What to do on New Year’s Eve? For many owners and managers of vacation rentals (vacation homes, bed-and-breakfasts, guest houses, etc.), New Year’s Eve can be a very busy time.
Most hosts seek to fill their calendars over the New Year’s vacation. In fact, since this is a very profitable time of year, not having a booking in place means giving up considerable revenue. To that point, vacation rental hosts will need to do their best to provide a dream vacation for their guests. Hopefully, these guests will not throw unauthorized parties!
Wondering how to deal with these holidays effectively and without stress? Here are some tips that might help you prepare your vacation home for New Year’s Eve!
Prepare your vacation home for New Year’s Eve: 7 ideas
Whether it is to visit distant friends or relatives or to spend time away from home for New Year, there are millions of people around the world who travel on New Year’s Eve. It’s up to you, as the manager of one or more rentals, to convince them to book with you.
How? Here are 7 tips to attract guests to your vacation rental during New Year’s Eve, offer them an unforgettable experience, and limit stress during the holidays!
1. Find out the target groups that might book for New Year’s Eve.
What kind of audience will you attract to celebrate the start of the New Year? To identify your target group, you need to consider three main factors:
- Location. If your property is located in a quiet area, perhaps near a spa or in the countryside, you might attract couples who want to spend the end of the year relaxing.
- Events. If clubs and venues in the area organize various New Year’s Eve parties and events, young guests or groups of friends might be interested in booking your property.
- Property type. Families with children or with dogs will look for specific rentals that are able to accommodate the little ones and/or their furry friends.
Smoobu Guide: 12 Target Audiences to Maximize Occupancy of Your Vacation Rental
2. Decorate your accommodation festively
With your target audience in mind, you may want to decorate your vacation rental for the occasion. If you have already decorated your lodging for the Christmas vacations, with lights, a tree, or a reef, you won’t need much else.
If your vacation home has a spacious kitchen or dining room, your guests may want to host New Year’s Eve dinner there. Buy a beautiful centerpiece with gold or silver candles, a tablecloth and themed napkins.
If you want to give your guests an unforgettable experience, you could buy balloons, mistletoe branches to hang around, and other decorations.
3. Update your vacation rental listing
To convince potential guests that your vacation home is the best place for this special occasion, you need to update your listings on booking portal and your direct booking website. Adapt your listing to the season by changing these elements:
- Photos: show the vacation home festively decorated.
- Description: add information about spending New Year’s Eve in the area.
- Pricing: use a dynamic pricing tool or analyze the competition to find the right prices for the New Year’s vacation.
- Minimum stay: check that the minimum number of bookable days is the most suitable.
4. Offer New Year’s vacation packages
While some vacation rentals are easily booked during the New Year, others may struggle a bit. One cause could be location: some areas are more popular than others for celebrating the start of the New Year.
The owners of these accommodations might create New Year’s Eve specials to attract guests. Some examples of New Year’s Eve vacation packages are:
- A Yummy New Year’s Eve: along with the stay, guests can pay extra for a dinner reservation at a local restaurant. If you have a bed-and-breakfast or farmhouse, you can prepare New Year’s Eve dinner yourself. If not, you could offer them to buy everything they need from local stores.
- New Year’s Eve in the Snow: in addition to lodging, your guests can book ski or snowboard sports equipment rentals and a shuttle service with which to reach the nearest ski area for a high-altitude New Year’s Eve. Perfect for ski vacation enthusiasts.
- New Year’s Eve to Renew the Spirit: You can appeal to couples by offering a romantic New Year’s Eve. If you have a private pool or hot tub, you won’t have a hard time offering a relaxing end of the year. Otherwise, you could offer tickets to local spas or wellness center or a massage.
Depending on your potential target groups, you can offer different New Year’s vacation packages. Not only will you be able to fill your calendars, but you will also be able to increase your revenue through upselling and cross-selling opportunities.
5. Write the house rules for the occasion
In general, it is a good idea to have a list of house rules that explain to your guests what is allowed and what is not.
During New Year’s Eve parties, having a set of rules is a must. In fact, if you want to avoid unwanted parties at a time of year when much of the world celebrates, you should state this clearly. If possible, be a little flexible. It’s fine to ask them not to party until the morning, but you might discourage potential guests if you stipulate that they can’t make noise after 10 p.m.
6. Point out New Year’s Eve events in your digital Guest Guide
Your digital Guest Guide is the key part in offering your guests an unforgettable end of the year.
In fact, every town, village, or hamlet celebrates New Year’s Eve in some way. Whether it’s a fair, an area known for its nightlife, or a scenic location to watch the midnight fireworks, inform your guests with your digital Guest Guide.
7. Prepare a themed welcome gift
Finally, to welcome your guests to your vacation home and give them the best possible experience, prepare a small themed welcome gift. Here are some ideas:
- Chocolate or cookies
- Bottle of sparkling wine
- Sparklers to light at the stroke of midnight
- Hats, glasses, and other themed decorations
Whatever welcome gift you choose, you can create a memorable stay and potentially receive a positive guest review.
Manage your short rentals with Smoobu’s channel manager
Finally, to manage your vacation rentals professionally and stress-free, we suggest to make use of a channel manager.
Smoobu’s channel manager automatically synchronizes your calendars, avoiding the risk of double bookings. It also allows you to automate communication with guests and offers the possibility of creating customized digital Guest Guides. If all this is not enough, Smoobu works with numerous partner integrations that will help you offer your guests the perfect vacation.
Test our software for 14 days for free and streamline your short rental management!
Table of Contents
- 1 Prepare your vacation home for New Year’s Eve: 7 ideas
- 1.1 1. Find out the target groups that might book for New Year’s Eve.
- 1.2 2. Decorate your accommodation festively
- 1.3 3. Update your vacation rental listing
- 1.4 4. Offer New Year’s vacation packages
- 1.5 5. Write the house rules for the occasion
- 1.6 6. Point out New Year’s Eve events in your digital Guest Guide
- 1.7 7. Prepare a themed welcome gift
- 2 Manage your short rentals with Smoobu’s channel manager
