If you own a vacation rental home, there is no way you should settle for something ordinary. Successful vacation rentals like Airbnb aren't where they are right now because they had hospital-like furniture with white sheets and an overall boring ambiance. If you want to stay ahead of everyone and reach your goals, you need to come out of the box and step up the game of your vacation rental home and make it better for guests!

The services at the vacation home will make all the difference between a one-time visitor and a client who returns to your vacation rental time and time again. Your goal here should be to make your properties stand out when a traveler search for vacation properties on sites. 

So, if that's what you are looking for, I've got good news for you! There are many incredible amenities that we have learned in renting out 1000s of villas in Lloret de Mar, Spain with our own company, to make your vacation rental home better for guests.

When you are running your own vacation rental business as well, make sure to implement these tip to sky rocket your income!

How to Make your Vacation Rental Home Better for Guests:

Here's an outline of what you are going to learn:

• Understand what your guests want
• Stay up-to-date with the trends
• Games & Entertainment
• A complimentary welcome basket
• Decorate your property
• Luxurize your Bathroom 
• Offer secure parking

Understand What Your Guests Want

First and foremost, before you take on any further step to make your vacation rental home better for guests you need to understand the core element that acts like a magnet to attract the guests. As strange as it may sound, the “core element” is actually your guests themselves. Just like in any other case, you need to understand what your guests need and/ or having trouble in, so you can seize the opportunity and provide those facilities for them.

Let's be honest, there's no point in a holiday rental that doesn't match with what the visitors want. You may believe you're your doing pretty good but you might be totally off the mark.

So, how can you avoid that?

Well, there are two things you can do. First, the holy-grail competitor method. Do thorough research on successful competitors, read reviews, get in touch with their past guests, and see what they offer and what they lack. Then you can incorporate the good quantities and make their weaknesses your strength. And of course evaluate your own reviews as well!

Second, at least at one point in your life you must have been a guest yourself. It doesn't necessarily have to be a vacation rental home, it could be a hotel too. Notice, the things you wanted but didn't have any access to. Or perhaps the things you loved about a specific vacation home or hotel, it could be as simple as a little ´thanks´ email you received from them after your checkout or maybe an artistry furniture piece that people couldn't help but to take a hundred pictures with. 

Once you know what you're going for, make a list, and then find cost-effective ways to replicate those aesthetic or experiential guest extras. These techniques we use in our vacation rental business as well!

Stay Up-To-Date With the Trends 

There is always a trend going on and admit it, trends somehow make people seem “cool”. The rest, we know it. People would do anything to brag about something cool they did or had in their vacation home. Here are three ideas among hundreds of trendy things you can do to make your vacation home a million times better for the guests.

Go High-Tech 

Gone are days where people have to look back and forth or browse for hours to search for a decent place to go during their vacation. You can go high-tech and make digital copies of guidebooks and local maps. 

Improve your presence on Social Media 

Social media nowadays, it not only a great place for people to find exquisite places to stay at, but it is incredible for homeowners to do their market research as well. First, make an account for your vacation home (for help see Facebook and Instagram at the links) in all the social media platforms and market it as much as you can. Later, with the help of social media insights you can get to know up-to-date trends and see what people are talking about, so you can improvise your vacation rental bookings accordingly. 

Games & Entertainment

Alright, brace yourself because this is going to be a game-changer.

By adding gaming console facilities to your vacation rental will not just attract families and kids, but will be a great way to entice teenagers as well. Other than this, if you are aiming for more families then you can also dedicate a specific play area in your vacation home. There, you can have free facilities for children such as crayons, comics, and toys for the tub.

Any board games and cards you might also serve for extra family fun! Pictionary, Trivial Pursuit, Chutes & Ladders, Twister, and Uno are definitely your best friend in this case.

Give your visitors an Apple Cable, Netflix, or Amazon Fire Unlimited all-access TV pass. For the most part, hotels don't have that, and you should make a one-up. Nor is it expensive. Devices will cost you between $29 and $200, and medium-sized smart TVs for as little as $200 to $250. Then the monthly subscriptions will cost you for about $5 to $15 – making it a total of $234 to $465, which is nothing when compared to the amount of profit you are going to get. 

