Repeat Stays: How to Get Them at Your Vacation Rental
Repeat Stays at your Vacation Rental
Running a successful vacation rental is just like running any other business, and in the business world, return clients are a prized asset. Repeat guests at your short-term rental means that not only did the guest enjoy their past experiences with you, but they also sought you out specifically in order to return to your property the next time they visited. And if there’s one thing that repeat guests are, it’s reliable.
So if your bookings are looking a little lean and you’re on the hunt for strategies to get more from past guests, we’ve got a few tips for you. Today, we’ll cover how to get more repeat stays at your vacation rental and how to market your rental to past guests in a way that’ll keep them coming back.
Stay in Touch with Past Guests with an Email List
The most important way to connect with your guests and keep in touch with them in the future is to start an email list. Leave a guest book where visitors can write down their email addresses if they so wish, then use an email service like MailChimp to input those email addresses into your list and stay in touch with them in the future.
Capturing email addresses can be tough when you’re online, but guests are more than happy to write theirs down in a guest book if their stay has been a pleasant one. With that information in hand, you can follow up with them about a review and even offer them discounts to come back. We’ll explore the idea of discounts more later on in the blog, but capturing guests' email addresses is first and foremost for staying in touch to get them to return.
Provide Thoughtful Amenities and Touches Guests Will Want to Come Back To
You know your property better than anyone else, but guests staying there for the first time might not feel as at home as you do. That’s why, in order to encourage guests to come back, it’s important to get things right the first time around by providing thoughtful amenities and touches that your guests will enjoy and want to experience again. This can include things like a hygiene kit in the bathroom for each guest, offering to fully-stock the fridge (for a fee, of course!) before guests arrive, or even adding a big ticket amenity like a hot tub to your property to up your listing’s appeal on booking sites. A great example would be adding a ski/snowboard rack to the home if you're managing vacation rentals in Telluride or other popular skiing destination. If guests feel at home in your space, they’re much more likely to come back to it, and they may even recommend it to friends and family.
Offer Discounts for Repeat Stays and Last-Minute Bookings
Another way to get guests to come back to your vacation home is to offer repeat guests incentives to return, such as discounts for repeat stays, last-minute bookings, and off-season bookings. Rather than just reaching out in order to see if the guest wants to come back, you’re offering them a very good reason to take you up on that offer. You don’t have to offer huge discounts, either–anywhere from 5-15% off will usually motivate guests to rebook with you and ensure that you still make a profit.
Focus on Guest Experience During Their Stay
There’s no easier way to get guests to return to your vacation rental than by making their guest experience worthy of coming back. If a guest has a bad time staying with you, for instance, the likelihood of them returning is quite slim–who wants to repeat a bad vacation, after all?
But if you focus on providing only the best experience for your guests by answering their questions in a quick and efficient manner and by providing them with a clean and welcoming space, you can almost guarantee that they will decide to rebook with you again.
Provide an Easy Way to Book Directly
Direct bookings are an easy way to reduce the burden of distribution site commissions on your bottom line, and with repeat guests, it’s ideal for both parties that you offer a way for them to book with you directly rather than on these sites.
This is where your email list will come in handy. If you’re offering discounts for a last-minute booking or repeated stays, you can provide your guests with a link to book with you directly, cutting out the need to pay travel sites any type of commission. Booking directly also means you can also offer deeper discounts, since you won’t have to account for any type of commission coming into play (other than payment and processing fees, of course), and therefore make booking with you a more attractive option for repeat guests.
More Short-Term Rental Owner Tips and Tricks
Repeat guests are the backbone of a vacation rental owner’s business, and luring in past guests should be one of your top priorities if you’re looking to make your business a successful one.
Looking to become the best short-term rental owner ever? Head on over to our blog to check out some more of our tips and tricks, including our blog on how to deal with bad reviews and our step-by-step guide on using social media to boost your vacation rental.