The Secret of Writing Great Vacation Rental Copy

It’s always easier to articulate what makes bad vacation rental copy. Spotting a description that will never secure a booking is simple. They stand out because of their mistakes, lack of connection and just the way they fail to make you interested in finding out more about the property. For these reason, we're going to give you some hints on how to write great vacation rental copy!

So, first of all, how do you spot great content amidst the just acceptable? The best copy and vacation rental descriptions are the words that put you in the property. You’re not interested in buying a week in a villa, you want to buy a tanned, relaxed happier version of yourself when you return. Great copy is the stuff that sells you the dream.

The first lesson is to sell the benefits, not the features. You’re never going to entice people with stories of square feet and distance to the nearest supermarket. We search through listings to distil this information. We’ve listed 4 easy steps to write copy that will hook in your guests and convert these visits to reservations:

1. Emotional Hook

This is where you sell the best version of the person they want to be. Use emotive words like Freedom and Escape. Create a line that is as intriguing as it is vague. Have you ever noticed that articles often lead with an element of surprise with their headlines. ‘You’ll never guess what happened here..’ They are appealing to your curiosity and counting on the fact that you might just think you’re exactly the sort of person that could guess.

Keep your hook vague and mysterious but sell the idea that the reader’s life is going to be enriched if they read on further. The emotional hook is to capture interest and build a desire. Before the reader sees your copy, they may never known that they really wanted to spend 11 days in your Parisian apartment. It is the job of copy to create the sense that this is the little piece that has been missing from their life recently.

2. Value, Benefits and Features

Once you have hooked your guests, you need to convince them. This is where you push the value and benefits. So, now rather than vague and mysterious you need to get descriptive and start using some verbs.

And then, you get down to details and specifics. This is the area for square feet and average summer rainfall stats. You’ve hooked the guests in, now you have to back up your words. This is where clarity and efficiency come into play.

Property Description Example

3. Call to action

This is the final piece of the puzzle. The most successful copy stimulate a call to action. Now the reader should be in a position where your copy has convinced them that booking is the only thing they need from this world. You just need to point them in the right direction. The spell of good copy will wear off quickly, if your guest has to search for a link or copy an email address into a new window, the jolt of the dull, monotone real world may just break it!

You need actionable content to direct them exactly where to click with a clear and direct call to action. This can be as simple as Book Now on a bright button at the bottom of the page. The only things you need to worry about are that it is clear, visible, understandable and says exactly what you want your guest to do.

Button Example

These four steps will help you create copy that converts any visitor to your site. It can be used for property descriptions, email marketing and social media. It is a great technique for creating writing that is designed to convince people!