And if you're not too keen on getting your holiday rental cable or Netflix, giving visitors a selection of movies and literature is another perfect choice. Only make sure you have something perfect for all, even one to keep kids entertained. 

A Complimentary Welcome Basket

Bid a welcome package for extra flair when each guest arrives at your rental house. This doesn't have to be an expensive basket in any way, but a small set of local treats – candy, chocolate, wine, postcards – is a great way to welcome the visitors to the town and make a memorable first impression.

Decorate Your Property

Rather than thinking about how you can boost your vacation rental home income, start thinking differently. As in, focus on quality over quantity. By that I mean, think about decorating your property to attract more guests as well as create loyalty to your existing guests. Here are some of the things you can do right away to instantly enhance the overall look of your home.

Choose a cool color scheme

You don't have to go all-out retro in the 1970s. Yet the property has to look appealing and entertaining. A paint lick will do wonders to freshen up a property and bring more energy and make your holiday rental stand out. Go bold, and lively! Choose the best colors to get the guests interested and to spruce up your pictures!

Add new furniture and machines

Think of all the people who regularly rent your house. The excessive wear and tear on your furniture will have its toll.

Use the low season to critically analyze and consider replacing your furniture, if necessary, so that your renters can truly relax.

Other than the appealing factors, you also need to think about the convenience of your guests. Ideally, your holiday rental will have its own washer and dryer, to which you are happy to allow guests access. Guests enjoy being able to keep up with their own laundry while abroad, some even prefer returning home with new clothing at the end of their holidays.

If your rental does not have its own laundry room, it is important to let your guests know whether there is a coin-operated laundromat close by or down the street. In the case, have straightforward instructions for the comfort of your guests. Make sure that you have on hand a washing line or drying rack for those more valuable pieces, too!

Luxurize your Bathroom 

Only because your guests are not in the spa, doesn't mean they can't experience the comfort and enjoyment it brings. Having spa-like experience in your vacation home will have a tremendous impact on giving your guest the time of their lives. 

Gone are days where vacation rental homes only use toiletries as a way to amp up their hotels or homes. In addition to essential toiletries, the bathroom can also be fitted with some vanity extras. You can offer, for example, disposable razors and cream shaving, makeup remover, and whatnot. Such minor yet crucial changes will help the visitors feel like they've booked a spa weekend and thus will make your vacation rental home better for guests. With that being said, you can even collaborate with other beauty brands and stock up their beauty samples for your guests to use. 

Offer Secure Parking

If you live in an urban area, you can either figure out how to clear your designated spot or have a spot that you can offer your guests at a nightly fee.

If this is a single-family house with space on the ground, either build a carport (one of the pricier additions on my list, for $4000 to $6000) or have access to a garage. However, in that case you may have to loan garage door openers. In order to avoid that, look at smart garage door openers, which are powered by a mobile app, enabling immediate guest entry as well as security cameras. In order to offset these ezxtra costs you might want to adjust the pricing of your vacation rental. (Check out this article about Pricing Your Vacation Rental)

As we come to the end of the post, here's my last advice for you. All of these additions can be quite of work to do. If you have no background in the hospitality sector, that is not a problem at all. Instead of a homeowner who lets visitors temporarily use his house, you may want to think like a professional hotelier. But remember improving your home is just half the battle. Once all of that is accomplished, make sure to market to new amenities to let people know that your vacation home is second to none!

Would you like more tip for maximising your vacation rental income? Click here!

The number 1 question that you should be asking yourself when you are renting out a vacation rental property is: ´How can I maximize my vacation rental income?´ From over 15 years of experience as a vacation rental owner and owner of a villa rental agency I know what makes your vacation rental realize maximum income. Please allow me to share these Lessons Learned with you so you too can maximize income and profit!

The 12 Tips to Maximizing Vacation Rental Income are:

1. Rent Out Yourself
2. Rent Out With A Local Agency With Strong Brand
3. Advertise on Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)
4. Decorate To Impress
5. Upgrade Your Amenities
6. Kitchens and Bathrooms To Die For
7. Take Amazing Pictures
8. Write An Enticing Description
9. Set The Right Prices
10. Offer The Best Experience Possible
11. Reviews Matter – A Lot
12. Fully Booked

Like any investment, vacation rentals will bring you the highest income and return on investment if you put some work into it. These 12 Tips are easy to implement and will teach you some skills that you can use in renting out other properties as well. Let´s get started!

