CHAPTER 7
See how you can bring in more bookings and property management clients
But, while encouraging previous guests to book directly is relatively straightforward—by building on a guest relationship you’ve already established, enticing new customers is a whole other challenge.
Yet, a thriving short-term rental business needs new guests, and getting them to book direct is the most cost-effective way of capturing them.
Marketing to guests, though, is only half the battle. If you want to expand your portfolio and recession-proof your business, you need to have the right strategies in place to entice new vacation rental owners onto your books, too.
That’s why we’re showing you how to attract new direct bookings by looking at three key tactics:
This also covers marketing to property owners, including how to:
*Research by Rentals United and Transparent, 2022.
Read other chapters in The Reservation Recession.
Engage guests in their stay before it even begins, create a digital check-in your guests will love, and significantly reduce time-consuming manual guest communication.
Use Operto Guest for digital guidebooks, online check-in, and streamlined two-way chat.
All with a branded mobile-first web app.
We recommend these tactics because they’re long-term, sustainable, and affordable ways to appeal to new audiences, build a trusted brand, and consistently drive new direct guest bookings.
Here’s how.
Applying local SEO strategies to your website content and setup helps it become more visible to your target audience when they start researching their next vacation (a 2021 study of 13,000 direct bookings found that 62% of vacation rental stays were booked after finding the property on Google).
The process of making sure your website is found easily includes registering for a Google Business Profile, which boosts your website’s visibility, and enables people to leave public reviews (see why that’s important below).
Try the following tips to maximize local SEO for increased visibility and trust in seconds.
Optimizing your website with the right keywords is one of the most powerful ways to attract new customers and take your share of that 62% of bookings that come via Google.
Keywords can appear all over your website, but tips to boost them include:
Placing your ideal keywords in your business or website name. For example, the top two results for this search term, “sante fe vacation rentals” have Santa Fe and “vacation rentals” in their business name, not only on their website page. Another way to do this would be to put the keyword in your page titles, such as “Stays by Lucy | Santa Fe Vacation Rentals”.
Updating a regular blog. Posting content consistently on your blog, and focusing on a single keyword per page, slowly but surely enables Google to see you as an expert, which can also impact where you appear in the search engine results pages (SERPs).
Identifying the best keywords for your business can be a time-consuming process, but you can quickly start your research by using the Google autocomplete feature (see what comes up when you search), or search for an obvious keyword and see what “related terms” Google suggests. Google even has its own keyword planner, which is a great place to start.
One 2022 US study found that Google Reviews are still among the most-seen reviews among customers, that customers are still highly engaged with reviews, and that customers don’t trust companies with ratings lower than four stars (and sometimes completely filter out all companies with fewer than four stars).
So responding to any new reviews or comments within a short period of time can help position you as friendly, attentive hosts, and gives you the chance to highlight the best reviews.
This instills yet more trust in potential guests, which brings more clicks and bookings.
Don’t just rely on ideal guests seeing Google reviews during their early research. Ensure that these markers of success are highly-visible on your own pages too.
Either include screenshots of your best reviews, or insert a widget onto your website that displays your most recent reviews as and when they come in, ensuring that your expertise and success are always front and center.
Encouraging guests to leave Google reviews that highlight your most searched-for or niche-centric features (such as fast WiFi or amazing coffee machine) is an even better way to stand out to your ideal guest.
Building local citations on Google can help you to boost direct bookings even further.
“Local citations” simply means any online mention of your business’s name, address, and phone number.
Increasing your NAP (name, address, phone number) mentions helps to push up your ranking locally, because it helps prove that your business is real, legitimate, and trustworthy.
It also means that when people use a search term plus a location—such as “vacation rentals nashville tennessee”—your business is more likely to appear higher in results.
Your NAP can show up in a variety of places, including your Google Business Profile, Apple Maps, Yelp, Facebook, or on review websites, blog posts, or local directories.
You can either submit your business to be listed yourself (or sites such as local directories or business networks), or use data aggregator services such as Data Axle.
It’s digital marketing 101: If you try to appeal to everyone, you’ll appeal to no one—and vacation rentals are no exception.
Getting super-clear on your ideal guest and ensuring that your rental homes offer a unique experience tailored to their needs increases the chance that your listings will stand out from the crowd, boost direct bookings, and build loyal fans.
Your listing should appeal to a niche target audience (even if you believe it could be a great option for a range of guests). So be clear on your ideal guest and ensure your listings speak directly to them.
This reassures them that booking directly through you will ultimately deliver what they’re looking for.
For example:
Offering “unique” experiences is a major buzzword in the vacation rental industry right now, especially after Airbnb rolled out its 2022 Summer Release with 55 new categories designed to help guests “discover millions of unique vacation homes you never knew existed”.
You don’t have to reinvent the wheel to be unique.
Instead, see this as a chance to make your rental even more special for your ideal guests, by investing in amenities geared toward creating memorable vacation experiences that will delight.
If your property has any particularly unusual or special touches, such as conversation-starting design, or a fantastic sea view—make sure you shout about it on your listings and vacation rental website.
When used effectively, social media can pay dividends for your vacation rental business and help ensure consistent bookings and loyal fans.
