Maximise your holiday let bookings with these 10 tips

10 essential holiday letting tips and advice in the best practices to maximise holiday property lettings.


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1. Maximise the properties key selling points
Every holiday home rental has its very own key selling points and these are most likely the very things that drew you to purchase the property in the first place
Open fires, wonderful views, easy access, idyllic locations and good local nightlife are all examples of good selling points. Use these to paint a picture for your guests of how their holiday at your property could be.

2. A picture speaks a thousand words

You have a great opportunity to really sell your holiday rentals by taking some great photos of the property.
Make sure that you use a good digital camera, take the pictures in good light and make sure that your holiday home looks at its best and use them to capture your prospective customer’s imaginations. When adding images to your advert ensure they are of the highest quality and use as many images that the advert will allow

3. Reply to your customers promptly

Replying promptly to emails and answer phone messages is essential. Take your time in getting back to your customers and you could very well lose out on a booking. The prospective customer is probably weary of letting a home directly and psychologically they will gain an initial assessment of the entire booking process from the initial response

4. Special offers

We all love a bargain. Why not offer your customers last minute offers or low season reduced bargain rates to try and fill those gaps in your availability calendar? You will be surprised at how many people respond to such as offer.

5. Maximise your audience

The more sites you can afford to add your property to the better. Different sites work better for different locations; however this regularly changes for each site. Before starting to market your property choose a budget, normally a percentage of your rental income, and then choose as many paid-for sites as possible within this budget. In addition add your site to as many free-listing sites as you can find the time for. Generally paid-for sites provide a far higher response than free sites as a large proportion of your fee is spent marketing the site and thus your property. The general format of the adverts are similar to each site so once you have advertised on one site the rest should be pretty quick.

6. Referrals are the cheapest form of advertising

If you make the whole experience of renting a property from you as hassle free as possible, it will go a long way to getting repeat business and referrals. Make sure you communicate with your customers all the time from their initial contact through to their return and provide important paperwork such as receipts promptly. One very important aspect of generating more rentals is to stay in touch with your previous guests, so keep a log of all the e-mail addresses and several time a year send a newsletter to your existing customers highlighting any offers and special events

During clients stay

7. Keep guest book for your visitors

Keep a guest book in your holiday property to encourage your guests to give you feedback as to how impressed they were with your property and their holiday in general. This is an excellent way to find out the things that you are doing correctly and also the things that you may need to improve on. You can then quote from this book on your advert to show prospective clients what your previous customers thought of your property

8. People notice the little things

It is amazing, but talk to someone who has just been on holiday and they are more than likely to comment on the chocolate on the pillow rather than the quality of the bedding itself!
How about some fresh flowers, welcome pack including milk, butter, bread, jam, coffee, tea or even a bottle of local wine to greet your guests on arrival? Its these first impressions that can make all the difference.

9. Local information leaflets and guides

If possible you should leave your contact information, local phone numbers such as police and hospital and some leaflets with information of local activities and events. Often owners have a folder which they arrange all this information into and is always looked through by customers

10. Entertainment

DVD´s, videos, books, video games and board games are just a few items that you can have in your holiday rental to ensure your guests enjoy their stay. Recommendations of excellent restaurants, bars and even clubs with directions would also be appreciated by your guests

To advertise your property to let - please visit www.worldrentalshop.com

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