How to Boost Vacation Rental Bookings During the Festive Season

As vacation rental managers far and wide will know, achieving a fully booked calendar during low season can be quite the challenge. And since the vacation rental industry is on the rise, it makes it even more important for holiday home managers to pull out all the stops to stand out from competition, especially during the winter months!

Advertising your property as a part of a niche market on your vacation rental website is an excellent way of increasing bookings during the low season; you can do this by repackaging your property to fit in with the theme of upcoming holidays or seasons. Since Christmas is fast approaching, we thought we'd get into the festive spirit and share with vacation rental managers some ideas on how to adapt a property accordingly.

If you're thinking of joining in on the yuletide festivities and marketing your property into a niche category, here are some ideas to help boost vacation rental bookings during the festive season:

Winter-fy Your Property Description

Updating your property description and title to include specific keywords will increase chances of your vacation rental being found in a search result. Say a vacationer is looking for a log cabin for Christmas, including the word 'Christmas' will make it easier for your property to found.

Photos speak a thousands words and can be the make or break of a potential guest making a booking. Putting up a Christmas tree or some decorations in your vacation home and setting a image of it as your default photo, will generate interest for those looking for a Christmas getaway. We're not saying transform the whole property, but adding small touches will appeal to families with children, and help the property to stand out from competition.

Add a Sparkle to Your Social Media

If you've made special effort to create a festive scene, make sure you share the image across all social networks to engage with the Christmas conversation. Instagram is a great tool for adding special effects to make the scene look even more wintery, or if you're feeling really creative, make a short video to engage with followers.

And, if you're offering special deals, let your followers know about them! You could do this by updating your cover photo on Facebook to fit in with the festive season including the deal or sending out Tweets. Remember to use hash tags to categorize your posts to reach a wider audience, that will link back to your website.

Spread the Joy with an Email Campaign

Offering special deals is a great marketing technique for filling last minute bookings. Why not send an email out promoting your winter deals? Email marketing is an excellent technique for engaging with any previous guests or lost leads; Mailchimp is a useful tool that can help you create and track email campaigns.

Give Your Guests a Gift

Making a welcome hamper including all necessary information for a guest's stay or any discount coupons for local businesses, is an excellent way to set a good first impression. Update the welcome hamper so it fits in with Christmas! Do this by including any leaflets to local events during the festive season, update any previous offers with local businesses according to their Christmas deals and since it is the period of goodwill, give your guests a small gift! Not only will this impress your guests, it will increase chances of your property being referred to friends and family.

We hope we have given some ideas on how to boost booking chances during the festive season, do share with us and vacation rental managers alike any more in the comment box below:

If you are interested in operating your own vacation rental website complete with a beautiful reservation system, we will be more than happy to help. You can request a demo from our website or call us directly: +34 512 702 104

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