Amenities
Vacation Rental Amenities for Summer
Summer is about to begin and many vacation rental owners are looking forward to the busy season ahead. While you’re preparing your short-term rental for the summer season, it’s important to carefully consider how you can upgrade your guest experience to be more competitive, get more bookings, and land those coveted five-star reviews. One of the easiest ways to improve your short-term rental for guests is to invest a bit in adding more attractive amenities, and with summer comes the opportunity to improve your offerings and watch it pay off in real time.
In this blog, we’ll break down some of the most popular summer amenities that you should consider adding to your vacation rental.
Swimming Pool or Hot Tub
We’ve mentioned this type of amenity a few times before, but it’s worth repeating that installing a swimming pool or hot tub can be a game-changer for your short-term rental revenue. Although it might require a larger initial investment than some other, easier amenities, owners often find that a pool or hot tub space will increase their rental’s desirability, bookings, and overall earnings enough to offset any initial installation costs.
There’s also plenty of options out there that will fit into whatever budget you have set out, including above-ground pools and inflatable hot tubs, but even if you decide to go full-throttle and install a new swimming space to your home, you’ll benefit from not only increased bookings, but also by improving your home value.
Outdoor Entertainment Space
Who doesn’t love spending time outdoors when the air is warm and the flowers are in full bloom? That’s why, for this summer season, you should look into creating an outdoor space that your guests will love. It doesn’t have to be a large investment, either; if you already have outdoor furniture, now’s your opportunity to liven up and freshen up the space so it’s attractive to your guests. Or, if your backyard is bare bones, it might be time to purchase some durable outdoor furniture, like a table and chairs, so that your guests can make the most of your outdoor space for years to come.
Owners have a ton of other options for enhancing their outdoor space, such as adding a fire pit, water features or fountains, or even a few simple strings of fairy lights to make your backyard even more magical. Another way to make your outdoor space even more attractive is to place flagstones down to create a walkway that guests will love strolling through, which can also help to limit the wear and tear on your grass and keep your yard in better condition.
Outdoor Kitchen
A functional cooking space is one of the biggest reasons that people choose vacation rentals over traditional hotels and accommodations, and if you’re looking for a way to up the wow factor on your short-term rental, adding in the option of cooking or grilling outdoors for your guests will do the trick.
An outdoor kitchen or even just a grill will not only give guests even more reason to book with you, but it’ll also help your guests create wonderful summer memories. Plus, purchasing a grill is not as large of an initial investment as some other summer amenities, like installing A/C or a hot tub, and can be easily done in less than a day. If you’re on the hunt for simple ways to improve the short-term rental experience for guests, adding an outdoor cooking space is a must.
Air Conditioning
Unless your vacation rental is located deep in the mountains, chances are that it gets fairly warm during the sunny summer days. To help keep your guests comfortable and happy, invest in an air conditioning system for your vacation rental.
For smaller homes, a window unit might be enough to keep the temperature pleasant, but if you own a house with more than a few bedrooms, installing central air conditioning could help to level up your offering to guests. Installing a new central air conditioning system also gives you the opportunity to add a smart thermostat to your home. Smart features like this are becoming more and more popular with vacation rental guests, and they also make it a lot easier to manage your rental from afar.
Outdoor Games
Finally, another relatively-simple way to level up your short-term rental amenities is to purchase a few outdoor games and activities for your guests to enjoy. By investing in these games and activities, you can give your guests even more reason to spend some time outside by providing them with plenty of ways to do so. Here are a few game and activity ideas that require very little investment to give you some inspiration:
Ring toss
Horseshoes
Cornhole
Bocce ball
Lawn darts
Lawn bowling
Giant Jenga set
More Ways to Improve Your Short-Term Rental
Spending time outdoors when the weather is nice is one of life’s greatest pleasures, and giving your guests a good reason to go outside is as simple as adding a few attractive amenities to your rental. While some of these may require a large initial investment, the payoff is more than worth it in the long run, especially if the amenities you’re adding will up your home value in addition to helping you earn more from guest bookings.
While you’re on the hunt for more ways to improve your short-term rental, check out our guide to luxury amenities for homeowners. Or, if you’re interested in improving your social media skills to market your property like a pro, take a look at our blog on social media tips and tricks for short-term rental owners.