Marketing a holiday let covers a broad range of disciplines used to generate enquiries and bookings. Broadly speaking, this covers researching the competition and identifying the target market, creating marketing material and promoting the let via offline and online channels.

There are two main options here, do it yourself or using a letting agent who will charge a % commission on bookings taken; an option which is explored elsewhere on this site.

Defining the process in these three steps will help generate more bookings at the optimum letting rate.

Research

This will help you to understand the competition and supply of properties in the local area. How many similar properties are available in the same area and how well do they book at different times of the year. Many properties or letting agencies have a website with pricing and availability so it is easy to identify the competition, look at their prices and benchmark future booking levels. Pricing in particular is sensitive to the time of year and reflects demand (high in the summer and school holidays) and temperature at different times of the year.

Marketing Material

This includes the creation of a website, printed materials such as a brochure, photographs of the property and area, and written descriptions for the property and the area. Creating the image for the holiday let is key to successful letting and this can be done through well taken photography, showing the property in detail on a bright, sunny day. The inclusion of photographs and information about the surrounding area and activities and attractions is also important – this will give guests re-assurance that there is much to do in the area and they will have a great holiday.

One interesting aspect of the holiday let is the name of the property. If it currently has a street address, such as 18 North Street, consider a name which reflects the property’s personality. For example, a coastal property could take the name of Seagull Cottage or Beach View, and an inland property on a fishing lake may be given the name Lake View House.

Promotion

This aspect involves the generation of enquiries through offline and online activities. Advertising the property in newspapers and magazines was traditionally popular for holiday lets, though has now been surpassed by online advertising through the likes of search engine marketing and holiday directories. If you are targeting a particular market, such as walkers or pre-school families, a targeted magazine advert may be worth investigating.

Online promotion includes Search Engine Marketing, ensuring the property appear on Google, Yahoo and other search engines for relevant terms, listing the property on holiday letting directories and official tourist websites for your area, and advertising the property on other high profile local or regional websites which can drive traffic to your website. Social media, such as blogging, Facebook and Twitter has become very popular though it is important to identify and understand how they work and can contribute to bookings before entering into a commitment to update and manage a blog, for example.