WHY YOU NEED YOUR OWN VACATION RENTAL WEBSITE AND THE 4 THINGS YOU NEED TO DO TODAY TO LAUNCH FAST Why do you need your own website? Vacation rental owners like you who decide to have their own website usually want to: Decrease their dependency on listing sites such as HomeAway, Airbnb and Flipkey Present their property in a better light, create some kind of branding and make the rental more desirable to guests Differentiate their vacation rental from those of their competitors by showcasing its uniqueness and telling more about what the owners can do for their guests 1
Get more money from direct bookings, by making it easy for people to find them on Google (For example, if a visitor has seen their property on HomeAway and wants to skip the booking fee) Grow their revenues by presenting packages, concierge services and all kinds of things that can be sold to rental guests along the way Create repeat business by capturing all the key data from guests, like their email address (More and more listing sites, such as Airbnb, are hiding guests email addresses) Use their vacation rental website as a hub for social media (e.g. by linking back to their own site from their Facebook page) and for local advertising (e.g. by putting their website address of their rental at the local Tourist Board) Publish special deals only available through their website, in order to give a reason for visitors to book directly Vacation rental owners have a lot of reasons for launching their own website, but it is usually about getting more freedom and more revenues. #1: Your website is not about your rental, but about your ideal guest The goal of your website is to generate bookings and make you money. To get your site visitors to enquire, you need to seduce them. When you court someone, remember that you should not be talking about you, but about the person you want to seduce. It s all about her / him. Similarly, your website is not so much about you or even about your property. It must be about the type of guest that you want to attract. Why? Because once you are clear about who you are targeting, you will match to their profile the contents of your site, the photos you are going to show, the activities you are going to mention or even the way you are going to introduce yourself in the About us page. For instance, what matters to a mother of 3 young children is not the same as what does to a newlywed. This mother wants security and peace of mind, so mentioning a pool fence and showing a photo of it will be important. To newlyweds, a pool fence is just an eyesore around an otherwise lovely pool; yet, a list of romantic activities to do around your property will get them closer to book with you. You need put forward the features of your vacation rental that will seduce your ideal target. ACTION 1#: TAKE A PAPER AND A PEN, WRITE DOWN WHO YOUR IDEAL GUEST IS. Is it a man or a woman? Age? Location? 2
Occupation? Family Status? What does your guest like doing on vacation? What does your guest value most in life? What are the features of your property and of your location that make your rental the best place for this ideal guest to spend her / his hard-earned money and to bring loved ones? #2: Understand that a vacation rental website is more an online business than an online flyer Launching your own website is much more than putting a bunch of photos online. It is not a flyer, but a business. Your site needs to: Display beautiful photos in a slider, possibly some videos Be mobile-friendly with a responsive design as more visitors use their tablets and their smartphone to pick a rental Be easy to find in Google (SEO-friendly) Give you the choice to blog easily if you want to Make it simple for you to capture the email addresses of your site visitors so that you can write back to them Load fast (Reliable and speedy hosting) Have an online calendar to display rates and availability Synchronize its calendar with those from your HomeAway, Flipkey and Airbnb listings (To save you time and avoid double bookings) Have an enquiry form (and maybe take instant bookings if you wish so) Be easy to update, by you or by anyone you can hire ACTION #2: READ THE ABOVE LIST 3 TIMES IN A ROW AND DECIDE HOW MUCH HELP YOU NEED. IT IS IMPORTANT THAT YOU KEEP IN MIND ALL THE PARTS THAT NEEDS TO BE IN PLACE. YES, THERE IS A LOT THAT YOUR WEBSITE MUST DO.` BUT DO NOT FREAK OUT! OUR TEAM AT RENTALPRENEURS IS HERE TO GUIDE YOU. #3: Re-purpose existing contents to kickstart your site creation Even if you had no website before, you are not starting from zero. Save time by gathering all the relevant content that you may already have and that will be great on your site. For example, you can 3
