Elevate holiday rental with seamless bookings, unique experiences, and modern amenities to meet the sophisticated demands of today’s travelers.
Travellers now expect more from their holidays than just basic accommodation. They want a smooth booking process, access to updated reviews and recommendations on what to do in the area. Owning a holiday rental property means offering a whole experience and not just somewhere warm and comfortable to stay. And with so much competition in the market, from Air B&Bs and cosy cottages to luxury hotels and log cabins, it’s important to build a good reputation and stay ahead of holiday trends.
England and Wales are home to approximately 85,000 self-catering holiday homes so it’s a good idea to evaluate your offerings regularly to make sure you stand out to holidaymakers.
Include special experiences
Instead of simply offering a bed to sleep in and daily meals, consider offering a range of experiences, depending on your area of expertise and interest. These could include services such as guided tours, gastronomy experiences, nature walks, grocery deliveries or fitness classes.
The exact services you offer will depend on the nature of your business and the location of your holiday home as well as your target audience. But by giving visitors the option of booking extras, you’ll ensure your guests feel like you’ve really gone out of your way to provide exceptional service.
Renovate or extend your property
If you have the land and the budget, you might want to consider extending your holiday home. You could renovate the kitchen to include a larger dining area or add more bedrooms to increase your guest capacity. You might also think about adding an extra bathroom or including an en-suite.
Adding an annexe can widen the appeal to larger groups looking to holiday with extended family and can act as a separate, self-contained building.
Make sure to use sustainable materials and bricks that match the current aesthetic to enhance the visual appeal of your holiday home.
Automate your bookings system
Many people prefer to book their breaks online so it’s vital to ensure your rental calendar is up to date and reflects the latest bookings. Your bookings process should ideally be automated and available at any time of day for convenience. For this reason, it may be worth listing your property on a number of different rental websites – or even creating your own website – through which customers can reserve your property. If you opt to do the latter and create your own website for your rental property, be sure to focus on making the site’s design user-friendly. Additionally, when choosing a domain for your website, ensure you make use of tools such as whois to help find a unique domain name that your customers will have no trouble finding.
Guests will want to know who to contact for any specific queries so make sure to include telephone and email details on your booking form. List any FAQs on your website so it’s easy for potential guests to find the information they need.
Provide local information
Guests who don’t know the area will appreciate local information such as dog-friendly pubs nearby, family restaurants and local attractions. Include suggestions for rainy days and provide information about the nearest amenities.
It’s also a good idea to leave a guest book so visitors can offer tips and recommendations for future holidaymakers.