
Owning unique holiday rentals or glamping businesses can be challenging. While we love the growth this experiential hospitality is enjoying, it brings with it an increase in competition, a rise in guest expectations, troubling technology and the need to get super-focused on marketing.
If you are wanting to sell unique vacation rentals, hospitality accommodation stays, become home and family hosts or vacation rental managers, offering anything where you need to reach more potential guests and persuade them to book their valuable vacation time with you, you’ve got to face a harsh reality right now, that this is a very marketing heavy business.
In this article I aim to share some of the key ingredients of running a successful unique holiday rental or glamping business and share my eBook… *Mastering Unique Holiday Rentals And Glamping Business Marketing* for those who already have or are aiming to set something up.
If you would like to find out more about how to start a glamping business and are just at the beginning of your journey, make sure you read this article on Inspired Camping, which is full of helpful tips and links for more resources.
If you are already keen to get started and need the business plan templates and cash flow examples to help you move forward, then you can find those here. For promoting your unique holiday business, read on.
The Business Of Holiday Rentals In 2022
Vacation rentals – especially unique vacation rentals – need a great marketing strategy to achieve their full potential. So if you are not generating the sales you want, attracting the audience you want, the number of guests and customers you’d like and you are not getting the bookings you want or achieving the occupancy rates you need, then the chances are the level of mastery in your marketing is the problem.
But this is good news!
Why?
Because this means if you aren’t getting the bookings you want then it’s not your business that’s the problem. It’s not that people don’t want to stay with you or book a holiday in your beautiful vacation rental. That’s just you getting stuck in a damaging mindset. Instead, know this…
…you simply need to work on mastering your marketing and finding out what works in this unique industry.
Holiday Rental And Glamping Business Success
Great marketing is the engine driving your business forward, even if you are just hosting at home. If you want to increase sales in any holiday rentals business then better marketing is the answer.
I am often asked what the earning potential for unique holiday rentals is in this industry. I have those facts and figures and the possibility of making money from unique hospitality is very real, however, those statistics are not as important as you might think.
Instead, there’s a more important question.
The right question to ask is… how can those guest bookings and that earning potential be achieved?
And the answer is… by mastering your marketing!
You can not build a profitable business around your services without great marketing. Without great marketing, you won’t have great sales. And spending all of your time developing the perfect service without thinking about how to market it could cost you months of time and money.
Maybe you’re experiencing that now with your unique holiday rentals?
All holiday rental owners are aiming for the same goal, no matter whether they offer woodland retreats, safari tent experiences, treehouses, bell tents, butler and boutique services or small bespoke hideaways.
The goal of achieving a high level of bookings, making a profitable business and successfully earning a living can be achieved, but it takes work and getting your marketing right is the key.
But what exactly is great marketing and why do so many vacation rental professionals get it wrong?
Unique Vacation Rental Success = Great Marketing!
It is simply the process of creating demand for your services in the marketplace. The better you do this the more selling becomes obsolete and you can sit back and let your marketing do the selling for you.
I’m sure you join me in thinking that the last thing you want to do is sleazy and pushy selling… and a great marketing system will help you avoid this.
But you might be thinking the best thing to do is rely on online booking agencies.
But they are in business to make money too and their commission charges with taxes can reach the sky-high limits of 40-50%. That means for every booking they make, you will only receive half of it… while you do all the work.
I don’t know about you, but to me, that doesn’t sound like a great strategy.
In recent years, partly due to increased commissions and the changing ways of how travellers now book their accommodation, online marketing has really started to help owners to stand out from the crowd and generate those precious commission-free direct bookings. These direct bookings come with much lower costs and therefore higher profits.
Glamping business and unique holiday rentals usually do not have a shop front or a largely guaranteed foot-fall outside their premises, unlike a shop in the middle of a town. This means the business owner has to go out and find their customers. But this can lead many to shrink back in horror as they realise they may have to sell their services and do that online.
However, there is a way to avoid this completely.
By plugging the gaps in your marketing knowledge, learning from the experts and gaining tips from those who are already doing the work. This allows you to focus on what works and ignore what doesn’t.
But marketing is a massive topic that can leave you overwhelmed, stressed and confused about where to start.
This is where we’ve made it easy for you.
Unique Holiday Rentals Marketing For Beginners
We’ve put together a FREE industry-specific guide to getting your business visible and attracting bookings to secure the future success and prosperity of your unique holiday rentals business with the *Mastering Unique Holiday Rentals And Glamping Business Marketing* eBook.
This eBook shows you the most effective type of marketing for holiday rentals and glamping businesses and comes with advice about how to get your business visible online… even if you are an absolute beginner.
It also includes the top 8 priorities for any, one-(wo)man marketing team… recommendations we have pulled from our own marketing efforts and what we know works well.
To grab your copy of this eBook visit this free resources page and sign up to receive further marketing inspirations, tips and advice from Sarah Riley of Inspired Courses.
Shortly after signing up below, you will be sent your copy of the guide. Also, you can sign up to the supportive Facebook Group fully of like-minded unique holiday rental and glamping businesses.
About The Author
Sarah is a professionally qualified business coach and trainer. She is also the Founder of Inspired Camping and Inspired Courses, helping unique holiday rental and glamping businesses launch quickly and jump ahead of the competition. She jointly owned a 5-star boutique hospitality business for over a decade, has been working in the glamping industry for over 7 years and has 20 years marketing experience.