How to Create A Great Vacation Rental Property

After possibly years of considering to leap into vacation home ownership, looking through thousands of properties online, struggling to narrow down to your favorites, and eventually getting a great deal, you can now finally call yourself an Orlando vacation homeowner. Now what? Honestly, owning a vacation rental can be an excellent source of passive income, but it’s not just enough to own a vacation rental property and rent it out. You must put in some work and make it worthwhile for guests to spend their money on. You must offer more than expected to stand out from the crowd. This will ensure that your property is rented throughout the year. So, how can you attract top dollar renting and get repeat clients? How can you ensure that you get the most from short-term renting? Well, create a great vacation home, and you’ll not have to worry about bookings, ratings, and profits. Let’s have a look at some of the things you can do to create a great vacation rental home. 1. Update Your Amenities Successful vacation rental managers and owners know that the first rule of the thumb in real estate is: spend money to create money. The amenities at your Orlando vacation home can make all the difference. Your vacation home will either be just an ordinary rental property or a high-end property depending on the upfront investment you’ve made. Your amenities should reflect the location of your vacation home, the type of services offered, and the type of guests you expect to host. Ensure that you invest in functional amenities that will attract more repeat clients and referrals. Some of the most sought after amenities include: • Upgrade your kitchen: A previous survey by Cost Vs. Value Report highlighted that even a minor kitchen upgrade could provide up to 80% ROI during resell. That’s enormous value right there. Kitchen upgrades cannot be overemphasized. For the ultimate guest experience, invest in quality kitchen appliances and provide your guests with a complimentary breakfast. • Bedroom Amenities: Make sure you provide your guests with quality bedroom amenities including premium beddings and pillows, sleeping masks, earplugs, white noise players, alarm clocks and a sound system. • Bathroom amenities: Make your bathroom luxurious and relaxing. Pamper your guests with Toiletries, Fresh Fluffy Towels, and Hair appliances. • Fast and convenient Wi-Fi • Air Conditioning • Cable Tv or streaming services • Family friendly games • DVDs and Books • 24 Hrs. concierge services • Allowing Pets • Local Maps, guidebooks, and recommendations • Electrical adapters and chargers • Complimentary welcome basket • Transfers and Tours If your vacation home has all these amenities, you will not only have increased bookings but will also be better placed to raise your nightly charges and boost your rental income immediately. Your vacation rental manager will advise you on what’s essential and what’s not. 2. Ensure Everything Is in Proper Working Condition Does everything in your vacation rental work? Have you tried the washer, the drier and the iron after your last check-out? Can you connect to the Wi-Fi? There is nothing as annoying as a guest coming in your vacation home, and the air conditioning is broken down. However excellent other services are, you’re likely to get a negative review after their stay. How can we avoid this? The secret is in manually checking the house before you have your guests come through. Create a checklist for turning over the property after-stay. Walk through the house and ensure that everything is in tiptop condition. If you sweat over the small stuff, you’re going to create a great vacation home. 3. Make the Vacation Rental Feel Like Home One of the greatest appeals of a vacation rental home over a hotel room is the ability to have some extra space without having to break the bank. Most often, guests are looking to feel at home. To cook, to sleep and to watch the sunset from the backyard as they would do at home. If you or your vacation rental manager can make some personal touches, your guests will have a great experience and reward you with rave reviews, repeat bookings and referrals. And, really, it’s not hard to bring that homey feeling. These few things can impact your guests’ experience massively: • Add throw pillows on the couch. • Hang some beautiful artwork on the walls. • Provide them with books and magazines • Add some shaggy rugs to make the space warm and cheerful. • Provide tour guides and recommendation brochures. • How about you also leave them some culinary guides for local cuisines?

