Hello Fellow Owners:
I had the good fortune of being able to do some traveling in Europe and Northern Africa this past summer. Of course, I used my own site, http://www.findvacationrentals.com, as my first choice when locating vacation rental properties to stay at on my trip. After spending a lot of time as a prospective renter, it gave me a really good perspective as to what type of experiences a renter is looking for, and what separates one vacation rental property from the next as I was deciding which properties to inquire about and which property to rent. I read an awful lot of owner adversitements from the perspective of the renter. As I was doing that, I took a lot of notes so I could pass on what I learned to my fellow owners about what separated one property from the next. It was kind of surprising. It wasn’t really price, as long as the price was in the right range. I actually spent a lot of time looking for the right experience, and those owners that sold the experience were the ones that got my inquiries.
So, yes, “experience” is a bit intangible, so referring to my notes, here are some thing in owner advertisements that I really responded to:
- “Stroll down to the near private beach with the cooler provided in the unit in hand, stop by the local wine merchant for some French Bordeaux and some nice cheeses, and enjoy a picnic as you watch the sun set over the English Channel”.
- “Kick back on our third floor balcony with a glass of wine and enjoy the westward evening views with the sun glinting off the ocean on one side, and the lake on the other.”
- “Enjoy a wonderful evening with the private patio doors open and the seabreeze blowing in while you select a romantic movie from the 40 DVD collection in the unit on the 40″ HD Television”
Any of these things is a little different than just listing that your property has a “40 LCD Television”, or a “third floor balcony” or a “private patio”. These statements create strong images about how a renter could enjoy your property and have an unforgettable travel experience versus something that is just average. It makes your rental a luxury instead of a commodity.
Some of these amenities require you to invest in your property, but the question is – what is that investment, really? I looked up 40″ LCD HDTVs at Sams Club or at Best Buy – they are down to around 500 to 600 bucks. One of our rentals has a 30 DVD collection purchased at a blow out sale at Target for 5 bucks each. Could they get stolen? Sure, but that’s why you have a security deposit. I just asked our cleaning service to count them after each rental, and if any came up missing, we subtracted that from the security deposit. No big deal.
It’s a tough economy out there right now across the board. Putting some more thought and time into your written advertisement WILL get you results and increase your bookings and utilization. Upgrading your amenities and tieing how those amenities could be used to create an unforgetable travel experience will also get you results. It will likely be the difference maker in that fraction of a second when a renter decides which property is going to get his/her inquiry.
Customer of http://www.findvacationrentals.com can update their properties online by logging in to Owner’s Corner.
Cheers,
Jon Ludwig
