How to Create a Vacation Rental Property Listing: What Not to Do

When it comes to vacation rental marketing, it is important for vacation rental managers to implement a variety of marketing techniques. Whether it be on a portal listing site or your own vacation rental website, creating a property listing page is a crucial process to any vacation rental marketing strategy. Although it is useful to know what to do, it is equally as important to understand what not to do when creating a property listing.

Making small (but by no means unimportant) mistakes in your property description can really have an effect on booking leads. Ensuring that your property listing pages are as best as they can be will not only reinforce credibility of your vacation rental brand but will work towards obtaining a fully booked availability calendar.

To help vacation rental managers get the best out of a property description, we have put together
5 easily avoidable mistakes:

An Unmemorable Property Name

What not to do: Vacation rental managers shouldn't underestimate the power of the naming a vacation rental property process. A long or unimaginative property name can get lost among the thousands of vacation rental listing pages on a portal, or make it difficult for your website to be found on Google.

What to do: The key is to come up with a name that truly represents the property and doesn't blend into the crowd. By doing so, it will increase your SEO efforts and therefore traffic to your property listing pages.

A Long Boring Description

What not to do: Generally, holiday goers will be looking at many different vacation rentals before making a choice; a long, boring property description will put potential guests off and could mean they look elsewhere. Yes it is important to give as much as information on the property as possible, but there are more creative ways to go about it than paragraph after paragraph of text.

What to do: There are many ways to deliver large amounts of information without bombarding the potential guest e.g. a table with a full list of amenities, a short property video tour or a personalized Google map of the property area.

Poor Images

What not to do: We cannot stress enough the importance of good quality images of your vacation rental. Badly photographed images will not only reflect negatively on bookings but your vacation rental brand credibility. Common mistakes like a reflection in a mirror or a ruffled bed sheet looks unprofessional and clumsy.

What to do: Since vacationers tend to skim through property listings very quickly, it is important that the property photos are visually appealing. Although it may cost to have a professional photographer come and capture your property in its best light, it is more than worth the impact it will have on your booking calendar.

Bad Spelling

What not to do: Bad spelling is so easily avoided yet so common. The ultimate no-no is making a spelling mistake in the property name e.g. 'Beautifull Cottage in South Engaland' shows lack of effort and makes it harder for guests to find.

What to do: Sometimes when creating content it can be difficult to see where a spelling mistake has been made, especially if you are the only person reviewing it. Why not get your friends or family to have a look at your property descriptions to help point out any spelling or grammatical mistakes.

Outdated Booking Calendar

What not to do: An outdated availability calendar can lead to disasterous and costly double bookings. Not only does it leave a negative impression on guests, that negativity will transfer to reviews on your vacation rental and discourage future bookers from making a booking at the property.

What to do: By implementing a booking calendar and reservation manager, it will take care of organizing reservations so that a booking is never missed. That way, the vacation rental manager and housekeeping/greeting staff will be well prepared for delivering a positive experience for the guests.

There we have it, 5 avoidable mistakes when creating a property description. Please feel free to add any other common mistakes 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