Few holiday let owners constructively think about making their accommodation appeal to the right audience. Yet every holiday rental property has its ideal audience. Are you promoting yours to the right group of people?
Imagine you have a one bedroom luxury penthouse with a hot tub. In this case you’d be better off not targeting families. By contrast, honeymoon couples and those looking for a romantic getaway would be ideal.
On the other hand, you might have a property near Euro Disney with three bedrooms and plenty of facilities nearby. In this case targeting families would be the obvious choice. Every property can be marketed to the right audience – you just have to figure out which audience your property is ideal for.
Step one – identifying that audience
The best way to identify the perfect audience for your holiday let is to think about your property and its features. Does it have a garden? How many bedrooms does it have? Is it in a family friendly setting? Does it have a hot tub or a sauna? Where is it situated? Is it in a busy location or a relaxed one in the middle of nowhere?
Once you identify it you’ll know who it suits. A city pad will be best for couples or friends. A villa by the sea will attract families or groups of people. Who will be attracted to your property?
Step two – marketing to that audience
Once you know which audience to aim for, you can set about adjusting your website to appeal to them. Know who you will and won’t accept before you do this, so you can give the appropriate information. For example, some larger properties do not accept all female or male groups. These are often hen and stag dos, some of which can get out of hand. Would you be happy to let your property to a party like this?
Your task is to know what your ideal customer is looking for in your accommodation, and to provide it on your website. Think back to that property near Euro Disney for example. Families looking to book a holiday let near there will need to know how many bedrooms it has, what kind of self catering facilities it has and how close to the theme park it is. Thus you could give directions from your property to Euro Disney, so they know how easy it is (and how long it takes) to get from one to the other.
You can see now how important it is to identify your audience before marketing your property. This allows you to market it in the right way, so you get more interest and more enquiries for bookings. If you do it right you should get fewer questions too, because you’ll have pre-empted them all. If your bookings go up, you know you’re on the right track.
Very informative.