Rental Upgrades To Make Prior To The Holidays

Let’s set the scene. You’ve been waiting months on end to finally get out and travel after lockdowns, travel restrictions and other uncertainties keeping you stuck at home. Having spent so long staring at the same four walls at home, you want – no, need – a trip that offers something different, and ideally, an accomodation where they have really gone the extra mile to make your stay amazing.

That’s why if you’re a rental property manager, it’s a no-brainer – this market of eager travelers is one that you need to tap into for the holiday season. But how exactly can you ensure your rentals are primed and ready to welcome holiday visitors? 

Here are four ways you can upgrade your rentals for the holidays to ensure you are well-equipped for this coming season and well into the New Year, too.

1. Invest In Marketing 
With more and more people turning to online shopping to get through the monotony of lockdown, it’s imperative for you to be seen by your target customers in as many ways as possible.

To do this relies on having an effective marketing strategy in place that includes tactics such as:

• Utilizing social media platforms and engaging with your followers 
• Understanding how to rank successively on booking channels
• Offering incentives to encourage bookings 
• Encouraging user-generated content
• Using targeted advertising wisely

In essence, how well you market yourself will determine whether a potential guest chooses to stay with you or not. Therefore, work on building your online presence and think about how your business comes across to your target consumer. Then, invest in any areas you feel that your marketing efforts could use improvement. 

2. Refresh Your Beds & Heating System
Investing in how your rentals look can be just as important as how you market them. After all, you want to make sure the guest experience is as positive as possible. While your budget will certainly impact how much you are able to do in this area, if you are going to prioritize anything, start with the beds.

Having a decent bed available can make or break the stay for many guests, which means the better quality your bed is, the more comfortable your guests are going to feel staying with you.

Additionally, with winter on its way and temperatures quickly plummeting in some areas, it’s crucial to make sure your rentals are equipped with functioning heating systems. If they are no longer working, this is an area you will absolutely want to invest in to ensure your guests remain satisfied. 

3. Upgrade Your Internet
With remote work now the new normal, WiFi is something any guest will expect to be standard in a rental. To really impress your guests, upgrading to a strong and speedy internet connection is a quick and easy way to drastically improve your guests’ experience. 

4. Refine Your Internal Processes
Several forms of AI-based software are available to streamline property management operations and ultimately, help make the entire booking process easier for you and your guests.

Whether it be automatically responding to initial booking inquiries, sifting through emails, prioritizing tasks, logging maintenance requests or recording data, property management software (PMS) systems are designed to free up hours of your time, enabling you to focus on what matters most: your guests.

By investing in these systems ahead of the holidays, or after during the low season, you will not make your team’s life much easier and ensure nothing falls through the cracks, making for top-notch guest stays.  

Prepped For Success  
In light of the coronavirus pandemic, we know how important it is for your business to finish out the year strong and bring in as many holiday bookings as possible. By utilizing marketing and technology in the right way and making relevant property upgrades where required, you can help ensure your property not only gets seen by more people but enjoyed by more people, too!