The holiday season is coming up faster than expected. So if you want to bring a festive touch and surprise your travelers, you need to think now and implement actions quickly. Smoobu has put together 8 tips to prepare your vacation rental for the holidays.
8 tips to prepare your vacation rental for the holidays
Whether your rental is by the sea, in town or in the mountains, it can be nice to mark the holiday season. Indeed, travelers who book during this period to celebrate the holidays with their families will feel at home. Find our 8 tips to end the year in style.
1. Put up decorations in December
You can dress up your vacation rental with festive decorations this December and immerse your guests in the enchantment of the holidays. Some guidance and ideas are:
- Install a simple tree or miniature tree in your living room, and adorn it with strings of lights. For a more sustainable holiday, you can adopt a potted tree and return it at the end of the festivities to be replanted.
- Add table decorations such as pine cones, fir branches, wood etc.
Don’t overload your rental. A little festive touch here and there will be more than enough to make a difference.
2. Offer a welcome gift to travelers
As we mentioned in a recent article, offering a special holiday welcome gift will make the difference with your travelers and surprise them pleasantly. During the holiday season, you can offer them a Christmas tea, chocolates from your favorite artisan, Christmas cookies, etc. Your imagination is the only limit!
3. Offer upselling and cross-selling
If you already offer cross-selling or upselling, the holidays are the perfect time to showcase your extra services: fridge stocked upon arrival, shuttle service, personal chef, sports equipment rental like sleds for example and more.
Smoobu Guide: to learn more about upselling and cross-selling in vacation rentals, check out our guide.
If you’re already sending out newsletters, you’re probably already planning to send one to your former guests to wish them a happy holiday season. If you haven’t already done so, this is an opportunity to get back in touch with them, to thank them for their visit and to invite them to book again if they like, for example through your own website, to avoid booking fees.
5. Highlight your local partnerships
If you have local vendors with whom you have built relationships or even created partnerships to offer discounts to your travelers, don’t hesitate to mention them in your Guest Guide. Your December guests will be delighted to take advantage of your good contacts and your even better deals!
6. Make games available
In addition to visits and walks, the holiday season is also an opportunity for travelers to spend time in their vacation rental. If you are hosting families, for example, you may want to provide board games or card games that are suitable for both children and adults.
7. Review your vacation prices
Prices vary based on seasonality, local events and demand. If you use a dynamic pricing tool, this will be taken into account, depending of course on the limits you set.
In any case, you can always check out competing listings similar to the services you offer to see where you stand for those 2023 holidays.
8. Check your minimum length of stay
Renting during the holiday season is always interesting. To ensure maximum profitability, you’ll definitely want to check your minimum stay lengths. Depending on your rental project, you may prefer a minimum number of nights to create more value and less coming and going.
Bonus tip: manage your seasonal rental all year round with a Channel Manager
To support you in your daily rental business, you can use a year-round rental management tool to simplify your life, operate more efficiently and gain professionalism.
The Smoobu Channel Manager allows you, among other things, to automatically synchronize your booking portals, to automate your traveler communication or to create your own direct reservation website in a few clicks. Take advantage of a free 14-day trial, no credit card required, and take your vacation rental to the next level!
