Maximise your bookings

We find out how best to market your holiday home from the List Assisters team.

At the first Short Stay Show at London’s Excel earlier this year, the List Assisters team learned from fellow industry professionals that over two thirds of all private accommodation bookings globally are made either via Airbnb, Booking.com or Expedia (HomeAway). This means that if you’re not listing with the online travel agency (OTA) mega-brands, you could seriously be missing out on bookings.

“if you’re not listing with the online travel agency (OTA) mega-brands, you could seriously be missing out on bookings”

Agents know this too and many of them use OTAs as well as their own websites to market their clients’ portfolio of properties. But there are a few downsides to having your lettings agent market your property via OTAs.

Firstly, agents’ fees are in the region of 20 to 30% (plus VAT) of your rental income, whereas Airbnb and HomeAway’s listing fees are between 4% and 8%. Secondly, all of the hard work that goes into generating fabulous five star reviews; the gorgeous facilities you provide, the immaculate housekeeping and excellent guest experience – all of these end up as reviews for the agent and not you!

List Assisters’ Clare Rutt says: “By all means work with a letting agent, especially one that’s an expert on your location or your type of property, but do also employ an online strategy. It’s super easy to get your property listed yourself on any of the OTAs. The more the merrier frankly, since each OTA has its own loyal customer base.”

List Assisters’ recommendation when it comes to renewing your agency contract would be to seriously consider a DIY option to your OTA listings and combine that with working with your letting agent to spread your marketing efforts as widely as possible, for the best return.

Obviously taking a DIY approach to some of this work might not be for everyone, due to a lack of time or know-how, and that’s where List Assisters can help. The team offer fixed price packages to get your OTA listing(s) up and running and after that if you’d like help with tasks such as handling your direct bookings, communicating with guests, taking care of arrivals/departures and coordinating with your cleaners can all be done on an as-needed basis.

So when your lettings contract comes up for review, why not give the lovely team at List Assisters a call to discuss your options?

List Assisters

0333 3207 357 

hello@listassisters.com

www.listassisters.com