New Age Marketing Perspectives for Airbnb Owners
Vacation rental owners market their short-term rentals with the purpose of generating more bookings. Traditional marketing activities such as designing a new logo, launching a website, or implementing an email campaign are all methods used by Airbnb hosts.
Industry expert Matt Landau believes that as effective as these marketing activities can be, they’re no longer enough to sustain a competitive vacation rental business. Before launching VRMB, Landau spent 10 years hosting and blogging about vacation homes. He’s currently one of the biggest names in the vacation rental industry.
In a recent interview with Lodgify, Landau shared that vacation rental marketing is evolving and requires hosts to implement more creative strategies. He also suggests that generating new leads through unique gestures is more cost-effective and can even be a more impactful strategy than traditional OTA marketing campaigns.
“We need to look at hospitality gestures as the new marketing”
For the first time ever, more travelers are choosing to stay in vacation rentals over hotels. The concept of a short-term rental being a viable lodging option is growing among previously skeptical populations. With this in mind, vacation rental hosts should recognize they have a huge opportunity to capture new demand.
Landau believes this new demand will be obtained through new age marketing tactics, consisting of personalized hospitality gestures. He urges Airbnb hosts to remember that anything generating a repeat booking is worth doing.
“There’s never been a better time to run a professional vacation rental business”
As consumer confidence in the short-term rental industry grows, more newbies are entering the business. This is something both veteran and amateur hosts need to keep in mind. More players on the field means more competition, making it more difficult for established hosts to rely solely on their industry expertise. New marketing tactics must be implemented and maintained in order to compete.
Since breaking into the vacation rental industry is such an alluring option at the moment, vacation rental owners should be open to implementing new tactics. The following strategies will help short-term rental businesses remain lean, attractive, and competitive.
Becoming a Limited Edition Rental
The first thing hosts should strive for is to position their space as a limited edition rental. This allows your STR to stand out among the rest for all the right reasons. In order to become a limited edition vacation rental, hosts should operate in at least a few of the following categories:
Family-owned and operated business
Locally based business
Specialized region or property type
Personalized gestures woven into the guest experience
Unlike large chains such as Marriott or Vacasa, short-term rental businesses aren’t focused on scaling (with the exception of acquiring more properties). This allows vacation rental owners to offer a more boutique experience to their guests and command top dollar for this service.
Maximizing the Guest Experience with Thoughtful Surprises
Regardless of niche, all vacation rental owners can add a special touch to their STRs by including a thoughtful gift into their guest stays.
A thoughtful surprise serves as a post-stay marketing technique because it leaves a lasting impression on your guests long after their vacation is complete. Some surprises you can include in your guest experiences are:
Welcome Basket: A combination of candy, chocolate, snacks or wine make for a beautiful addition to any stay. You can also write a handwritten note expressing your gratitude for your guest’s business, or include personalized recommendations based on what kind of stay it is (romantic getaway, girl’s weekend, family reunion, etc.).
Local Business Collaboration: Teaming up with a local coffee shop or tour company are excellent ways of making your stay particularly competitive. Seek to be the only rental in the area with that specific collaboration in place.
A Parting Gift: Similar to a welcome basket, a parting gift leaves guests with a physical representation of your thoughtfulness. But, a parting gift has the added benefit of sparking memories of your guests’ stay at some point in the future. This serves as a natural and effortless marketing tactic.
Luxury Linens: A subtle, yet powerful way of communicating attentiveness is by replacing your ordinary towels and bed linens with premium quality materials. Design-led furniture and unique decor can also transmit an aura of luxury to your guests, leaving them enamored with your space.
Hire MBX Homes for Full-Service Vacation Rental Management
Staying on top of new marketing strategies while trying to manage multiple guests across multiple rentals can be challenging, to say the least. Let us help you run your vacation rental business with ease! MBX Homes is a boutique rental management company, offering personalized services that are guaranteed to set your property apart from the competition. Call us today to get started!