Direct bookings are unlikely to come from social media alone (this same study found that only 2% of bookings came from browsing only).
However, using social media marketing is a powerful way to build your brand, create an online presence, generate interest, and set your brand apart so guests are more likely to book when they’re ready.
Where does your ideal guest hang out? Go there and make content just for them.
For example, take a look at the main demographics:
Depending on the platform, you may find different ways to connect with your ideal guest.
For example, Facebook has a huge number of groups and pages set up for very specific purposes or audiences, while Reddit has “subreddits”, which are forums where people ask questions and share information on very specific topics.
By joining these groups and communities you not only get the chance to talk about your services and experience, but you also “spend time” with your ideal guest or competitors to learn about their experiences, expertise, and preferences.
The right platform for you may be influenced by a wide range of factors, such as who the decision-maker is or what the major concerns are for your ideal guest (the parent, the kids’ holiday, the digital nomad, the romantic partner).
Choose 1-3 platforms and focus on making content that works best for that type. This will help you get in front of the right people, build a trusted “home” for your brand online, and secure direct bookings.
Collaborating with other local business accounts can be a masterstroke in putting your rentals in front of new audiences, capitalizing on the existing rapport and loyalty they have already built.
Depending on your ideal guest, you might seek out collaborations with local bakeries, child-friendly attractions, or artisan producers who make the locally-sourced dish soap you have in all of your rentals.
“Collaborating” online can mean everything from taking over their page for a day, doing a Q&A or videos together, offering a tour or behind-the-scenes look, or giving out a joint discount code or partnership for guests (and shouting about it online!).
Pro tip: Rather than choosing direct competitors, focus on businesses that complement yours and have similar ideal guests or audiences. For example, you might team up with a local restaurant to offer 2-for-1 romantic dinner nights for honeymooning couples, or with nearby coffee shops to offer just-roasted beans for digital-nomad, caffeine-loving guests. |
As the marketing saying goes: People buy from people (not businesses). Showing the behind-the-scenes of your rentals helps build rapport and interest. People love to see what goes on behind the “perfect façade” or curated feed.
Sure, stay professional, but using Instagram Reels and TikTok videos to demonstrate your methods, struggles, expertise, polarizing beliefs—not forgetting your personality and humor—can build a real community of ideal guests who love you and what you do, maximizing your appeal and bookings.
Your vacation rental marketing efforts aren’t all about attracting guests to your property—as a property manager, you should also be focused on marketing to property homeowners whose rentals could become part of your portfolio.
Attracting new owners requires showing them exactly how you plan to secure bookings and offer them the maximum income and return on investment.
Owners want to be reassured that handing you the keys to their property is safe, and that your expertise will bring in much more income (with much less stress) than would be possible by working alone.
This means showing them your path to success, and how you plan to attract direct bookings (including everything already mentioned on this list) and how each will increase their ROI.
Boosting direct bookings also means more revenue for them (and you), because it sidesteps OTA fees (on listing sites like Airbnb or Vrbo) and makes you less dependent on any algorithm or platform changes.
You also need to show them proof of your previous or existing success, such as occupancy rates, profit margins, guest reviews, and other homeowner testimonials.
Owners want to know your property management methods ensure high returns and satisfied guests. That means using technology to streamline the guest experience and simplify your workload, so you can focus on offering successful vacations, achieving great reviews, and maximizing income.
Running a successful, modern and forward-thinking vacation rental business today demands using tech to ensure efficiency and scalability (without piling on the workload).
A successful property management tech stack includes the following tools and features:
Hyper-connected systems reduce manual admin, time, and stress; and offer an easier, more consistent and personalized stay for guests.
Tools such as Operto Guest and Operto Teams provide these features within a single platform.
Operto also offers integrations with:
More tech solutions mean you spend less time on the day-to-day of STR management, and more time ensuring your rentals work as efficiently as possible, while offering guests a brilliant experience they can’t stop talking about.
Save time and stress on logistics for your vacation rental business.
Coordinate team members, turnarounds, and maintenance with Operto Teams: No more missed cleans or time-consuming manual management.
Recession-proofing your vacation rental marketing business means increasing your direct bookings.
And you can boost your number of direct bookings with local SEO for your website and by highlighting Google reviews.
Also, differentiating your listings and services by targeting specific guest profiles, offering unique experiences, and using social media, are other ways to build a solid brand that appeals to guests and owners.
Meanwhile, creating a clear business plan, providing concrete proof of your results, and building a tech stack that’s focused on operational efficiency and a better guest experience, demonstrates your level of professionalism and ability to deliver on expectations.
Connect all your vacation rental tech via a single dashboard.
Streamline your rentals and enable sustainable growth and amazing guest experiences with Operto.
You can get your vacation rental to rank on Google by using a combination of strategies including leveraging local SEO, being responsive to your Google reviews, and building local citations.
Vacation rental advertising is available in a wide variety of spaces, including on your own website (optimized for keywords), on Google Reviews, on any site that lists your name, address, and phone number (NAP), and on social media platforms like Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, or Pinterest.
Get more bookings for a vacation rental by leveraging local SEO to boost visibility on Google, by differentiating your listings so they stand out on online travel agencies, and by targeting a specific audience.