1. Rent Out Yourself

This step is often overlooked by many. The reason is simple: it takes work to do this. Make a website, get educated in marketing and sales, answer guests questions. I totally get that. But it also offers you the best way to really find out what prospective guests are looking for so you can improve your offer.

There are so many resources available for anybody that would like to ´direct book´ more with their own platform. Yes, the days of paying a webdesigner and builder over 5000 Dolar for a simple site are over (fortunately).

WordPress has made it super simple to create a website with a vacation rental theme in under a day. Register your URL on Godaddy, get your hosting set up, get your WordPress website and proper theme and start building yourself. No coding experience needed.

There are many cost efficient (you will see that just booking through agencies can easily cost you up 15% commission for bookings alone) ways you can market your vacation rental yourself. I write about that here, and more specific about Instagram here , Facebook here and other Social Media Marketing here.

When you do have guests that have booked with you in the past, you can now easily get them to ´repeat book´ on your own platform. Talking about cheap!

2. Rent Out With A Local Agency With Strong Brand

Most local agencies will offer you 2 basic services at least: ´Bookings´ and ´Talking Care of Guests´. The latter might be something you are interested in when you do not have a lot of time to dedicate to your guests. The former would only make sense if they have a strong brand that will generate bookings for you from their collective repeatbookers and their own marketing.

If they just offer to advertise your vacation rental on the OTAs (next point), there is only the advantage that they will sort out the guests communication before arrival for you as well. Just be aware that the commission percentage will add up. maybe you would like to advertise on these portals yourself.

3. Advertise on Online Travel Agencies (OTAs)

There is just no way around these behemoths like Airbnb (How to list in Airbnb), Booking.com and Homeaway with their enormous reach. These guys have marketing budgets that make most countries GDPs blush. It is fairly easy to list your property on these sites (choose multiple websites) and they can drive a lot of travellers to your property.

´So, why mess with your own website and working with an agency then?´, I hear you think. Well, because the interest of the OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) might not always be aligned with yours.

In the years before 2020 Airbnb was the favourite of them all and millions of vacation rental property owners identified themselves with being an Airbnb-er and did their best to become a Superhost.

Which is all good……until COVID19 came along and Airbnb decided to cancel hundreds of millions of Dolars of turnover from these owners. The result has been a lot of owners cancelled their Airbnb account and are looking for ways to ´book direct´. But they found out they were close to 100% dependent on Airbnb for booking. OUCH….That hurt. Do not let that be you. Make sure you have alternaties.

If you are wondering how to stay somewhat independent, check out this article.

4. Decorate To Impress

It is easy to think: ´mwah, it is just for the renters, let´s get the cheap decorations´. Profit is Income minus Costs, Right? The only problem is: It shows. When everything is low grade IKEA and guests are renting to stay and live in your villa for weeks, guests tend to complain about that.

Do not hang your favourite original Picasso in your beach house, but do make sure that you have invested in some (local) artwork and nice furniture. Just make sure it is ´idiot proof´. I once put a light coloured sofa in a luxury villa in Spain, only to have to wash the covers every week: not recommendable.

When your place looks nice, your guests tend to look better after it as well: Double Bonus!

5. Upgrade Your Amenities

That is just a logical extension from the previous point. Buy a TV that looks good, a stereo that sounds good, a gaming console for the kids, super fast internet (= like oxygen to the guests nowadays).

And once you have bought these, make sure you mention it in the description of your vacation villa as well. When you mention that you have a Samsung 100 inch with BOSE surround set and PS3 gaming console….you know that a possible 50% of the family members have made their decision to rent your place already!

6. Kitchens and Bathrooms To Die For

Ask any real estate agent and they will all agree: Kitchens and Bathrooms are important. Just think of it this way: In order to rent your place, your prospective guests will want to visualise how they will enjoy themselves.

´In this kitchen I will cook for the 3 families that are with us´, does not really work when your kitchen is small and dark and looks old.

A trick I often use is to paint the cupboards and invest in a Silestone counter top. That stuff is so solid that will last you decades and looks modern and clean.

What to have in your vacation rental kitchen? Click here.

