Smart Vacation Rental Owner Tips for Special Event Marketing
Special events are an equally special opportunity for the smart vacation rental owner. All events qualify for extra marketing efforts, from an annually held local celebration to the winning of a bid as a future venue for a world championship, but with extra profits as the reward.
The Annual Event
Locally held events which occur around the same time every year are excellent ways to add some profit to a rental property's bottom line. Capitalize on seasonal and scheduled attractions that draw visitors to your area such as fall foliage trails, annual festivals, winter carnivals, state and county fairs, etc. and combine the events with the amenities of the property. Example, "Watch the Autumn Harvest parade from your large upper deck."
The World Event
A property may be located in a region chosen to host a national or world event, including sporting events, conferences, seminars, etc. For example, vacation rental owners on and around the southern coast of South Africa are gearing up for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. When an event is taking place, like the World Cup, where there are multiple venues with the entire event occurring over the course of one month, properties located within a reasonable traveling distance of those venues can tremendously increase a vacation rental's desirability.
The Marketing Event
As soon as an event is scheduled or announced, or four months before an annual event, make updates to any and all listings online. For the World Cup for example, a vacation rental owner there might place a statement at the top of their listing - or in the title even - regarding availability for the event with some words to highlight why the property is ideally located and/or why it would appeal to a sports fan traveling to South Africa to be a spectator at one of the largest athletic events in the world.
If the property's area event is not quite as coveted as the FIFA World Cup, the smart vacation rental owner can still note the home's availability for the event somewhere in the listing description and keep it there at all times. As the event approaches, move it up towards the top, eventually adding to the title if a vacancy still exists four months prior to the event. When marketing multiple seasonal and scheduled events and attractions, prioritize events in the listing description by date and list with the closest or most current event on top.
The Pricing Event
When deciding how much to charge special event accommodations, consider first what other area lodgings are charging for that same time period. Look at hotels, bed and breakfasts, other vacation homes, etc. Then come up with a baseline average and add or subtract based on the features your property has or doesn't have in comparison to other like properties.
Some research may be required to determine what that audience for that event sees as value-added lodging. What does the property have that they need or want? Play up all of the things that set a vacation rental apart from a hotel with differences that matter to the typical traveler for each particular event.
A competitively priced property with continuous and targeted event marketing can bring a vacation rental owner a boost in annual profits - and that's a very special event indeed.
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Organising events that run in conjunction with other popular events is a great way to take advantage of the buzz associated with those more popular events, since the major events are spending big money and drawing in huge crowds, it would be silly not to!
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