1. Choosing Paid and Free Vacation Rentals Sites
There are literally hundreds of vacation rental sites that you
can use to advertise your vacation rental property, varying from
very well established to brand new sites. With so many choices
available, where should you seek to list your property? Should
you stick with one or two of the established sites or should you
hedge your bets and list on several different sites?
We recently completed research among vacation rental owners into
the number of sites on which they advertise their property. The
results were quite interesting.
2. How Many Paid Vacation Rental Sites ?
It's clear that most vacation home owners rely heavily on
vacation rental listing sites to generate bookings.
Approximately half of the owners surveyed said they get more
than 75% of their vacation rental bookings using paid listing
sites. Hence, it is not surprising that most vacation rental
owners choose to advertise on more than one paid listing site.
Our research indicates usage of "paid" vacation rentals sites as
follows:
4% of Owners don't use any "paid" sites
8% of Owners use 1 "paid" site
23% of Owners use 2 "paid" sites
27% of Owners use 3 "paid" sites
14% of Owners use 4 "paid" sites
14% of Owners use 5 "paid" sites
11% of Owners use more than 5 "paid" sites
For most vacation rental owners, listing on 3 sites is probably
about right. This allows you to market to different types of
renters, as well as hedging your bets against the inevitable
peaks and valleys that many vacation rental sites go through.
Depending on your budget, you may want to consider slightly more
or less, but with 65% of vacation property owners listing on 3
or more sites, it's clear that multiple listings are the way to
go!
For a comparison of many of the leading paid sites, visit
http://www.compareownerholidayrentals.com/ )
3. Should You Also Use Free Sites?
In addition to listings on paid sites, most owners surveyed also
list on "free" vacation rental sites. These vary from
permanently free sites (usually with an option to upgrade to a
"paid" ad with more features), to sites that offer free trial
periods followed by a paid subscription. However, there is a
much wider variance in the degree to which owners use these
sites. Our research indicates usage of "free" vacation rentals
sites as follows:
14% of Owners don't use any "free" sites
12% of Owners use 1 "free" site
10% of Owners use 2 "free" sites
18% of Owners use 3 "free" sites
6% of Owners use 4 "free" sites
4% of Owners use 5 "free" sites
36% of Owners use more than 5 "free" sites
Some owners are skeptical of the value of placing listings on
free sites and several commented that they are simply not worth
the hassle. However, 86% of owners list on at least one free
site and 36% on more than five! Hence, it is probably worth
listing on at least some of these sites as well. In particular,
it's worth using the "free trials" to see if the site generates
sufficient enquiries to consider later converting to a paid
listing. However, the results are more likely to be erratic than
the paid vacation rentals sites and you should be prepared for
the fact that the number of enquiries is likely to a lot lower
than on the paid sites.
4. Conclusions
If you are a vacation rental owner using the Internet to
generate rental bookings, then you should list on as least three
and possibly more paid vacation rental sites. In addition, you
should also list on a number of free vacation rental sites to
maximize your bookings.
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