Best Upsells for Vacation Rentals in Dubai,United Arab Emirates
In Dubai, a city known for its opulence and cultural diversity, vacation rentals thrive alongside the vibrant celebrations and luxurious experiences of the Middle East. Here, travelers are captivated by the city’s modern architecture, its culinary delights, and extravagant festivities. Amidst the culture and excitement, vacation rental operators recognize the importance of offering additional services to enhance satisfaction. Drawing inspiration from Dubai’s blend of tradition and innovation, property owners and managers curate a range of upsells. From desert safaris to culinary journeys that showcase the region’s culinary expertise. This article explores the significance of upselling in Dubai’s short-term rental market, highlighting the city’s top upsell opportunities.
What are Short-Term Rental Upsells?
A short-term rental upsell is a powerful tool which refers to the practice of offering guests additional products, services, or upgrades to enhance their stay, while increasing the revenue. This strategy is commonly used in the short-term rental industry and can be either operational, or involve tours, activities, and experiences. The key to successful upselling is understanding the guests’ needs and preferences and offering relevant and valuable additions that enhance their experience. Effective guest communication plays a crucial role in identifying these needs and suggesting suitable upsells.This approach not only boosts revenue but can also lead to higher guest satisfaction and loyalty.
Upsells in Hotels VS Vacation Rentals: What’s the Difference
Upsells in hotels typically involve concierge services and traditional amenities, whereas in the short-term rental properties industry, this process is digitized to streamline operations. In contrast, vacation rental upsells are more personalized, catering to individual guest needs like grocery delivery, private chefs, and local tours. Vacation rentals offer operators flexibility to innovate, tailoring unique experiences to their property and target market. This personalized approach is integral to the business model of vacation rentals, allowing them to provide an exceptional guest experience. With the growing popularity of short-term rentals, more travelers are choosing them for accommodation. These guests now expect hotel-like services during their stays. Therefore, offering add-on amenities and other enhancements is crucial for hospitality professionals managing vacation rentals.
Why offer upsells in vacation rentals?
Offering upsells in vacation rentals brings multiple advantages. By enhancing the guest experience through added convenience and luxury, you can significantly increase guest satisfaction and tailor to your target audience’s specific needs. This not only boosts your revenue but also helps in building a strong and recognizable brand. Upselling also encourages repeat business, as guests are more likely to return to a place where they felt valued and pampered. Moreover, satisfied guests are more inclined to leave positive reviews, further enhancing your property’s reputation and attracting new visitors. Understanding market trends and employing effective revenue management strategies are essential for maximizing these benefits, ensuring that upselling occurs at the best time to meet guest demand. Ultimately, vacation rentals play a similar role to hotels in the hospitality industry, adapting to modern expectations and providing exceptional, personalized experiences.
How much revenue per listing can I add with upsells in Dubai?
A well-executed upselling strategy, tailored to your guests needs and the capacity of your business, can substantially boost revenue. So how can you get the potential revenue increase from upsells in your vacation rental business in Dubai?
Factors like your property type, capacity, average stay length, and booking channels can impact your potential revenue uplift. We can make a quick estimate, with a basic formula:
Take the value of an experience or service upsell and calculate your cut. Different affiliate programs offer different rev share to partners. For example, Viator offers 8% revenue share. In this case we’ll use this number, but you can insert the percentage of any affiliate partner you choose to work with. Take 8% out of an experience that costs USD $100. And just like that – you earn USD $8 every time one of your guests orders this experience through your link! In the business world it is usually referred as “free money”.
This is the revenue a property manager typically retains without sharing with the owners—your choice. In the STR industry, where margins are thin, these numbers can significantly impact your bottom line.
Below you can see the real experiential packages in Dubai you can offer your guests to make a hassle-free profit.
Learn more about the economic of vacation rental upselling.
Conducting analysis based on your data, continuously testing and optimizing the upsell process are recommended to maximize the revenue uplift. The best way to do this is to have a guest experience dashboard, where you and your team can track the performance.
