Category: Property managers and hosts

Doinn gives vacation rentals and Airbnb hosts tips to understand and adapt to new tourist demands. We have so many challenges within the vacation rentals industry right now, either you have an Airbnb flat or a cute cabin to relax. That’s why in the past few posts we have addressed the incredible and inevitable impact in our industry but today we want to give you some positivity. Today, we are prepared to introduce you to some of the upcoming trends for vacation rentals which users are expecting. We already know what customers want to save flights (For god’s sakes!) But within the Doinn team, we wanted to take it a step further and share some of the top needs the “new-old tourists” will look for in the near future. As we like to say “Doinners” are here to help! Let’s dig into it! 

1. Go the extra mile on Safety & Hygiene.

One common thought that is guaranteed is that travelers will be asking for more strict measures to ensure their safety. This means, try to reduce to the maximum any encounter with other people outside the bubble, so take some of these actions: · Temporarily close all of the common areas within your rental. · Make a guidebook of all of the restrictions and important covid-19 information in your city or country (Update regularly) · Make sure you are automating most of the processes for the vacation rental itself. Using vocational software or upgrading your housekeeping tasks to a service like Doinn  Try to maximize your efforts in terms of deep cleansing and having a visual way to demonstrate it to your customers, write a blog post about it or share a video of new measures in your rental. The stricter your guidelines while travelers stay in your rental, the more possibilities of positive feedback you will have. 

2. Transform your vacation rental options. 

You will need to reinvent your services from global to local, this means that you can develop new uses for your vacation rental as per the market needs. For example: · Transform one room into an office and attract remote job workers. (Which regularly look for new places to move). · Adding activities to your rental description tells travelers why your destination is more special than others. (There is a huge impact on leisure in post-pandemic scenarios · Also add some touches of home to your spaces as people will travel within their bubbles and close family members. Another important fact is to adapt and incorporate flexible cancellation or change policies. This is one of the top priorities for younger users according to an Expedia report.

3. Personalization and Customer Experience. 

Because of the pandemic, warm greetings like shaking hands is a custom of the past. But there are still ways to keep creating an excellent experience for your vacation rental renters. Keep in touch with your guests through an open channel: whatsapp, telegram, or email. It’s even more important these days to keep open communication. Also remember, everybody likes a freebie, and if you include some masks or personal hand sanitizers, people will recognize your good hosting skills.

4. Automation is the key to success. 

We are not talking only about contactless payments, there is a wide variety of options to introduce into your rental. Keyless entry: you can use remote apps in which you send an electronic key to open your apartment to code digit locks inserted directly into your vacation rental, available in different price ranges. Home automation: This sounds like The Jetsons but we promise you it is not, from controlled heating or cooling systems to a whole panel of lighting and voice controlled devices, you can ensure your guests are getting everything they need! Adding 3D or AI bots to your service: You can now go from facebook type of automatic responses (Bots) at a very reasonable price to 3D virtual reality videos from your amazing Airbnb homes, try adding some cool tech innovations and see how your guests react to them. We are sure they will love it. These are just a couple of nice examples to boost up your vacation rentals, from safety to new techie options we are certain the guests will appreciate them. Remember we Doinners love to help you keep everything nice and tight for your upcoming seasons. So if you are still struggling with your cleaning processes during these difficult times contact us to know more about our plans and services we will be more than glad to assist you.

The COVID-19 outbreak has made us rethink the way we work, creating a shift towards a more flexible and digital way of life. Although having a vacation rental business does not consist of being in an office all day, there are certain tasks that up until now have required owners to be physically present in their property. If your vacation rental is far from your main residence, you may have realized that the given situation could actually be a good opportunity to start managing your business remotely. 

The growth of the vacation rental industry in recent years has generated a large number of tools, platforms, and technologies to help owners manage their businesses from the comfort of their own home. These resources help to save a significant amount of time and effort while also providing a higher quality of service to guests.  

Is it possible to manage your vacation rental remotely?

Of course! As previously mentioned, there are currently a wide variety of tools and apps that can help you manage your property remotely without any problem. 

However, it’s always recommended to have a trustworthy person nearby in the event of an emergency. You can also invest in vacation rental property management software, or hire a property manager that offers you a comprehensive management service.

If you’re just getting started and wondering where to invest, distance no longer has to be a deciding factor. Instead, do research on whether the area is a touristic destination and what kind of investment it requires. 

Here’s what you should take into account to manage your vacation rental remotely: 

Things to keep in mind

Keep guests informed

If you’ve decided to work remotely and will therefore not be present to welcome your guests to the property, you should thoroughly prepare for it beforehand. Something as simple as creating a welcome guide with information on the area (activities, restaurants, cafes, or any extra details that might be of interest) can go a long way. 

Don’t forget to include instructions and information related to the property itself, such as the use of appliances, emergency contacts, or house rules. Going above and beyond will avoid any unexpected events in the future.

Automate communication with your guests

Great guest communication is essential to getting good reviews and increasing your bookings. Even for the most experienced hosts, it’s difficult to stay on top of everything from reservation requests to concerns your guests might have. Automating messages will help minimize repetitive tasks and quickly fix potential problems that might arise. 

Provide the necessary technology

Make sure you have all the necessary devices and technology for tasks that were once done in person. Here are some examples: 

Check-in and Check-out

Regardless of whether you remotely manage a vacation rental or not, there are many tasks that can be automated to reduce your workload. While some hosts like to welcome their guests personally, automating this process can save you a lot of time and allow for more flexibility when it comes to bookings. In the event that your guests arrive late, you won’t have to worry about a drastic change of plans. 