Text from your listings in HomeAway and Airbnb The list of amenities that you have ticked in HomeAway (Copy and paste it into a Word document) Your best property photos Some videos Text from the Welcome Guide that you display in your rental (For instance, trip ideas and activities that you have mentioned there) Reviews from listing sites, from TripAdvisor and from your Guest Book The answers to the most frequently asked questions from your guests (Look in your email correspondence, you have probably some great gems there. You already have great content in all those emails!) Your best email replies explaining your booking process, where the property is, asking past guests for a referral, etc. This will not go on the site, but you need to save them as ready-touse templates for your future email correspondence. This will save you precious time when replying to enquiries and will create consistent communication between guests and you. ACTION #3: GATHER ALL THESE CONTENT IN A FOLDER ON YOUR COMPUTER. SCAN THE REVIEWS FROM YOUR GUEST BOOK, IF NEEDED. ALL THIS GREAT CONTENT IS SITTING AROUND YOU, YOU NEED TO USE FOR YOUR SITE. JUST REMEMBER THAT YOU WANT ONLY THE CONTENT THAT MATTERS TO YOUR IDEAL GUEST, AS EXPLAINED IN ACTION #1 #4: Do not become over reliant on someone else to run your online business If you are doing all this to be independent from the big listing sites, then you should not fall into the trap of becoming dependent on a website that you cannot edit (or have edited for you) in a simple manner. For example, if someone charges you a lot of money to create a custom website that only this person can edit, then you have made the wrong choice. You are dependent on this person. What happens if this person disappears? How much will they charge you to update a few pictures in 6 months from now? You need to make sure that your site runs on a technology that is well-known, used by a lot of people and renowned for being simple to use. This way, if you need to find someone else to be in charge of your site, it will be easy. If you want to start learning how to edit your site, it will also be doable. There are broadly 3 ways of launching a great website, while preserving your independence: 100% D-I-Y : If you decide to go 100% the Do-It-Yourself way, then you need to stick to user-friendly technologies like Wordpress to create your site. Similarly, if your site needs a 4
calendar and a booking engine, use existing solutions. Do not reinvent the wheel, look at what others have done before. Create it for me, then I ll be in charge : This is a bit like your buying a car and then hoping into the driver s seat. Here, you get someone else to create your site, but you make sure that this web designer uses tools and technologies that are well-know and simple to use. You ask this person to show you how to edit your content along the way. And then you are upand-running, faster than the DIYer, while still having the ability to edit your site on your own. 100% Done-For-You : Using the same, well-referenced tools, someone creates your site for you. Then, when you need some editing, like updating a photo, this person does it for you. You pay a small fee every month for this service. If you decide to take back the reins, you can so at any time, as the site is easy to maintain. This is also a question of time investment. In order for you to gain independence from listing sites such as HomeAway and Airbnb, you need to set aside time to run your online business. To create and launch a website, time is needed. To keep a site fresh, with an updated calendar, a list of local events taking place soon and a blog post from time to time, you need time too. Also, you will need some time to reply to enquiries, process payments and ask for reviews. Of course, it is a trade-off: You can choose to learn how to create a website or have someone create it for you. You can learn how to update your site or let someone do it for you (At, we give you the tools and the services that fit all the above options - you pick). Action #4: using simple technologies that anyone can master is the key To staying independent. Even if someone else ends up creating or updating your site, it means that you can find someone else to do it for you, if needed. So, are the D-I-Y TYPE? Do you prefer 100% Done-For-You Services? Something in between? We hope that this document will give you a better idea of why you need your own website, what your site needs to be doing, the choices that you have and the actions you need to take today to get started on your road to vacation rental independence. If you have questions, contact Thibault at thibault@rentalpreneurs.com About : We help vacation rental businesses save time and make more money with our dedicated services and online training. http://www.rentalpreneurs.com/ 5