Types of Vacation Rental Upsells
Operational Upsells
Includes everything that requires operational resources from property managers. This includes flexible access, like early check-in, late checkout, in-property extras, like mid-stay cleaning or pool heating and gap nights. These higher offers are best ways to make sure your guests have a successful vacation and you maximize revenue. The downside of this strategy is that it can raise operational costs, adding pressure on your cleaning and guest relations teams. By automating processes and enhancing efficiency with AI and condition-based workflows, this can be mitigated, making it worth your while.
Service Upsells
Service upsells aim to enhance the guest experience by providing additional services that add convenience, luxury, or comfort. These services can include personalized concierge assistance, in-room amenities, and private transportation options. In most cases these offers can be implemented by third party service providers.
Activities and Experiences
These include experiential offering that doesn’t involve operational efforts from the property manager. The best way to offer these upsells are through partnerships or affiliate programs, like Viator or Holibob.
Operational Upsells
An operational upsell in the hospitality industry refers to offering guests additional services related to the operation and convenience of their stay. These services enhance the guest experience by providing added comfort, flexibility, and convenience, for an additional fee. Below are some examples:
Early Check-in
An early check-in offers guests the possibility to access the accommodation before the standard check-in time. This would normally be between 3 p.m. and 4 p.m. The service is valuable for guests arriving early in the day who want to rest, unload the bags, relax or start exploring the destination.
Late Check-out
By providing guests with late check-out, you let them stay in the property after a standard checkout time. This is usually between 10am and 12PM. When people have late departures, the possibility to enjoy the property for a little longer can add-up to the vacation experience. Many guests are ready to pay a premium for convenience. A willingness to offer your guests the flexibility of a later stay can go a long way.
Stay Extension or Gap Nights
This is type of an upsell offering can be a golden opportunity for a rental operator to increase occupancy rate. Fill short gaps between reservations by offering departing and arriving guests to extend their stays. By automating this process, you can make sure to capture these rental income opportunities with a great value proposition.
Mid-stay Clean
A short-term rental housekeeping doesn’t include daily cleaning. However, travelers staying for longer periods of time, would appreciate mid-stay housekeeping service and would pay extra to pay for the cleaning team effort.
Pool/Hot tub Maintenance
Offering this upsell requires knowing your audience and the market you are in very well. If it is something that makes sense, upselling pool or hot tub maintenance can boost profits while enhancing the guest experience.
Service Upsells
Service upsells focus on offering additional guest services that enhance their stay by providing extra convenience, luxury, or comfort. These can range from personalized concierge services to in-room amenities and private transportation. Examples include:
Transportation Services: Offering airport pickup and drop-off services, car rentals, or shuttle services to nearby attractions.
Food and Beverage Delivery: Offer grocery delivery services where guests can pre-order groceries and have them delivered to their rental before or during their stay. You can also provide an option for guests to order ready-to-eat meals and beverages from nearby restaurants.
Equipment Rentals: Provide rental services for equipment that guests might need during their stay. Examples include bicycles, baby equipment (cribs, high chairs), or beach accessories (chairs, snorkeling gear).
Tours, Activities, Experiences as Vacation Rental Upsells in Dubai
Experiential upsells involve offering guests unique tours, activities, and experiences to enrich their stay. These can include guided city tours, adventure activities, cultural experiences, or wellness sessions. By providing these curated experiences, you can create memorable moments for guests while generating additional revenue.
Top Experiential Offerings in Dubai You Can Profit From
We’ve made the research of the most revenue generating experiential packages vacation rental operators in Dubai offer to their guests. You might find and more ideas and partners to be a part of your upselling strategy. We will be happy to hear about it and add them to our list.
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Dubai Red Dunes ATV, Camels, Stargazing & 5* BBQ Al Khayma Camp
Drive an all-terrain vehicle (ATV) at full throttle across the sands and enjoy an exciting program of other desert exploits in one fuss-free trip with this premium experience from Dubai.