There are smart locks that work with codes so that guests can access and leave your home without any help. If you feel like this is not the right option for your business, you can also hire a company to manage the check-ins and check-outs of your vacation rental.

Smart homes

Also known as ‘smart homes’, these properties have a variety of technologies to control and automate certain things like temperature or lighting adjustments. In addition to being able to control them remotely, these tools help to reduce energy consumption, provide security, and turn your vacation rental into a more comfortable place.

Even if you have highlighted the house rules of your property, having a noise sensor can help you control the volume of your guests and avoid complaints from neighbors.

Use tools and apps to facilitate property management

Cleaning services

One of the most important aspects to keep in mind while managing your property remotely is cleaning. When it comes to this task, every owner strives to provide the tidiest rental for their guests. Hiring professionals who are in charge of cleaning, disinfection, and laundry will ensure that the job gets done consistently and with high results every time.

There are currently platforms that, apart from helping you hire a great team of cleaners, also allow you to monitor all tasks. This means you can keep track of what’s going on at all times and run your business much more efficiently. 

Vacation rental management software

Managing reservations is another task that requires attention. Vacation rental software like Lodgify allows you to take full control over your business, giving you access to a centralized platform where you can manage all your reservations, calendars, and rates (from both your website and other vacation rental listing sites like Airbnb and Vrbo). 

Conclusion

Now that you’ve seen the resources available to automate tedious tasks and manage your vacation rental remotely, you can get started! If you take advantage of the previously mentioned tools, the location of your property no longer needs to be an issue. 

Incorporating these solutions into your business will not only give you personal benefits, but it will also make your property more attractive, safe, and profitable in the long run.

Linda Fox from Phocuswire, who I am a huge fan of, published last week a fantastic article about the participation of Brian Chesky in the Reuters Next event where he discussed the topic of Tendencies in Tourism.

In my opinion, Chesky touches upon three important points:

1. Tourism will never be the same as before the pandemic which doesn’t mean that the same volume of business won’t be regained on a macro level, just the revenue will come in a different form;

2. There will be a significant decrease in business travelling, however – in spite of being possible now to work remotely and of many of us having moved away from the cities – we need to come back, even if only so often, to the city where our office is;

3. More people will choose to travel by car and to smaller towns rather than to popular destinations, switching from mass tourism to a kind of tourism that is more meaningful for our lives.

In 2019 92% of Doinn business came from Lisbon, Porto, Madrid, Barcelona and London. In 2020 these cities have represented only around 45% of our revenue and the estimate for this year is even lower (not taking into account the new markets we have been gaining our position in such as the U.S.A or Mexico).

Many of big European management agencies are located in these cities and, even if they managed to reduce they fixed costs by cutting their rents or laying off a big part their employees, the focus on medium and long-term rentals of their properties doesn’t seem to be enough for them to stay alive in 2021 if Chesky is reading the market correctly.

Furthermore, if we take into account that many owners of beach and mountain houses live in these big cities, we will understand that the strategy that they followed last year – to manage their houses remotely, with certificate cleaning and laundry, linen and toiletries that we make available at Doinn – will still be a trend in 2021.

I share the link to the complete article:

https://www.phocuswire.com/Airbnb-travel-trends-and-crises
 

Share your opinion with us and with our followers!

On September 29th and 30th there will be an exclusive conference on how to get direct bookings for tourist accommodation: rentals, hotels, hostels and the service apartments sector.

Since Covid changed our world, some travelers have preferred to make reservations without intermediaries such as Airbnb, Booking or VRBO, contacting the managers or owners of these properties directly through their websites or even Facebook.

Many of our clients tell us that one of the main reasons is because they feel more comfortable being able to ask them directly about the extraordinary cleaning measures they are taking, since the measures taken by the large platforms on this issue do not seem sufficient. Which is why, in recent months, we have been creating so much documentation that our clients can share with travelers on their web pages and / or by email or phone, including the 24 webinars, podcasts and interviews on cleaning protocols.

There is no doubt that making reservations directly can bring some risks to both travelers and managers. Both the previous reviews of the manager and guest, as well as the efforts to avoid fraud both at the payment level and at the level of properties that do not exist, have always given enough peace of mind in the industry.

And it is that in the new world, the margins have been tighter. In order to get the few bookings that are being had this year, many managers have reduced prices “to get to sell something and not lose money”, so there is no much space for commissions to third parties 

This conference organized by Damian Sheridan, with  Deborah Labi and Gianpaolo Vairo as co-hosts , has a very clear goal: to help the community develop the confidence necessary to increase revenue by removing the commissions from the platforms. The challenge: not having to pay the same or more in advertising to get direct traffic.

Our CEO, Noelia Novella, is one of the 50 speakers. She will not talk about cleaning or the Coronavirus, but about the methodology to define and monitor objectives that Google uses, the so-called OKRs: objectives and key results.

The advantage of being an online conference is that it can be viewed on a delayed basis and filter the presentations that are most interesting to you. For less than € 130 (£114), you have an amount of content to learn and enjoy, super varied and almost unlimited.

Many of the speakers and sponsors, including Doinn, will do promotions and discounts. From what we have been seeing, used properly, they will make the conference pay for itself.

Important detail: the lectures are in English, the speakers are from around the world.

Here’s a little appetizer from Noelia’s arena and an interview of her, super cool with Deborah Labi https://conference.bookdirect.show/noelia-novella/ 

Let’s take advantage of this slowdown to learn, to be more competitive, to understand what happens outside our comfort bubble

A lot of strength to all