Whether you’re a seasoned holiday let owner or just venturing into the world of holiday lets, navigating the competitive market can be daunting. So, if you’re looking for tips on holiday let advertising to increase your bookings and revenue, you’re in the right place.
From maximising your property’s appeal to reaching your target market effectively, we’ve put together some tips to help you boost your bookings.
Holiday Let Advertising
Click the quick links below for a specific topic or read on for tips on holiday let advertising:
Make sure you understand your target audience
Now that you’ve purchased your holiday let, you want to ask yourself a simple yet important question – who is my property best suited for? The best way to work this out is to look at your property’s features, what it’s close to, and the guest experience you want to deliver. You want to make sure these match your intended target market.
While focusing on one main target market is important, you should also make sure your property appeals to as many people as possible to maximise bookings. By appealing to couples, families, dog owners, hikers, and walkers you’ll be able to stretch your bookings into the shoulder months as well as the peak school holidays.
At Helpful Holidays, our access to national and regional marketing allows us to advertise your holiday let more effectively. Our research shows that staycation bookings in the UK are made up of around 40% couples, 27% adult groups, 2% solo travellers, and 31% families. Be sure to consider this when advertising and marketing certain features of your holiday let.
Photos sell
Ever heard the phrase ‘a picture’s worth a thousand words’? Nothing has been more true when it comes to marketing your holiday let. High-quality, professional images are vital when it comes to showing off your holiday let. They will really help to sell the experience to your intended target market.
At Helpful Holidays, our New Property Consultants use top-of-the-range equipment to take high quality images of your holiday home, which are then edited by our Digital Media Team. When it comes to displaying these images, our market-leading website uses algorithms to determine which order is best for the images based on which ones customers engage with.
Photographs are included as part of our service to owners. You also have the option to organise professional photography yourself if you wish.
Be creative with your content
Now you’ve got those all-important photos, you’ll want to make your property stand out from the crowd even more. How? With a well-written, creative property description. When writing your holiday let description, always keep your target market at the forefront of your mind and use a fairly informal tone to attract potential customers.
Be sure to include the following:
- Your property’s features and facilities
- Information on the local area including things to do, shops, points of interest, and places to eat
Not keen on writing the description yourself? At Helpful Holidays, our team will take care of it for you. We use a specific structure to ensure it appears in relevant Google searches. We use a combination of descriptive text and an informative summary so your guests are able to picture themselves moving around your property before they’ve even clicked the ‘book now’ button.
Sites to advertise holiday lets on
To maximise your property’s visibility, you’ll want to get it on as many holiday letting websites as you can. This can be tricky to do by yourself, but at Helpful Holidays we can do this for you.
All our properties are listed on both the Helpful Holidays website and our parent site, Sykes Holiday Cottages. However, that’s not all, we also give owners the chance to advertise their property on over 700 specially selected partner sites. These sites include booking.com, Snaptrip!, and Airbnb.
We also work with a range of local tourist boards and affiliate sites to ensure that our brand is visible across the South West of England.
Social media
Leveraging the power of Social Media to market your holiday let has never been more important. Recent research shows that more people are using social media than ever before, with the typical user spending around 15% of their waking life on at least one social media platform.
Facebook continues to be the preferred platform used by older social media users, so it’s one platform to consider when marketing your holiday let. Research also shows that users aged 16 to 24 are less likely to have a Facebook profile, so making sure you are on several social media platforms, including Instagram, is key to getting your property out there.
A consumer survey showed that 9 in 10 people buy from brands they follow on social media, so having a presence on these platforms is vital. Gaining a presence online can take time and effort, which is why owners who let their property through Helpful Holidays have an advantage over those who do it themselves.
We are constantly optimising our social media to increase our brand presence and website traffic, driving guests to your property in turn. Guests who have a question can also message us directly for a quick response, establishing trust and building on our brand reputation.
Magazines and print publications
In a digital society, print is still a highly effective marketing strategy. At Helpful Holidays, we always recommend a mix of both offline and online marketing to maximise your holiday home’s bookings and revenue.
