Top 5 Common Mistakes Made by Vacation Rental Owners
Welcome to the Quest Cottages Blog, where we’re passionate about helping you maximise your holiday rental’s potential! Are you struggling to attract bookings or find it overwhelming to manage your property effectively? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered.
In this article, we’ll delve into the top five common mistakes made by holiday property owners and show you how Quest Cottages can be your ultimate solution. From investing in professional-quality images to optimising pricing, leveraging multiple booking channels, providing comprehensive property information, and taking the stress out of property management, we’ll guide you towards success in the vacation rental market. Let’s dive in and transform your holiday rental venture into a thriving business! Apply to join the Quest Cottages family today and experience the difference.
1. Failing to invest in good-quality images
First impressions count, so it’s important to make sure you invest in professional-quality photos to promote your property online. These images should effectively highlight your property, capturing its distinctive features and appealing selling points that set it apart. Since these photos serve as your digital selling platform, you need to ensure your photos are not grainy, dark, or blurry.
Here at Quest Cottages, we offer free professional property photography for every property we host.
2. Not optimising pricing
The price you charge for your property will depend on several factors including the season, the local competition, current property rental rates, national holidays, agent commission and more. It’s important to have your ear to the ground and understand the current market to stay ahead of the curve. It’s a common misconception that if you charge less money, you will take more bookings. This can be true on occasion, but it is best to keep your pricing in line with the current market to ensure long-term revenue.
If you choose to list your property with Quest Cottages, we will do the hard work for you. We manage your rental rates, bookings, cleaning, maintenance and deposits so that all you have to do is sit back and enjoy the additional income.
3. Not taking advantage of multiple bookings channels
It makes sense for your property to be on as many holiday lettings channels as possible. However, managing multiple booking channels can be tedious, time consuming and prone to error. Luckily when you chose to work with Quest Cottages, you only need to add your details once and we will do the rest. Your property will be listed on all major channels including Airbnb, Vebo, Tripadvisor, bookings.com and more.
4. Insufficient or inadequate property information
The devil is in the detail, especially when promoting your property online. Potential guests need to know exactly what amenities they can expect at a glance. Features such as a hot tub, a log burner, or even a pet-friendly property can be huge selling points. But equally, guests will want to see all of the available amenities for the property.
The Quest Cottages onboarding process includes a detailed digital checklist for you to fill out to make the process as easy as possible.
5. Managing your property rental yourself
Managing a holiday rental property can be a time-consuming job with lots to consider. Your lettings calendar needs to be kept up to date in case you intend to use your property yourself. Guests need to be responded to, you need to set up and update your property as necessary, and make sure your pricing is appropriate.
When you are juggling multiple holiday lettings platforms this job becomes even more difficult. There is also maintenance, deposits and cleaning to manage. A holiday lettings agency like Quest Cottages can manage this all for you.
Do you want to take the stress out of your holiday let?