4. Set A Competitive Price The secret here is to adopt a dynamic pricing model. Your Orlando vacation home nightly rates should never be static. Your prices should reflect different market conditions and considerations: • Seasonal demand • The average price in your competitive landscape. • Specific events in Orlando that may spike demand. • Length of guest stay • Macro demands and supply trends in the Orlando vacation rental industry. • Property-specific features or amenities that add value for guests. This is your vacation home value created by upfront luxury investments. • Proximity to popular attractions such as Disneyworld in Orlando. Your vacation rental manager will help you come up with the best pricing approach and also advice you on the best proprietary pricing software available. 5. Create High-Quality Electronic Manuals for Your Property The vacation rental industry is experience driven. This means that renters already have some expectations when coming in your vacation rental and will possibly leave a review that equals their vacationing experience. Don’t assume that your guests will be able to operate the 3 remotes at your home as flawlessly as you do. No. In fact, they might even have trouble turning on/off the coffee maker, the ultramodern dishwasher, or the HVAC system. The solution? A vacation house manual. This should be your first impression maker. Don’t be confined to old paperback manuals with boring text on the ins and outs of your house. No. Today, everything is going digital, even vacation home manuals. By having a detailed electronic welcome book and curated home use manual, you’ll be giving your guests the freedom to use all the cool amenities at your Orlando vacation home without having to call you or your vacation rental manager for directions. An ace digital home manual should include the following categories: • Home: Welcome your guests and provide them with the Wi-Fi passcode. • Essentials: Highlight all the info about your house and popular local joints. • Amenities & Tech: Guide your guests – possibly with pictures – on how to use all the devices, appliances, items and gadgets in your upgraded Orlando vacation home. • Social Media Links: Since you already have your guests hooked to your digital manual, why not provide them with social media handles to like and follow. You could also add a curated #hashtag which your guests can use whenever posting pictures online. 6. Keep It Clean. Hire a professional cleaning service Most often, vacation homeowners think about the furniture, upgrades, and decorations to include in their vacation rental property to make it truly dazzle and forget of other equally important tasks: vacation home cleaning and maintenance. The condition of your vacation home determines whether your guests will like or not. But how do you ensure that your vacation home is crisp clean before new guests arrive? Well, you can hire professional housekeeping services that are not only going to clean but also ensure that your home is guest-ready. Vacation rental cleaning should be more in-depth, and your housekeeping services should be aware of the elevated expectations. To avoid pesky complains about a dirty kitchen or bathroom, there are a few measures you can put in place which will leave your house so sparkling that guests will have no reason to complain: • Prioritize cleaning everything that’s on display. • Make a list for guests pre-check-out • Create a checklist of what needs to be cleaned between in-stays. • Invest in bulk cleaning supplies and toiletries. • Always have an extra set of clean sheets and towels ready. • Ensure that you vacuum the carpet and get rid of stains immediately. • Sanitize all the surfaces in the bathroom • Empty the fridge of leftover food. When hiring housekeeping services, you should specifically ask if they are aware of what is expected in cleaning a vacation rental and if they’ve done it before. If a vacation rental manager is managing your vacation house, ask them for recommendations on the best professional cleaners in Orlando - or use us ! - We know how important a clean home is and have cleaning services in-house as a part of our offering. 7. Market Your Home Online It’s not enough to have a great vacation property. You must put the word out and showcase the attractive features of your property. As vacation rental manager, we often see potentially breathtaking, private terraces with pristine panoramic views but with below-average or no bookings. Today, learning the art to create beautiful online descriptions for your vacation property can transform your rental earnings. You must go beyond the vacation rental listing websites. Create a brand on Facebook and Instagram. Use high-quality photos, immersive walkthrough videos and also have a robust website for your vacation home. This way, you’ll be in a better position to market your vacation home and attract more bookings. But online marketing should not be a substitute for value. No. You should match what you’ve advertised by being honest with your customers. If you’ve indicated a swimming pool as your selling point, but it is dirty and unusable, your guests are likely to feel shortchanged and may leave a negative review. At the end of the day, the online marketing can only do so much – you can only get great reviews if you provide your guests with: • Comfort and great interior décor • Great experience, and • Quality service 8. Hire A Good Vacation Rental Manager Hiring a good vacation manager would mean all the difference for your vacation home. A vacation rental manager can transform your home from ordinary status to a super-host status. While you can handle the vacation management yourself, it is sometimes time-consuming to coordinate operational services such as cleaning and maintenance, answer questions about your vacation home, promote your rental, and screen potential guests An Orlando-based vacation rental manager will ensure that your vacation home is well maintained and is in crisp condition. Ultimately, the guests can have the best possible experience and lead to more positive reviews. How can a good vacation rental manager create the perfect vacation rental? • Turbocharge renter sourcing and screening. • Handle vacation renting taxes, laws, rules, and regulations. • Foster good relations with maintenance and repair services provider. • Keep records • Payment processing • Handle repairs, cleaning, and maintenance. • Source proactively for stellar rave reviews. • Deal with customer requests and queries. • Increase your vacation revenue. A good vacation rental manager will help you adopt the strategies and technologies used to maximize occupancy, nightly rate, and the subsequent gross income. Are You Taking Measures to Create A Great Orlando Vacation Rental Property? If you want to make to create a great vacation rental home in Orlando, focus on the little things. Would you live in it as it is? Are your guests comfortable? The primary goal is to make your guests’ vacation experience as pleasant as possible. Upgraded appliances, stocked amenities, comfortable furniture and stylish décor, and attention to details will make your Orlando vacation rental home stand out. Cleanliness and amped online marketing are equally as important. Reach us today for more details on how to create a great vacation rental home. We’re a professional vacation rental management company and can help you up your game and rake in more revenue this season.