By now, many owners have realised that targeting your holiday rental to the family market is a good idea. Parents with preschool children in particular are one of the main groups who book their holidays in those harder to fill off peak weeks. It is no wonder that over recent years several specialist companies have appeared, like Baby Friendly Boltholes and Tots to Travel. Larger established agencies are also seeing the potential of this market and dedicating special sections of their websites to it. Mr & Mrs Smith for example, have recently unveiled a child friendly portfolio, and Sawdays now have a collection of properties perfect for families. Read more
3 Essential Steps to Writing an Effective Holiday Rental Listing
/0 Comments/in Advertising, Holiday Rental Blog, Marketing Tips, Web Design /by Louise BraceWe see it all too often on the holiday rental sites; in a rush to get a new rental listing out via as many channels as possible, owners succumb to the urge to write the advertising copy as quickly as possible, rather than taking time and care to do it properly.
It’s a big mistake, and if you are guilty it could be costing you bookings.
Read more
Welcoming Guests this Summer Holiday Season
/4 Comments/in Business Planning, Eco-Friendly Rentals, Guest Service, Holiday Rental Blog /by Louise BraceI know many owners here in Europe are preparing to welcome their first holiday rental guests of the season as the Easter break begins. The old adage “first impressions count” is never more important than when trying to run a holiday business, so why should a holiday rental be any different to a quality hotel? Guests have the same needs; they may be stressed out from finishing up at work, tired from the journey, possibly with over excited children, and all they want is to arrive and find everything perfect so they can get straight on with the job of relaxing and having a good holiday. Read more
Adding something special to your family friendly holiday property
/0 Comments/in Holiday Rental Blog, Marketing Tips /by Louise BraceBy now, many owners have realised that targeting your holiday rental to the family market is a good idea. Parents with preschool children in particular are one of the main groups who book their holidays in those harder to fill off peak weeks. It is no wonder that over recent years several specialist companies have appeared, like Baby Friendly Boltholes and Tots to Travel. Larger established agencies are also seeing the potential of this market and dedicating special sections of their websites to it. Mr & Mrs Smith for example, have recently unveiled a child friendly portfolio, and Sawdays now have a collection of properties perfect for families. Read more
Buying a property to rent overseas – video guide
/0 Comments/in Business Planning, Holiday Rental Blog /by Louise BraceThis is the time of year when people inevitably start thinking of new horizons and sunnier climes. We have the usual raft of “Wanted down Under” and “Holiday Home Sweet Home” type programmes gracing our daytime viewing, and thoughts may well turn to the “wouldn’t it be nice to own a little B&B somewhere…” variety. Read more
Self Catering Web Awards: Why the winning websites made it
/0 Comments/in Holiday Rental Blog /by Louise BraceSo the results are in! After a marathon of reviewing, browsing, note taking and scoring, the winners of the Self Catering Web Awards 2013 were finally announced last week. Well done to the winners and everyone who took the time to enter their self catering websites. Read more
What are your biggest holiday rental challenges?
/0 Comments/in Advertising, Facebook, Holiday Rental Blog, Marketing Tips /by Louise BraceI was contacted a couple of weeks ago by a lovely lady asking for some feedback on the website for her property in the South of France. As we got into a deeper discussion about all the challenges she is having to overcome with marketing her holiday let, it got me thinking about the many ways in which Rental Tonic could really help owners with similar problems. Read more
The 6 Steps to Successful Holiday Rentals
/0 Comments/in Advertising, Business Planning, Holiday Rental Blog, Marketing Tips, Web Design /by Louise BraceOver the past few weeks I have been running a survey to find out exactly what your biggest challenges are when it comes to running a holiday let business. Read more
The Secret Sauce to a Thriving Gourmet Holiday Business
/4 Comments/in Holiday Rental Blog, Marketing Tips, Villa Marketing Spain /by Louise BraceEvery time I go back to visit friends in England there seems to be a new Gastro Pub or some form of trendy new hangout for foodies, and it seems the Brits are becoming more European when it comes to mixing food with being sociable. Read more
Pinning your way to more bookings
/2 Comments/in Holiday Rental Blog, Marketing Tips, Pinterest /by Louise BraceThere can be no doubt that Pinterest is taking the world of social media by storm. Now with 10 million unique visitors a month, the image-sharing social media site was only launched in 2010 but has a loyal following which grew faster than Twitter, and may even be enticing users away from Facebook (source: Forbes.com) Read more
The Self Catering Web Awards 2013
/1 Comment/in Holiday Rental Blog /by Louise BraceI am honoured to have been invited to be a judge for the 2013 Self Catering Web Awards on behalf of Rental Tonic. I would encourage all UK holiday rental owners and agents to get involved when it next opens for entries. Read more