While re-marketing to past guests to increase direct bookings is surely important, another important task is growing the inventory of vacation rental properties you manage. What exactly is vacation rental inventory? Inventory is simply the units under your management. In practice, the more units you manage, the more revenue you bring in. In this article, we’ll outline 5 tips to grow your vacation rental inventory.
Online Presence
Having a website that converts both guests looking to book your properties and owners looking for a property manager is very important. Most PMS systems will allow you to create a booking website, and you can incorporate that booking engine into a standalone site to allow you to manage your SEO better. You can find resources to select a PMS system here.
Think about SEO this way: if the information is not written on your website, how will Google know to show your site to visitors? Make sure everything you want to be known is spelled out.
Another important key is to make sure you claim or make a GMB (Google My Business) listing. This shows up in local search results above other page results.
Local Networking
A strong network makes a strong business. Make sure you are attending local networking events, especially real estate related events. Your goal should not br to close a deal but rather to create relationships. Make sure everyone knows what you do, that way you are at top of mind when people think of your services.
Referrals
Once you attend a few networking events, you’ll start making some connections. To take the connection to the next level, consider becoming referral partners. A referral partner is someone who you can both share leads with, for property management, you may be able to send leads to insurance agents, real estate agents, loan officers, and they may be able to send business your way.
Beyond referral partnerships, another great way to get referrals is simply to ask your current clients. If you have happy clients, they will be more than happy to refer you to other potential clients.
Paid Advertising
You can pay Google to show up before all the other search results. Depending on the competition in your region this may or may not be a feasible option. The competition will dictate the cost. It could be a few cents per click or it could be $10 or more per click to your site.
Facebook ads can be a good way to target people who have already visited your site. A great way to think of Facebook ads is that they are like a roadside billboard.
An affordable, surprisingly effective method is posting in the services section of Craigslist. It only costs $5 per post. You can post a few times a week or month, depending on the competition, your posting may stay near the top.
Targeted Outreach
Perhaps you are doing all of the above and still not growing your vacation rental inventory as fast as you’d like. Instead of waiting for the business to come to you, you’re ready to go to the business. Targeted outreach means you are actively reaching out to potential clients and introducing your services. This can be done in a variety of ways, here are some examples:
– Postcard or direct mail campaigns to property owners in your area.
– Researching short term rental permit holders and reaching out via phone or email.
– Contact rental listings.
This can be a very time-consuming process, if you don’t have extra time, outsourcing the lead generation for targeted outreach may be the answer for you. VRM Leads is a lead generation company specific to the vacation rental industry. Their pricing model is set up so you only pay for successful meetings.
Bottom Line
There are a lot of different ways for vacation rental managers to grow management inventory. Adding inventory is important to continue growing a property management business. This is a condensed version of The Ultimate Guide to Inventory Growth for Vacation Rental Managers.
