Take advantage of the New Year to rethink, optimize and develop your vacation rental business. Discover our collection of 10 tips to successfully embrace 2024!
10 Tips for developing your vacation rental business in 2024
Take advantage of the New Year to explore new ways for developing your vacation rental business.
1. Focus on traveler reviews
Your traveler reviews reflect the traveler’s point of view on the experience you offer. Whether it’s the cleanliness, the quality of your facilities, the charm of your property or your qualities as a host, everything can come out in your traveler reviews.
Take note of the remarks you receive in your comments and reviews on booking platforms to :
- initiate appropriate changes to further satisfy your future travelers
- challenge yourself
- discover new ideas and suggestions for your business
- reassure yourself and keep up the momentum
Traveler reviews are a goldmine for optimizing your customer experience.
To find out more, consult our Smoobu guide “Managing reviews on Airbnb“.
2. Putting the traveler experience at the heart of your business
Traveler reviews are the result of the experience you offer your guests. Every touch point is important. You can then review your traveler journey for 2024 and make any necessary improvements to the following points:
- Listing check
- The vacation rental booking process
- Your first contact
- Arrival/check-in
- Stay
- Departure/Check-out
- Evaluation
- Loyalty
Providing a smooth travel experience is essential, especially to stand out from the competition.
3. Equip yourself with new services/technologies
The vacation rental industry is constantly evolving. Numerous services and technologies are now available to simplify your daily operations and save you time. Among these services, you can look to :
- a Channel Manager and vacation rental management solutions like Smoobu
- smart locks or key boxes
- cleaning and maintenance services
- alarms and smoke detectors like Minut
- a dynamic pricing tool
4. Focus on sustainability
This was mentioned in Booking.com’s Trends 2024 report: sustainability. Indeed, 53% of those surveyed are looking for a rental that features innovative factors and bets on a sustainable traveler experience. Short-term rental managers are therefore expected to make an effort.
You can easily implement simple actions such as :
- raising your travelers’ awareness of energy and water savings in your Guest Guide
- encouraging separating waste
- working with local companies and shops
- repair instead of throwing away
Smoobu Guide: “Encourage sustainable tourisme“.
5. Analyze your occupancy rate
Based on your annual, monthly or seasonal objectives, you can analyze your occupancy rate, see where you stand and make informed decisions based on your statistics.
Once you’ve identified your low season periods, you can put in place last-minute promotions and discounts at strategic times, such as low season or weekdays, to boost your booking rate.
6. Capitalize on local events
2024 is going to be a busy year for events between concerts, like the most anticipated Taylor Swift’s ones, live shows in general, cultural events, fairs and trade shows, sports events and the list goes on…
It’s strategic to capitalize on these multiple events to boost your revenues and occupancy rates. Find out more on our blog about “how to define a pricing strategy around events“.
7. Develop your marketing efforts
Marketing is always an ally in developing your visibility and the performance of your vacation rental business. To boost your business and generate new booking requests, you could :
- develop your presence on social media: in particular Facebook and Instagram
- launch your own direct booking website commissions-free
- create new listings on other booking websites
- launch e-mailing campaigns to keep in touch with former tenants
- capitalize on customer reviews and testimonials
- initiate local partnerships to exchange visibility
- optimize your SEO
- capitalize on video and virtual tours
- use chatGPT to help you with your communication, ad text, etc.
Smoobu Guide: find out “how to make the most of marketing tools“ for your business.
8. Freshen up your rental listings
Take the opportunity of the New Year to review the content of your listings on booking websites and give them a fresh look where necessary. You could, for example, revise the description and announce that your rental is ideal for a stay during this particular event, add your new entertainment equipment to amuse young and old alike, or add new, beautiful professional photos of your latest achievements.
Smoobu Guide: “Create a top-notch listing for vacation rental“.
9. Clean, sort and optimize your space
Cleaning and sorting
Initiating a thorough cleaning and sorting of your vacation rental is a crucial step in maintaining a welcoming and attractive environment for your future travelers. Start with a thorough clean, encompassing every nook and cranny of your short-term rental. Calling in a professional team can help you aim for a thorough, spotless clean.
Equipment check
Take the opportunity to check that your equipment is working properly: appliances, plumbing, heating, taps etc. This proactive approach not only contributes to overall aesthetics, but also enhances traveler satisfaction.
At the same time, check that your kitchenware is still in good condition, and replace damaged or broken crockery if necessary. You can also check the wear and tear of your bed linen and linens to ensure an optimal experience for your travelers.
Space optimization
Why not optimize your space too by rearranging furniture to maximize the use of each area, creating a harmonious layout. This major clean-up not only helps maintain a professional image, but also ensures a positive and memorable experience for those who choose to stay in your vacation rental.
10. Invest in a new rental
Perhaps your vacation rental business is already up and running and growing? If so, you could consider expanding your brand with a new property investment. This could enable you to expand your business and generate new rental income.
You can search online to find out which cities are more profitable for short-term rental activity, and then embark on a new rental investment.
Expand your business with Smoobu
Smoobu enables many short-term rental owners and managers to easily manage multiple booking channels, avoid double-booking and optimize traveler communication.
Take advantage of a free, no-obligation 14-day trial and take the road to success in 2024!
Table of Contents
- 1 10 Tips for developing your vacation rental business in 2024
- 1.1 1. Focus on traveler reviews
- 1.2 2. Putting the traveler experience at the heart of your business
- 1.3 3. Equip yourself with new services/technologies
- 1.4 4. Focus on sustainability
- 1.5 5. Analyze your occupancy rate
- 1.6 6. Capitalize on local events
- 1.7 7. Develop your marketing efforts
- 1.8 8. Freshen up your rental listings
- 1.9 9. Clean, sort and optimize your space
- 1.10 10. Invest in a new rental
- 2 Expand your business with Smoobu