Price: CA$119.33
Your Cut: CA$9.55
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Dubai Marina Yacht Tour with Breakfast or BBQ
Admire widescreen views of Dubai’s skyline from the water without an expensive private yacht charter on this shared cruise from Dubai Marina. Settle abroad with sunbathing and seating decks, and absorb the landmarks as you glide over the Persian Gulf.
Price: CA$68.31
Your Cut: CA$ 5.46
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Dubai Full Day Tour with Entry Ticket to Burj Khalifa at the Top
Discover the traditional side of Dubai and ascend the spectacular Burj Khalifa on an 8-hour sightseeing tour. With an informative guide, explore the old Al Bastakiya quarter and ride an ‘abra’ boat across Dubai Creek.
Price: CA$151.67
Your Cut: 12.13
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On Air Dinner Adventure in Dubai
As if a 3-course meal with views of the Dubai skyline and surrounding marinas wasn’t memorable enough, imagine all that while being suspended on an open-air platform 165 feet (50 meters) in the air.
Price: CA$299.64
Your Cut: CA$23.97
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Skip the Line Burj Khalifa Ticket
Make the most of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa by choosing the ultimate way to experience it: accessing Levels 124, 125, and 148, the latter the world’s highest observatory. This ‘At the Top SKY’ experience lets you choose a peak or non-peak slot.
Price: CA$181.23
Your Cut: CA$14.49
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Desert Safari With BBQ Dinner, Quad Bike & Camel Ride from Dubai
Combine a fast-paced quad bike adventure in the desert with a Middle Eastern-style dinner and entertainment show under the stars. Watch the sunset over sand dunes, hop a camel for a ride across the desert, tasty buffet, henna painting, belly dancing, and fire shows.
Price: CA$122.68
Your Cut: CA$9.81
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Dubai Helicopter Experience with Sightseeing Options
Discover Dubai, the fastest-growing city in the world, from the air on this whirlwind helicopter tour. Beginning from Dubai Festival City and continuing along Dubai Creek through the suburbs, explore this fascinating city, with its impressive skyline and luxurious hotels.
Price: CA$270.86
Your Cut: CA$21.67
Source: https://www.viator.com/
How to Offer Upsells in Your Vacation Rental?
Having understood the potential revenue you’re missing by not offering upsells, you might now be wondering how to implement them. Implementing upsells effectively requires strategic planning and execution and a deep understanding of the guest journey. You need to understand your guest and adjust your marketing strategies accordingly. From the marketing function the initiative shifts into the customer success.
We can learn from Direct-to-consumer (DTC) platforms like Uber. They’ve built user journeys by leveraging digitization, data, and personalization at scale. What does it require? A mix of data collection, scheduling, and the right medium to provide a seamless user experience. Simply put, why should a traveler engage with your hospitality brand or company? Also how, when and how frequent to communicate your offer to drive guest engagement that converts into revenue?
Based on these learnings, we’ve developed the Concept of Touchpoint, Schedule, and Medium, designed to unlock revenue in guest journeys.
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Unlock Revenue in Your Guest Journey
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Conclusion
The vacation rental business in Dubai is an exciting blend of luxury and cultural diversity. With an understanding of travelers’ desires, property owners and managers capitalize on Dubai’s attractions by offering a variety of extra services that enhance the guest experience. From operational conveniences like early check-in and late checkout to personalized services such as private transportation and in-room amenities, the opportunities for upselling are vast. Curated experiences like desert safaris, yacht tours, and helicopter rides showcase the best of Dubai’s offerings, providing guests with unforgettable memories while generating additional revenue. By embracing the art of upselling, vacation rentals in Dubai not only elevate guest satisfaction but also establish themselves as premier destinations in the global hospitality landscape. Stay informed about short-term rental revenue generating techniques through our blog posts .