7. Take Amazing Pictures

This is number 7, but it could very well be the most important point in the list. It is important that I wrote a whole article about it to share some essential tips with you.

You are asking total strangers, who have never been at your place, to pay you for staying in your vacation house. Reserve the risk a bit by showing them everything they will see and help them visualise.

Easily the most crucial step in advertising your property. Get professional help if needed. If you want to be different: extend with video and a 3D virtual tour of the property.

8. Write An Enticing Description

Yes, you still have people that actually read online. Especially when they are trying to make sense of spending thousands of Dolars for their vacation.

This is a point where you can easily excel, as most home owners (most people) are terrible at this.

To help you out, I have written an article with tested methods for vacation rental description writing and tips. Check them out and blow the competition out of the water!

9. Set The Right Prices

Another point where most owners and agencies need serious improvement: Setting the right prices and the continuous managing.

At our company Club Villamar I always tell my owners that want to keep their price high and fixed (´because their villa is the Ferrari of all villas´) and not rent out: ´Look….it is the price. Do think guests would like to stay in your villa for 1 Dolar per night?´ ´Yes, sure´, they reply. ´So it is the price!´

That might sound a bit simple, but we have experienced thousands (yes thousands) of times that if you market the price right, monitor the results and adjust accordingly…..rent out fully.

I have written an article about Pricing Your Vacation Rental here.

We have owners that say: ´Robin, all i want is maximize my income, do it´, giving me all flexibility and these owners rent out over 40% profit (not turnover) more than other owners? How come? Check out point 12.

10. Offer The Best Experience Possible

Ok, this one goes without saying, so I was hesitant to include it. But we can really learn form high end resorts and hotels that have been in this hospitality game a lot longer than we have.

Leave a welcoming package to greet your guests on arrival with artisan snacks, leave a hand written note mentioning the guests by name, let your daughter or son make a welcoming drawing (we have done this for years), leave some chocolates, leave a bottle of wine.

All these things are cheap and they go a long way. To be honest: The guests almost expect it nowadays. It is not easy to ´WOW´ your guests, but you should certainly strive to do so. Why? Because it is the right thing to do, you would appreciate it too and………

11. Reviews Matter – A Lot

Reviews matter. It is one of 3 factors look for first when potential guests are looking to book your property.

• Stunning Pictures
• Competitive Price
• Good reviews

Just think of how you search for a property to stay in yourself. That is why it is so difficult to get a property booked with no reviews. As a strategy you might want to set low prices if you are just starting out renting out. That way you will quickly have guests that are likely impressed with the property, experience and price/quality relation. After that slowly increase the prices.

Make sure you have good reviews and many of them. It is called ´social validation´ and the logic goes like ´OK, if (a lot) of other people rented this, I am not an idiot for renting this as well. The other people liked it and so I wil probably like it too´. Yes, that simple. It is that part of our brain that started us running across the savannah when other humanoids did as well. There was probably a danger even though you did not see it yet. It is a life saver.

12. Get Fully Booked

This is a concept that some of our owners struggle with quite a bit, so let me explain the math.

Once your fixed costs are paid for by your guests. The more you rent out, the more you will make…….as long as your variable costs are covered.

That is why it is essential to have your vacation home fully booked. All nights empty do not make you any money. And that is why managing your prices is such a big deal.

But I am sure that with the provided tips you will have no problem to make sure your vacation rental is fully booked!

In renting out thousands of vacation rentals in Spain for over 15 years through our company Club Villamar, we have learned the most important factors in renting out profitably and successfully. One of these factors is certainly the price. (Another is stunning pictures. Read more here)

So that brings up the question: How to Price your Vacation Rental? Let me share with you my 6 essential tips to make sure you rent out at the best price! (= Most profit for you)

In determining the best price for your vacation rental, there are 6 important factors to consider. They are:

• Demand For Your Vacation Rental
• The Competition
• Your Vacation Rental Costs
• Your Additional Costs Prices
• Shorter And Longer Stays
• The Time Until The Arrival

Demand For Your Vacation Rental

This one is huge! Obviously the value and price of your services (in any market) is determined largely by the demand. If your vacation rental is situated in the middle of nowhere with nothing attractive for tourist for miles around, you will not be able to charge (and rent out) for Top Dolar.

