There are just too many landlords of vacation rentals out there who are still attempting to survive and stand out in a cutthroat industry with a plain ineffective website! When was the last time you looked at your website from a distance? Maybe it’s time for a revision.
We list the seven telltale signs that you need to update your vacation rental website to stay competitive.
1. It is inflexible
The majority of vacations made will be booked using a mobile device, so if your vacation rental website isn’t responsive, you can lose out on a lot of reservations.
Unsure about whether or not your website is responsive? Use Google’s free mobile-friendly testing tool to enter your URL and find out.
Several vacation rental software alternatives available may provide you with a ready-made template that can adjust your site to mobile and tablet devices, keeping you out of problems with Google’s rigorous mobile criteria. You don’t need to be a computer whiz to design a mobile-responsive website.
2. You are unable to accept safe payments
Your prospective renters may not have a lot of faith in your website regarding whether it is real (or not!) if you can’t take reservations but are still accepting cash or checks upon visitor arrival or requesting bank transfers.
In addition to instantly modernizing your website, a straightforward booking system that enables you to take safe, online payments (such as by credit card) can also boost your authority as a vacation rental company.
Credit cards are not just the favored payment option for most younger renters, but they also provide a tonne of advantages for both hosts and guests, particularly in terms of online security, fraud protection, and ease.
3. To produce an update, you need a computer science degree.
The creation of a modern website doesn’t have to be difficult, and updating basic information like your contact information shouldn’t need further help.
Consider moving to a website builder that is easy and recognizes not all of its customers are developers with years of expertise if your vacation rental website provider is out-of-date and it’s challenging to make even the slightest modifications.
You will have access to your website’s CMS (content management system) and backend, allowing you to make any adjustments you need, as simply and fast as you want, whether you design your site using templates like Lodgable’s, or another provider such as WordPress or Wix.
4. It lacks aesthetic appeal
Do you truly want to reserve your vacation rental after taking a step back from your website and placing yourself in your visitors’ position?
If the response is “no,” it’s time for a change.
There are many dos and don’ts when it comes to designing a website for a vacation rental, but first and foremost, you want a stunning site that will enchant and draw in prospective visitors to stay at your house.
This entails high-quality images, a pleasing color palette, simple navigation, and a positive user experience overall. No visitor will go beyond the site without them.
5. Guests are unable to reach you with questions
Is your contact information easy to find on each page of your website? Do you have a simple contact form online? You cannot expect to get any queries at all without these qualities.
Before making a reservation, customers like to get to know the owner personally in addition to choosing a vacation rental because it meets their criteria for location, cost, and facilities. Don’t allow your rivals to get the upper hand since your visitors may be looking at (and enquiring about) several rentals in the region.
Even if you only set up your email to send out a kind autoresponder message when you get a question, this may boost your customer service and encourage a prospective visitor to choose your hotel over one of your rivals.
6. You’re not accepting reservations
Wait, wasn’t this supposed to be the first point? Well, not necessarily, since many owners of vacation rentals rely on listing websites to make reservations, even though there are certain drawbacks to doing so.
Any listing websites you are on should compliment your vacation rental website. Having said that, your customers need to have the freedom to find your website on their own and make reservations there without having to pay any of the additional fees or charges that HomeAway and Airbnb tack on.
It’s time to act if you can’t recall your most recent direct reservation on your vacation rental website. You need to get familiar with SEO, various forms of internet marketing, and social proof to attract traffic (and reservations) to your website. Once you do, you’ll start to see the inquiries come in.
7. The page loads slowly
According to research, more than 50% of internet users say they would leave a website if it takes longer than three seconds to load. Do you want your website to be included among the old, broken websites that prospective visitors avoid visiting?
Since many top providers already do the legwork for you, we won’t bore you with all the methods to optimize your site for quicker load times. Just keep in mind that a visitor who is comparing several vacation rentals to determine which one is right for them may tell all the difference when a website loads quickly!
