Undoubtedly, one of the most well-known websites for booking vacation rentals is Vrbo. Which currently has an amazing two million unique places to stay across 190 countries.
Owners now have a quick and easy option to market their property and start accepting guests, thanks to the growth of home-sharing websites like Vrbo. Researching, narrowing down, and booking a vacation rental is now simpler than ever for vacationers.
As a result, rivalry among owners who want to differentiate themselves from competitors and generate bookings is fierce. The hard work has to be done for you by your listings when you’re up against hundreds of your adversary neighbors.
We can assist you if you need help with how to promote your Vrbo listing best. The top nine techniques to enhance your listing and boost booking conversion are outlined in this helpful article.
Accept online payments and reservations
Travelers like listings with online booking options, and Vrbo has built up its pricing approach to reflect and meet this demand. Owners with annual subscriptions can pay $399 to enable online booking and appear higher in search results; if not, the cost rises to $549.
Therefore, you should start taking online reservations and payments for your rental if you want to avoid facing the consequences from both customers and Vrbo itself.
Respond right away to all inquiries.
Modern travelers have grown accustomed to expecting instant or nearly instantaneous responses to their inquiries, even though responding within 24 hours has been shown to positively improve your Vrbo listing’s quality score. Because of this, you are offering your potential guests the highest caliber of customer service is more crucial than ever. This is especially true if you operate in a crowded rental market.
Remember that time and reaction rate are also factors in your response score. This is determined by calculating the proportion of replies you’ve sent to the last ten inquiries or reservations.
Finish off your host profile.
When choosing between two comparable residences, visitors will likely go with the host who stands out more. Take advantage of appointments just because your rivals thought to fill out their profiles.
You should post a clear photo of yourself that shows you smiling, write a compelling owner biography, and take any other steps necessary to convince potential guests to choose your rental above others. With Quick tools, crafting the perfect bio for your host profile is easy. You can quickly select a template, customize it to reflect your personality and property, and even add links to social media profiles. That way, you can ensure that your profile stands out from the competition and helps you make a great first impression on potential guests.
Take Advantage of Your Real Estate Listing
Your Vrbo listing is your best chance to attract viewers and turn them into bookings, so you should fill it out completely. To best showcase your property, upload up to 24 of your most professionally styled, recent, and high-quality images. Vrbo advises keeping the files large, such as 3840 x 2160 pixels for optimum effects.
To draw in more potential visitors, be sure to have an intriguing headline and well-written listing descriptions.
Avoid canceling reservations
Booking cancellations are a major red flag for Vrbo, and as a result, they may lower your rating. You can label an email as spam in your Vrbo inbox without having to cancel if you are concerned that it might be a fraudulent booking or spam inquiry.
Amass Excellent Reviews
Reviews are crucial on Vrbo, if not more so than anywhere else on the internet. A great persuading tactic for prospective visitors who aren’t sure which property to choose is reading recent positive reviews.
The number of reviews and their age are two elements that Vrbo takes into account when calculating your review quality score. You need at least 12 reviews in this category to achieve the highest score, but don’t stop there. Be this a priority and tell every visitor who stays with you that the more recent the reviews, the better.
Keep calendars current
A precise, up-to-date calendar is essential for attracting new reservations because it informs guests whether or not your property is accessible during the dates they have chosen. Additionally, if you update your calendar in 60 days, Vrbo may keep properties from search results.
You can always enlist the assistance of a channel manager if you have numerous listings, such as on Vrbo and your vacation rental website, to help keep calendars and availability updated across all external listings.
Place Verification
Provide accurate location information to make your Vrbo ad as effective as possible. All you have to do is give Vrbo your property’s legal address. Even though your specific address won’t ever be visible on your listing, this information will aid visitors who are considering reserving your home by orienting them with map search results.
Set Quotable Rates Active
Your home will appear in searches for your location or rate if you enable quotable rates on your Vrbo listing. Travelers have more freedom with quoted rates because they can get immediate quotes for their travel dates without getting in touch with you.
If you take the aforementioned actions, your Vrbo listing will soon be optimized, you’ll rank better in guest search results, and you’ll obtain more reservations for your holiday home.