Today, vacation homes and apartments are predominantly booked via large booking portals and/or via the website. Therefore, digital marketing via the net has become indispensable, with portals wanting to earn a share of your profits.
The following is about why owners of a vacation home or apartment should in any case also present and market their property on their own website instead of just relying on booking portals.
1) No fees and commission for booking portals
In addition to the commissions you pay to platforms like Airbnb or Booking.com, your customers also have to pay commissions. In total, commissions quickly add up to around 20% per booking.
With your own website, which acts best as a supplement to the portals, you can either pocket the commissions on bookings or share them with the customer by simply offering lower prices on your website.
Returning guests in particular prefer to book directly with the provider instead of taking the detour via a booking portal. This is true for hotels as well as for vacation rentals. Just put a business card in your apartment and refer to your website for future bookings :)
0 % commission on the website booking
2) Online visibility as a serious figurehead.
Nowadays, every established company has its own website. If this is not the case, it makes a rather dubious impression on the clientele. Of course, the same applies to the rental business of your vacation apartment or vacation home.
Potential vacationers are usually looking - even if they have found your vacation home in a portal - for additional information about the object and the surroundings. Take advantage of this and present your vacation home even more extensively than is possible in a portal with many restrictions.
At the same time, you can motivate potential vacationers to book the trip directly on your website - among other things, with lower prices, since they do not have to pay commissions when booking through the website.
Combine the offer in the portal and on your website
3) Freedom in the presentation of your vacation apartment or vacation home
Design your website the way you want it. When using fewofy templates, you can easily make changes in the Wix editor via drag & drop and customize the website 100% the way you want it. Unlike portals, you are not limited in the number of pages, images and texts.
This means that you can add as many reviews, local tips, blog articles and details about additional services such as bike rental and special offers or directions as you like - without any restrictions.
4) "When is the apartment available?"
With many of today's websites of vacation apartments or vacation homes, the potential vacationer is faced with the question of availability. The question can often only be clarified by a phone call, an email or by filling out an inquiry form.
Nowadays, however, a potential vacationer assumes that the question will be clarified immediately in the form of a booking calendar. Even better: the website visitors can book the free periods directly.
The advantage of this for you as a landlord:in: You save time answering inquiries, maintaining the calendar and can thus sit back and relax.
Have we convinced you yet that you need a vacation rental homepage? Otherwise, feel free to contact the fewofy team with any questions. It's high time that you as a landlord:take the reins in your own hands and control your own destiny - instead of being completely dependent on large booking portals.