If you are fortunate enough to own a holiday home or two in Spain, then you’ll know what a wonderful investment it can be. Not only do you get to enjoy the property yourself, but you also have the opportunity to rent it out and earn extra income. The reality though, is that a lot of people don’t make the most of this opportunity, and struggle to get a good occupancy.
In this article, we will explore some of the best strategies and techniques to boost the earning potential of your holiday rental so that you can make the most of your investment.
Rate of conversion.
This is the most important consideration and ties all the successive points together.
The rate of conversion is your percentage conversion rate for all the traffic that is sent to your offer, or in other words, the number of actual clients you generate from the traffic. This can be traffic that is sent to your website, Facebook page, Booking.com page, Airbnb, etc. whether through Google, social media sites, or other referrals.
Many businesses make the error of not improving their rate of conversion before spending thousands on marketing campaigns. By improving a website’s (or Facebook, Booking.com, Airbnb profile) appearance and content, you can improve your conversion by a multiple of factors. A business spending €1000 on marketing can easily save 80 or even 90% of that if they improve their conversion.
While you may not be spending money on marketing campaigns, the principle is still the same, as you are most likely spending your valuable time.
Here are the best tips to attract more traffic, and improve your rate of conversion.
Professional photography.
I often see photos of holiday homes that are quite dark, and generally uninspiring. You can see that the homes themselves have a lot of potential, but the photos don’t do the job of translating the experience that the guests can have in such a magical environment.
Spain is a beautiful, bright, and fun country, it’s important that the photos you choose to advertise your home do the best possible job of conveying the feelings that guests have when staying at your place.
It’s also a good idea to choose a theme for your photos that best represents the type of experience your guests can have. For example: If your home is a retreat, then choose relaxing calming photos and include beautiful photos of the surrounding nature, or if you are offering a family coastal holiday, then choose photos that represent the fun families can have with their children, etc.
Appeal to a wider audience.
Choose paint colours and interior decor that are light, bright, and neutral. There’s a reason why the Ibizan and Boho styles are so popular with foreigners in Spain. They do a fantastic job of conveying the holiday lifestyle, they are bright and welcoming and appeal to a broad range of tastes from many different cultures.
Approach decor with a minimalist frame of mind, and remove all clutter and any signs of your personal possessions. Think bright open spaces with minimal but functional and tasteful furniture and decor.
Try to steer away from dark and multi-pallet colours as they can polarize opinions.
Use online travel agencies like Booking.com and Airbnb as little as possible.
Holiday booking sites are useful, initially, however, they diminish your profits, take the competitiveness out of your pricing, and they control your booking calendar. Things can get complicated, especially with cancellations, and double bookings.
It’s best that you as the owner have complete control over your booking calendar.
It’s also important that you are able to first chat with potential guests so that you can have a better idea of whom the guest is, what their requirements are, and whether your property is a good match for them. In this way, you will be able to achieve higher review scores.
It also allows you to get important feedback from your guests and to maintain future contact with them. More about that below …
Holiday Rental Marketing
It’s not easy attracting free organic traffic to your website or Facebook page, however there are some strong strategies that you can use.
The best option is to have your own website and domain, however, there are plenty of free platforms you can use to create a website (Wix, WordPress, Blogspot, etc.) You can do a Google search to find the various free options.
Alternatively, you can also create a Facebook page to advertise your accommodation.
You can get a good amount of free traffic from Facebook groups dedicated to your area of Spain. You can do a Google search for “Facebook Group + AREA”, or search within Facebook groups itself. Usually, these are Buy Sell groups, connect groups, forums, marketplaces, etc.
If you have a website, it’s important to use keyword phrases that relate to your offer and the area. For example, Your website name could be “JANET’S HOLIDAY RENTAL + AREA”. And you could use the various derivations related to ‘holiday’ throughout your content and in your website Meta Tags: Holiday apartments, short-term lets, vacation rentals, etc., and also use names of the areas that are immediately next to yours.
If you need any help with this, then get in touch, as real estate marketing is our area of expertise.
Offer discounts for longer stays.
Incentivize longer stays as they require less of your time.
Of course, all of this is a lot easier when you have control of your booking calendar, website, and marketing.
Maintain future contact.
The easiest is to collect an email or even a WhatsApp. Through this, you are able to communicate with your previous guests, entice them by offering discounts or special services, and get them to stay at your holiday home again.
Now you are operating more like a true business rather than relying on booking sites which are the ones keeping all your guests’ information, communicating with them, and most likely sending them offers of your competitors.
Partner with local businesses.
Partner with local businesses such as restaurants, tour companies, activity groups, bike rentals, etc. Develop a quid pro quo relationship where you advertise their business, and they advertise yours.
Understand your potential guests.
Knowing why your guest is in the area and what they are doing is extremely helpful.
Many areas of Spain are important hobby destinations for cycling and golf or offer important winter training camps for professionals from football, athletics, triathlon, tennis, and others.
To greatly improve your conversion and the guest return rate, you could offer extra facilities, equipment, and spaces, that cater to these athletes and hobbyists.
Areas with Long rental periods.
If you are still in the initial stages of purchasing a holiday rental home then a good idea is to select an area that offers a long rental period, well outside the main holiday season, and the opportunity for higher occupancy rates.
See our article on the best places to Buy or Invest in Property on the Costa Blanca.
