Discounting Strategies That Net More Bookings
In a perfect world, advertising your vacation rental properties or other private accommodations would work flawlessly. Advertisements would be run on your own website and listing sites, friendly guests pay full price and you fill your rentals months in advance. We, of course, don’t live in a perfect world. There may be times where […]
VRMA 2016 Conference Recap
I just returned from the VRMA 2016 Annual Conference in Chandler, Arizona for the first time as solo marketing consultant. I was fortunate to previously travel to the conference through my previous agency employer but am pleased to say this year was great as well. VRMA events are such a fantastic way to catch up with people, […]
What Would It Take To Unseat A Large Listing Site?
About once a month, I get an email from the contact page on this very website that has this rough outline: I’m upset that HomeAway/VRBO/Flipkey changed their rules. I wish things could go back to the way they used to be. Why isn’t there another listing site? Someone could make buckets of cash if they […]
How To Get More Email Subscribers (Without Annoying Your Guests)
I’ll have to confess: this post is part rant and part strategy. In addition to being a marketing consultant, I am of course an avid internet user outside of consulting work. I research stuff, buy things and book trips online just like the guests I find for my clients. And, as a consumer, I despise poor […]
Should You Use Live Chat On Your Website?
As part of my client work, it’s common that I deal with software recommendations for best results. By far, one of the most common questions that I get is asking about live chat software: how to use it, what tool to pick and if it’s an effective tool for generating bookings. Like many answers […]
Find New Places To Get Bookings For Your Rental Properties
Every client I work with, from a single-property owner vacation rental to a 500+ room hotel has one thing in common: a limited marketing budget. The numbers (dollars) may be vastly different in terms of overall budget, but I’ve yet to work with a client that has an unlimited marketing budget (by the way, if […]
How Much Competitive Research Is Enough?
We all do it. Competitive research. Keeping an eye on your competitors is important — you want to know what the landscape of what your rental market is like. But, with some clients I’ve worked with, the need to research the competition ranges from an unhealthy obsession to an apathetic indifference. In this post, I’d like […]
Small Budget Advertising For Vacation Rental Owners
As a marketing consultant, I love having clients with big advertising budgets. Besides the obvious facts of that typically meaning higher retainers and revenue for me, it also lets me work with one of my most favorite techniques: testing. Big budgets let you allocate 75-85% of your marketing budget to the high-value advertising tactics. For many […]
