How to Succeed With Short Term Rentals
If you’ve read our recent posts, we have touched on certain things that can be done to turn your property into a short term rental or vacation home, and some challenges you may be facing with the current pandemic. From this, however, you may currently find your rental struggling to make money, or you may be facing some difficulty to occupy your rental. Both of these issues are incredibly common, and are prevalent in the hotel industry as well. Statista reported that in the first six months of 2019, hotels in Canada averaged an occupancy rate of 62%, but in the first six months of 2020, this number dropped to 33%, a near 50% drop!
So the major question is, “how can my rental succeed?”. The sad truth is that there is no straightforward and easy answer, but there are some things that can be done to encourage more people to rent your property, because remember, although the occupancy rate is down, people are still renting. The main trick to get people to rent your property is to set yourself apart from the rest, and make your rental pop.
Many people have either had their financials hit disastrously or unable to travel because of flight restrictions. However, as restrictions are starting to lift up, rentals will become more and more popular. Although people are now able to travel, people are making less money, so in order to capture a larger rental audience, you may have to sacrifice some of your rental income in order to undercut the other rentals. This may at first seem like a problem more than a solution, however, from this, you’ll be included in more renter searches as you may now fall in their search requirements. Which, in turn means that although you may be making less per rental, you will be making more, as you have more people that are willing to rent.
A slight discount per night is a great way of piquing your guests’ interest, but in order to convert your potential rental to a confirmed one, you will need to revamp your listing as well as your rental itself. In today’s climate, more people are feeling unsure about cleanliness as well travelling, and change is already starting to happen. Hilton’s global head of new brand development, Phil Cordell, who is currently in charge of developing new cleaning measures mentioned “I think, more than ever, customers are going to be looking for that seal of approval,”. It’s this seal of approval that you as a property owner will also have to achieve to reassure your guests that it’s safe to come back. Hiring a cleaning service to come in to deep clean your rental after every guest is a great way to ensure your rental is prepped and ready to go for your next guest. Also, another great tip to making your guests feel more comfortable is to have hand sanitizer and free masks available at the entry of your property, so that they know you have their best interests in mind.
Your rental is almost ready to get your guests back, what you have to do next is a simple and easy way of making sure your guests know your property is ready. Go through your property listing on Airbnb/Vrbo/etc and rebrand your listing. Accentuate what you’ve done to make it more COVID free, and your new rate discount. When a potential guest views your property listing now, the first thing they should see is that your home is more accessible with the rate discount, and that your home is up to their cleaning standards. Remember, humans are a very visual being and seeing something that pops or stands out to them immediately when viewing is a benefit for you.
This method of updating your listing and scheduling cleanings may prove to be more difficult if you have many rental properties. If you haven’t thought about a property management software, now is probably the right time to. A property management software can help streamline your renting process by automating service cleanings and having access to all of your listings in one place. Here at Enso Connect, we are here to help you, so feel free to contact us at contact@ensoconnect.com.
