As a property manager, your primary goal is to help the company generate and maintain a good revenue stream. How you take care of the holiday rentals – and real estate assets in general – can make a big difference in recruiting and retaining owners and tenants. The task sounds pretty straightforward. In many ways, it is a simple task. But in other aspects, like retaining owners, difficulties and challenges arise.
Below are some practical tips to aid you in recruiting and retaining more owners for your vacation rental portfolio.
Use various vacation rental marketing strategies.
Develop a solid marketing plan that uses various strategies and all platforms – old and new. By generating a workable and strong channel marketing campaign, you can spread brand awareness. Utilize print ads and direct mail to reach out to potential leads as it’s likely they don’t receive as much mail as before.
Maximizing the use of the internet is one of the best ways to achieve a successful vacation rental marketing process. Make sure to have an updated website, particularly the “About Us” page. Your social media channels should also be active. Generate a monthly newsletter. If you have the means to do so, pay for online ads.
It’s likewise important to choose strategic associates in your industry that can help you make smart decisions on how to boost your recruitment process. Cross-promote with industry influencers. Train your sales team to be more competent and proactive. Activating various marketing strategies can immensely help in finding and keeping reliable property owners and renters.
Find your niche.
When developing a vacation rental marketing plan, it’s important that you know who your target market is. You can have the best advertising strategy, but if you advertise to the wrong crowd, your plan will be ineffective. Understand your market, first and foremost. Look for the online platforms where they normally “hang out.” Find out where you can reach them. Above all, learn how far you’re able to bend your marketing plan and budget to attract your target market.
To do all this, you must find your niche and manipulate it to your advantage. Present products, services and rewards that are unique to your vacation home rentals and your leads. Put yourself in your customer’s shoes. Ask yourself why you, as a customer, need to go with this company and not its competition. Understanding your target market intimately helps significantly in developing a solid strategy to recruit and retain them as property owners.
Maintain a responsive communication.
Ease of communication is vital before, during, and after recruitment. It’s important that potential vacation rental tenants and property owners feel that they can speak with you whenever they need to. This is particularly important during the initial dealings. Communication is key to keep the renters content all through their tenancy. If a problem comes up, be open, available, and fast to fix it. Open lines of communication will reassure property renters and owners that their interests are your main priority.
Expand your portfolio.
Don’t be complacent. You need to constantly think of ways to expand what you can offer to your clients. Increase your services. Offer referral rewards. Providing enticements here and there, even small ones can make you stand out from your competition.
By growing your business, you also grow your portfolio. Finding new ways to improve and expand your work shows that you’re a progressive company. This goes a long way in cementing the company’s reputation, especially to the Millennials. You change with time, and should not get caught up in old ways. When you can offer newer and better options, you make it happen.
Manage improvements and changes proactively.
There are lots of ways to improve and change a property for the better. Stay updated with technology. Unless your property is specifically designed for renters who want to unplug from the online world, make sure to have a strong Wi-Fi connection.
Practice diligent housekeeping rules. Cleanliness can make or break your company. Don’t wait for the renters to complain or write a bad review about your place. If you find something that needs to be repaired, fix it. A simple bathroom renovation can have a big positive impact on vacation rental bookings. When your holiday cottages are well taken care of, the more likely you’ll increase your ROI.
Being transparent and equitable with the renters and owners will make them true to their leasing agreement. Caring for the holiday cottages, marketing them properly, and providing a strong ROI will keep property owners in your company’s rental program for a long, long time.