Of course this is one of these topics you already thought about before deciding to buy a vacation rental, but the effect is huge. If your vacation home is in a town where it is difficult to arrive in the first place: same deal.

We see such a large difference with villas with private pool situated at walking distance of the beach of Spain or just 7 km inland. The latter will make about 30% of income of the former. That is the difference between surviving and thriving.

Seasonality is also an important factor. If you are the owner of a ski chalet in the Swiss alps, you will have more demand in the winter time and less in the summer. If you target families as your guests, most will be bound by the time off school of the kids, especially where schooling and attendance is mandatory.

Think of who your target audience is and how much they spend on average to stay somewhere. Are you targeting backpackers of trendy city dwellers? Each has their own spending pattern and will not deviate from it a lot.

The good news is that the renting of a vacation home is the quickest growing market segment in Tourism, so whatever the demand, it is increasing rapidly.

The Competition

You do not only have competition on the platform (like Airbnb or your own website) where you are advertising your vacation rental. But the websites of competitor vacation rental websites are just one mouse click away.

Not even that: Your vacation rental has to compete with all other accommodations that are available like hotels and Bed and Breakfasts.

This is the way to conduct a competition research:

• Look for vacation rentals that match the criteria of yours: same area, same number of bedrooms, same facilities, same quality of amazing pictures and reviews. Look for these on the platform you advertise on.
• Look for alternate accommodations, like hotels that can facilitate the same number of guests.

If your vacation rental is more expensive than the alternatives you find: you are likely to rent out last or not rent at all. You can do this research manually, but……Some great tools, that will let you analyse your prices compared to other properties offered across the biggest OTAs (Online Travel Agens) are AirDna and Transparent. These tools will make your analysis qwuick and easy!

Your Vacation Rental Costs

Of course you want to make as much money as possible when renting out. I have never met a vacation rental owner that says: ´I don´t care about the money, I just want strangers in my house´ 😉

But you might want to consider at what minimum price it still makes sense to rent out your property.

Costs that you will encounter are fixed costs (mortgage, insurance, property taxes etc) and variable costs (commission to rental agency (that is why it is smart to make sure your guests come back and book at your own website directly), water, electricity, airco, cleaning etc).

Of course you want to cover at least your fixed costs, but as soon as you reach that point, the variable costs will be more important. Naturally, the general rules is:

Turnover minus Costs = Profit

As long as you keep your cost low, you will be able to charge a lower price and still make money. You can consider cleaning the vacation rental yourself or install water saving shower heads.

Yes, it is possible to rent out and actually lose money, so make sure you know your costs!

Your Vacation Rental Additional Costs

There is the price for the rental and the extra charge for additional costs. Some of these can be mandatory (like cleaning) and some might be optional (like extra set of linen). The prices for vacation rentals are getting more transparent for the guests, si ti is easier for them to see the final price that they have to pay (including all additional costs).

If you charge 150 Euro per night and an additional 150 Euro for cleaning and 50 Euro for linen and your competitor will charge 150 Euro per night with only 80 Euro for cleaning and linen……who do you think will rent out?

Your additional costs can easily add up and do matter.

Shorter and Longer Stays

It is custom to offer discounts for longer stays. You really love these guests, right? You just check them into the property and you see them again after 4 weeks at check out.

It is also custom to charge more for shorter stays. Most websites and platforms actually have neat tools for that, called: ´Length of Stay´ tools. These will allow you to set different day rates for different duration of stays: either more or less. The price calculating for you is presented in a matrix with a factor to either increase or lower the price. All professionals use this.

The Time Until The Arrival

You already know this principle from the airliners. If you book months in advance, the prices are likely lower (the airliner is covering the fixed costs of the flight) than if you want to fly last minute. The difference can be huge. Same seat, different price.

Same applies to vacation rental prices. Usually the longer the guests book in advance, the more discounted price you want to give them. You have the security of a booking and cashflow, so the guests has to benefit from that as well.

