During peak season your holiday let may be fully booked for weeks. However when off season arrives you could be left with an empty property for weeks if you don’t plan ahead.
The good news is there are lots of ways to ensure your holiday rental remains booked up for as long as possible.
Read the following suggestions and see which ones could work for you.
Get in touch with past visitors
Past visitors are often the easiest ones to sell to, as they know exactly what they’re getting. Create a newsletter to send to all your past customers and enquirers to remind them about your property.
Let them know why they should visit during off season periods. Quieter surroundings, plenty of attractions still open and the potential for walking holidays could all work well.
Run promotions
Your mind is the only limitation you have to consider here. You could offer seven nights for the price of four. You could offer a free welcome hamper packed with local produce and goodies to welcome them on arrival. Free tickets to a local attraction or a free meal with drinks (up to a certain value) at the local pub would appeal as well. How many more ideas can you think of?
Advertise shorter stays
Some holiday lets work on a week by week basis, offering Friday to Friday or Saturday to Saturday lets say for example. During the off season weeks, people may not want to commit to a full week away, particularly if they only have a limited amount of holiday time remaining to them.
So why not split each week into two or three segments and see what happens? You can offer two or three night stays, offering one as a midweek break and another one as a long weekend. See what works for you.
Update your website content
If you tend to focus your website content around the high season, see whether you can refocus it to appeal to the off season period instead. Think of some reasons why people should visit during off peak times. Which attractions near to your holiday let are still open? What is worth doing at these times of the year?
Think about what your holiday let has to offer at times when the weather may not be as good either. You have to convince people your holiday property would be an ideal place to visit for a few days in, say, February or perhaps October. Perhaps you have a spa nearby people could go to for the day. Think of other indoor activities to suggest as well.
Don’t leave people to figure out their own reasons for coming to your holiday rental outside of the most popular times of the year. Give them plenty of ideas and you’ll soon have more bookings than you had at the same times last year. When you change your focus and find a different way to connect with people, you will reap the rewards accordingly.
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