How A Vacation Rental Accommodation Can Consolidate its Customer Base |
Posted: February 17, 2015 |
Vacation rental, as a new idea, has become very popular lately. These days, hotels are getting replaced by serviced apartments and self-serving cottages. Taken in its broad sense, vacation rental includes apartments and cottages that are being rented. Unlike lush hotels, serviced apartments and self-served cottages are inexpensive. The residents enjoy virtually everything that expensive hotels are supposed to offer, yet the occupants don’t have to shell out a mammoth sum of money. The only catch is small accommodations don’t have enough money to promote themselves, which is why big hotels always get the edge. However, accommodations such as vacation rentals can follow some handy methods to keep themselves in the race and create a foothold. Off-season offers To carve out a base among the tourists, vacation rental accommodations offer special discounts during the off-season. It will be an out-of-the-box approach for starters. The benefits of off-season offers are too many; the first benefit is being able to identify the niche market. Just like every other market, the vacation rental has a niche market, which consists mostly of budget travelers; they often run short of money and prefer short duration stays over longer stays. Give catchy offers like “half-price off on a weekend stay” or “rent two night and get one free”. Make the tourists feel at home Tourists prefer a place that offers them a homely feel. To make the tourists feel at home, the vacation rental accommodation needs to ask them on an individual basis what type of accommodation they prefer. From the color of the room to the choice of furniture, the room should house everything that could deliver its occupants a personalized feel. Budget travelers know very well they can’t expect an opulent ambiance. A comfortable and homely feel is among the little perks that their small budget can fetch. When they get such a feel, they experience a togetherness with the rental accommodation, thus turn into a repeat customer. Prioritize cleanliness They say cleanliness is next to godliness. This powerful idiom applies to every segment of life, specially when a vacation rental owner aims to lure tourists. It’s not difficult for the rental owner to ensure the rooms and the entire accommodation are clean. Most rental accommodations are not much spacious, so cleaning them on a regular basis is not a herculean task. Regular cleaning ensures a comfortable stay and healthy ambiance, which disgorges a feel of home, something that budget travelers long for when they are thousands of miles away from their homes. Treat repeat customers differently This could help you immensely. Rental accommodations often take repeat customers for granted. They should never do so because repeat guests desire to be treated differently. Behaving gently with them and giving them reasons to feel cheered up could infuse loyalty in them to the accommodation; this could help the accommodation solidify its customer base. While a repeat customer arrives, offers him a welcome treat and when he leaves, show him some special gestures that help his mood to liven up. Very simply put, don't do anything expensive, just do something distinctive so the repeat guests feel special. Add the “rize” Check the time of the guest’s arrival. If the guest is paying a visit during the winter, then “winterize” your offer and shout a ton about how customers savor a cup of hot coffee while looking at snowfall through their windows. If he is visiting in the fall, then “fallrize” your offer by describing the best ways to enjoy the colorful season and highlighting on the festivals. The bottom line is you need to shape your campaign in the right way so it attracts both repeat and new customers, and “winterize” or “fallrize” the offer helps achieving that. Pet friendly accommodation By making the accommodation pet-friendly, the owners of rental accommodations can impress travelers who tour with their pets. The cuddling, deary duckies should be treated with extra care along with a vet being available every time. This would cause the tourists conclude the rental owners not simply care for them, but for their pets as well. All in all, to retain the customer base, a number of marketing techniques need to be employed and the ones discussed above, all qualify to fit in that category.
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