But as soon as you are nearing the dates of arrival, you might want to elevate your prices a bit….BUT only if there is scarcity. This of course makes no sense of the property still has a lot of competition. So you need a tool that factors in the availability fo comparable vacation rentals and their prices. These tools are called ´Revenue Management´ of ´Dynamic Pricing´

Looking for such a tool? Shop around at Beyondpricing (they will give you advice on the prices you should ask) and Pricelabs. You can also learn this valuable skill yourself at Transparent Academy

Conclusion On How To Price Your Vacation Rental

As you might have noticed, there are a lot of factors that you have to consider when pricing your vacation rental. The good news is that very few vacation rental property owners actually do this! Their logic is ´My villa is the Ferrari of all villas, so it has be priced accordingly´. They set their prices one time an year and never look at it again.

However, that is wherein the opportunity for you to excel lies. There are a lot of excellent tools available, that will help you with competitive research in the blink of an eye. Sure, you could attempt to do this manually and these tools come at a cost, but the investment is well worth it to make sure your property is booked.

Not a data cruncher or do not want to be? No problem! Just find an agency that can list your vacation rental for you and manage your prices. Do make sure to provide them with a pricing bracket that makes sense. The good part is: They only make money when you make money!

At Club Villamar we have found that the properties at which we have a flexibility to rent out a flexible prices are booked back to back all season. That ensures the maximum income (and profit as all fixed costs are paid for easily) for the owners!

Frequently asked questions:

How do I increase my Vacation Rental Income?

There are many ways that you can increase vacation rental income, but the main ones are:

• Improve Vacation Villa
• Improve Marketing
• Improve Reviews
• Improve Management
• Improve Maintanance

Want to to know more? Check out this article!

Vacation rental is a HOT Market to be in! The vacation rental tourism segment is looking to overtake the percentage of market share of hotels in 2020. That is huge! Post-COVID19 the vacation rental market is expected to expand even more rapidly, which is logical if you consider the hygiene element.

So if you are looking to start a vacation rental business you are surely in the right segment! Let me share with you how we did it with Club Villamar (a double-digit-million-revenue-per-year villa rental company in Spain) over 15 years ago and how I would do it in 2020.

If you are looking to start a vacation rental business, check out this and this article as well for useful insider tips! Learn from my mistakes, that is why I made them 😉

What is A Vacation Rental Business?

A Vacation Rental Business rents out private homes for the short term. It is very different from hotels, because there are probably multiple owners and all properties have their own kitchen, living room and several bedrooms.

A vacation rental business involves acquiring, maintaining, marketing and renting out these properties to travellers. 

Why A Vacation Rental Business?

Look there are people that start businesses all the time and you can choose. So why choose Vacation Rental as a business?

• Growing Market – As I already said, this market is booming and not a lot of professional players have really taken advantage of it. Sure, there is Airbnb, Booking.com and other Big Boys that are making money in this space, but they do not control the ´beds´, the actual accommodations. You can.
• Service – It´s a service company which means: no stock, no shipping, no physical products, no ´sizes of clothes that do not sell well´, no perishables. Less headaches.
• Multiple sources of income possible – You can make your money on renting out, service looking after the guests, maintenance, insurance, garden and pool services, cleaning company etcetcetc. It even gives you access to owners who will one day sell their vacation home and might want to buy a new one. That gives you the possibility for being their real estate agent (they already trust you with money and the keys of their house) or even investing yourself!
• Using OPM – You are using OPM (Other Peoples Money). That means that you do not actually have to own, maintain, pay for the mortgage of a vacation villa yourself. Other people do that.
• It is fun – Vacation rentals are often situated in places where guests would like to come to spend their vacation. So: Happy Places! You will meet a lot of guests who are just happy to get away from it all and are looking forward to spending a great vacation in a villa.

How To Start A Vacation Rental Business

Of course you have to start with all the stuff you would normally do when starting a company:

• Do Market Research. If there are no vacation rental properties and no tourist in your area, how are you ever going to make money with this gig? If there are plenty of tourists (ideally growing numbers as well, like in Nashville, TN and ideally all year around) and homes available (the regulations are not too strict), you´re in the right spot.
• Check out the competition. There will likely be competition online from the Big Guys: Airbnb, Booking.com, Homeaway and others……but do not fixate too much on that. That can be an opportunity as well as you can list ´your´ vacation rentals on there as well. And you might not need them as much (see how we generate 90% direct bookings) if you do your own marketing as well. Try to look ant hte competition ´on the ground´ the ones that actually rent out and manage multiple properties. The ones that sign the contract with the owners. See what they are doing and ask yourself: ´How can I do this better?´
• Make a business plan and try to look into the future: What do you want this business to look like in 5 years time. 10 Years?
• Register your business
• Do your taxes
• …..bored yet? Let´s move on to the fun part. (but seriously, do the normal stuff to start a business.