You’ll want to consider the types of publications your intended guests might be looking to determine where will be best to place your print ads. Consider publications like tourist information brochures, local tourist guides, or newspapers. Helpful Holidays’ press marketing strategy means we advertise in a number of local publications like Dartmoor Magazine, Moor Links and the Exmouth Journal, as well as larger national titles like Coast.
Good ads will always have a call to action, which invites the guest to do something, whether that’s to make a booking, connect on social media, or scan a QR code.
By using an experienced holiday letting agency like Helpful Holidays, all of the marketing and advertising of your holiday property will be taken care of. We use tried and tested techniques to attract as many customers as possible to our brand websites, which in turn generates bookings for our owners’ properties.
Pricing
At Helpful Holidays, we know that working out how much to charge for your holiday let can be difficult. That’s why we use a dynamic pricing tool to actively adjust prices in line with demand. When demand is higher we increase your rate to maximise your income, and when demand is lower, we decrease your rates to secure more bookings.
We will never let rates drop below a base rate which we agree with you in advance. In 2023, our research found that owners who used our dynamic pricing had 20% more revenue and 5 additional bookings compared to those who did not.
Thinking of letting with us? We can provide a free income proposal that details your expected income across the year as well as high and low season rates.
Repeat guests
Retaining guests is your biggest asset. Having previous customers come back time and time again will cost you less than new guests.
Great ways to encourage guests to come back to your property include:
- Detailed information packs
- Welcome gifts
- Responding to guest feedback
- Taking note of recommendations
- Making necessary improvements in a timely manner
- Sending out ‘welcome back’ offers in the form of discounts for future stays
- Personalised emails or mailings
Benefits of using a holiday letting agency for holiday let advertising
Marketing and advertising your holiday let on your own is often time-consuming and involves a lot of hard work. Using a holiday letting agency to advertise and market your holiday let can have several benefits. Here are 8 key benefits to help you decide whether using a holiday letting agency like Helpful Holidays is right for you:
Professional marketing expertise
Our team of industry experts are highly skilled in marketing properties to potential holidaymakers. They understand market trends, target demographics, and which advertising channels are best to maximise visibility and bookings.
At Helpful Holidays, we have a £35 million annual marketing budget and are proud to be part of the Sykes Cottages brand. This allows us to offer owners local and national marketing to maximise revenue and bookings. All properties listed on the Helpful Holidays website are also listed on Sykes’ website.
Wider reach
Alongside market-leading websites, Helpful Holidays has a broad network of partner sites where we can list your properties. We have over 700 specially selected partner sites including Airbnb and Booking.com, to bring our owners the best chances of gaining bookings.
We also have a wide range of small affiliate sites and local tourist boards, to ensure that our brand is visible across the South West.
Expert advice & professional support
Holiday letting agencies can provide valuable advice and insights on everything from pricing strategies and legal compliance to property management and guest expectations. By using a local holiday letting agency, you can also gain valuable information on the local area and marketing insights that will help maximise your revenue.
Holiday letting agencies are also on hand if any issues arise during a guest’s stay. This ensures that guests have a positive experience and you don’t have to worry about being close to your phone 24/7. At Helpful Holidays, we have a dedicated team who will be there should any emergencies arise, so you can rest assured your guests are well looked after.
Overall, using a holiday letting agency for advertising and marketing your holiday let offers convenience, expertise, and peace of mind, so you can focus on other aspects of property ownership whilst maximising your income potential.
Learn more about South West Holiday Let Management on our blog.
Why Helpful Holidays?
Helpful Holidays has a team of industry experts who specialise in property management, reservations, finance, and administration. We pride ourselves on delivering a personalised service to our customers and holiday let owners.
Based in the South West, with a local office in Chagford, as well as a team at our national Sykes office, we offer a combination of local service and national marketing power. We have built up our brand reputation over several years, meaning Helpful Holidays can be seen everywhere from local tourist information centres to your potential guests’ Google searches.
To start your journey with Helpful Holidays, get in touch with our team today! Request your FREE owners pack or call us on 01647 403014.
