Five Vacation Rental Management Resolutions to Adopt for the New Year

When you consider the 365 days of vacation rental management ahead, the idea of a new year may seem daunting. But it doesn’t have to be that way. Take the lessons you learned from a vacation rental season that might not have been quite up to par— with vacant days, upset guests and unscheduled maintenance—and go for the green in 2018. We’ll help you get there.

Just put the tools in your bag that these resolutions provide, and carry your vacation rental business to new heights.

1. Maximize exposure

If your vacation rentals were often vacant, we have good news! There is an easy solution to help you get more bookings.

The fix? Expand your reach with a channel manager. If you don’t have a channel manager, this is one of the easiest expenses to justify. It saves an immense amount of time and can increase your exposure exponentially. Kigo’s channel manager connects to more than 30 vacation rental listing portals that can put your property in front of millions of eyes all over the world. From special interest groups to whole countries, you’ll discover markets you ever knew existed.

2. Make a better first impression

Perhaps you already have a channel manager, or your listing is plastered on every building, street corner, website and social media platform out there. In that case, maybe it’s not your exposure that’s the issue. Maybe it’s your looks.  In that case, it’s time for a facelift. Naturally, we’re talking about your website’s, not your property manager’s.

If your last website redesign was more than a few years ago, that’s not going to cut it. Design and functionality change so quickly, and you need to make updates to stay relevant. Think about the commercials you saw last year. Would they sell as well this year? Of course not. Maybe it’s time to talk to the professionals. You may be a vacation rental pro, but being a digital expert requires more time than you probably have. At Kigo, we have vacation rental website templates built by professionals that can be customized to your business needs and functionalized with all of the bells and whistles you need.

3. Boost productivity

There's no doubt you're already working hard to make sure they stay filled for as many days as possible. You can’t add more time to the day, so that’s out. The only option is to work smarter. Why not get some help in the form of a vacation rental operations manager?

An operations manager allows you to organize your operations in a way that makes everyone more productive. Everyone is connected, allowing turns to happen automatically and maintenance issues to get handled.  Best of all, you can watch from above to monitor progress and communicate with your teams in real time.  All of it adds up to a lot of extra time saved.

4. Set the right rates

Maybe you’re doing everything right with marketing, with top search rankings and a flawless website, but you’re still not getting inquiries. Your ROI is down the tubes. What then?

We’ll, it’s likely the price is wrong. The best way to confirm that you’re getting the most from your investment is with vacation rental revenue management software. This tracks comprehensive data for your property and then connects to your booking system to change rates for you automatically.

5. Improve guest communications

Maybe you’re getting plenty of guests in through your doors but few return visitors.  Even with the best prices and the greatest advertising, that won’t last forever. Angry travelers leave angry reviews.

It’s time to roll up your sleeves and improve your guest experience.  While there are lots of ways to do this—adding extra services, amenities or a full- time concierge—sometimes it’s the little things that count. Why open up the lines of communication to your guests?

While providing them with a direct connection to your property manager might seem like opening the flood gates, they’ll be extremely grateful to have it and more comfortable in booking with you next time. A mobile guest app delivers that connection, along with local information and answers to basic questions, without allowing guest to have your personal cell number.

No matter how 2017 treated you, it’s time to step up to the challenge of 2018. Keep these resolutions and this year will be all smiles.

Do you have any resolutions for your vacation rental business? We’d love to hear them.