Your Own Vacation Rental

You do not actually need this, but owning your own vacation rental is actually a great way to start a vacation rental business. Just think about it. You possibly will be even more motivated to rent out your own vacation villa. You will prepare it immaculately, stock the kitchen, do the best, smartest and cheapest marketing to optimise your turnover and profit.

You will soon find out that a Vacation Rental is not really a passive source of income, which gives you the perfect opportunity to offer your services.

You will write down everything you have learned and then apply it to vacation rentals of other owners. That is how we started out as well. First we bought a villa in Spain, then we had a group of friends that also wanted us to rent out theirs. Then friends of friends. And now we offer over 3500 villas, of which most have a private pool, on the Spanish Coast.

It will also help you with the acquisition of other owners. Walk the walk.

Vacation Rental Acquisition

Back when we started Club Villamar, we were 5 partners in the company and only 2 spoke Spanish…..not native tongue. And we started out in Catalunya, where the inhabitants prefer to speak Catalan. Catalan is and was like Chinese to us. So we had a problem. Not only did this slow down our acquisition, but we had to hire staff for that in the early stages of the company as well.

I am hoping that you do not have this problem, because: You will have to network. Let everybody know that you are looking for properties to rent out and what services you actually offer. Tell them how you will make them money, how much and that you will look after the property. Those are the main things the owners are looking for:

• Will this nice person get the most out of my property?
• Will this nice person pay me and when?
• Will this nice person not wreck my vacation home?

Which brings me to the next topic:

Vacation Rental Systems

Imagine you are sitting at the coffee table with the owner of a property that you want to rent out (you do have criteria that a vacation home should meet, right?). You have convinces the owner that you are the real deal, the one to trust. What now? Sign a contract, right?

Like any business you should have your systems in place. A system for following up with a prospective owner, a system for signing a contract, a system for inventory and all further steps that will follow. In our start up days there were not so many tools available, but now we use Trello.com and Pipedrive.com and a whole bunch of other tools to streamline out business processes.

You will need them, believe me!

Take Vacation Rental Pictures

Ok, here is the place you really need to do your best. Pictures are crucial. Good pictures make the difference between not renting out and crushing it. We have seen this time and time again.

Just think about it: you are asking stranger to choose your property even though they have never been there and do not know you: They need to be re-assured that all is OK.

Most owners and agencies make pretty good pictures these days, so you really need to step up your game. For more Tips, click here.

Write Vacation Rental Description

Even though a Picture Paints A Thousand Words……you still need to write a nice description for the property and you might need to translate it as well.

This is a great opportunity to excel as most owners and agency owners really have no idea how to write a stunning villa description.

If you swore, the day you left school, that you would never write more than 140 characters (a twitter tweet), hire a pro through Fiverr or Upwork.

List The Vacation Rental

All you have done till now is preparation. This is where the rubber hits the road, but….Where o where to list my vacation rental?

I´ll tell you what not to do. Do not list on just one site. ´1´ Is the most dangerous number in business. And you can list on several of them, no problem. There is even software on the market that lets you connect to most of the Big Guns at once.

That leaves only one question. Should you have your own website?

YES

Do not be too dependent on the OTAs (Online Travel Agencies) if you value your Independence and Freedom. it s not that they are bad people, but they can do bad things as they have proven in the COVID19 crisis. These are just other businesses and your interests and theirs are not always aligned.

You will be happy that you have your own channel in these times. Did I mention marketing can be done cheaper than the 15% that the OTAs charge you for a booking? Get your own website 😉

Look After Your Guests

This is why you exist. Give your guests a memory they will never forget. The perfect stay at ´your´ property. This is the gift that you can give them.

They will love you for it, leave a good review, recommend you to other travellers and might even return!

Even though it is getting more and more difficult to satisfy and ´WOW´ your guests, if you are creative you can still find ways to do this!

These tips will make sure you make the right decision in starting your own vacation rental business. Best of Luck to you!